For the Adaptive Reuse & Commercial Rehabilitation of Fire Station No. 4, 505 Jefferson Street, Raleigh
At first glance, the brick building at 505 Jefferson Street appears to be a typical modest bungalow, one-story high with pyramidal roof, front porch, and stone retaining wall, closely resembling its neighbors on the street. The Raleigh Fire Department constructed this building in 1924 as Fire Station No. 4 to serve the expanding area north of downtown town. It is currently located within the Glenwood-Brooklyn National Register Historic District; and, played a significant role in the development of Raleigh’s fire protection system. The one-story textured stretcher-bond brick fire house was constructed during a period of urbanization and development of the Glenwood suburb, reflecting a rapidly growing population in early twentieth century Raleigh. The station was designed and constructed to compliment the scale and character of the existing neighborhood, the small brick bungalow modeling the conservative, modest homes built for Glenwood’s lower-middle and middle class inhabitants.
The building was large enough for only one fire truck and the requisite number of crew, generally four per shift. The front façade is separated into its two separate functions, one for the crew and the other for the truck. The most striking feature of this building is the large glazed four-part door which opens to the truck bay, known to the firefighters who lived there as the “apparatus floor.” Small stations like this one generally housed an officer and three crew on each of two shifts, thus requiring an eight-bed station. The officer on duty typically had a separate bedroom, while the driver and firefighters slept in the other bedrooms, all located on the east side of the house. Doorways from each bedroom opened to the “apparatus floor” on the west side of the building where the truck was located, providing the crew immediate access. The detailing throughout the house includes finished plaster walls, baseboards, wainscot, and window and door moldings, giving it the appearance of a single-family residence both on the interior and exterior.
Fire Station No. 4 was decommissioned and sold at public auction in 1963 to Donald and Laurie Stewart who used the building for storage until James A. Goodnight purchased the building in 2014. During the restoration, original windows and other materials were exposed and restored to their 1924 appearance. With few major alterations, the project was completed in September 2015; and, Fire Station No. 4, as a rental property, will again be inhabited for the first time since the firefighters moved out over fifty years ago.
The Board of Directors of Capital Area Preservation, Inc. is pleased to present a 2015 Anthemion Award to James A. Goodnight; Maurer Architecture; Blake King; Mullen Building Technology for the Adaptive Reuse & Commercial Rehabilitation of Fire Station No. 4, 505 Jefferson Street, Raleigh.