Asheville City Building
Asheville City BuildingThe Asheville City Building is perhaps Dougla Ellington's finest work and certainly his best known. It is a treasure trove of Art Deco design. Asheville City Building (1926-28) The City of Asheville and Buncombe County had agreed to develop a joint civic center. Douglas Ellington was selected and presented plans that included the Buncombe County Courthouse, a jail, a bus depot and the City Building and the City County Plaza.
In the end, Ellington only received the contract for the City Building. As early as August 1926, Mayor Cathey strongly indicated his intention to build the new City Building using Ellington’s design regardless. On December 22, according to Ellington, he met with County Commissioners Lyda and Johnson to discuss plans for the Courthouse. After several cancelled meetings, Ellington learned from an article in the newspaper on January 2, 1927 that the County had decided to hire another architectural firm. By March 21, 1927, the architectural firm of Milburn, Heister and Company of Washington D.C. submitted their design for the courthouse. In an accompanying letter signed by T.Y. Milburn, the firm stated they had designed almost one hundred county courthouses, all in classical style. The letter said that “We believe that through the years the style of architecture which we have employed in the development of your building, will stand and remain as satisfactory as it is at the present time.” They further said that most courthouses were done in the “Classic style” and that use of Ellington’s design in the “Romantic Style” would handicap future development of the Civic Center.
Ellington began work on the City Building while First Baptist Church was still under construction, and the City Building incorporates many motifs he had used in the Church such as arches and octagons. Ellington also included two motifs, feathers and corn related to the Cherokee heritage of Asheville. The City Building is set against the backdrop of Beaucatcher Mountain; Ellington stated that his objective was to maintain harmony with the structure’s surrounding.
The rectangular base supports an octagonal central section capped with a pink terra cotta roof climaxing with a bell tower. The rose colored Georgia marble base and stepped octagonal roof connect the building to the mountain landscape. The base seems sculpted from a single block of marble. Continuing up, the building narrows first to an observation deck, the pink tile roof and finally a bell tower. Also worth noting is the glazed tile ceiling of the entry loggia. The vertical feather motif on the City Building appears on the cornice, the windows on the eighth floor and in the two stylized lanterns that flank the main entryway. The two lanterns reflect the building’s monumentally scaled bell tower atop the roof.
Ellington’s use of form also serves to underline the function of the building. The triple arched portico clearly indicates the entryway. The three second floor windows framed with columns, base and pediment indicate the Council Chambers. The fluted columns flanking the second floor windows may suggest the Roman fasces, a symbol of judicial authority. Ellington combined building elements into sets of threes. The building has three main segments. Entry to the building is through a three-arched loggia. The front facade features banks of three windows. The building is divided into three vertical elements. An octagon shows three sides from any angle. Also inside there the building is a bank of three manually operated brass elevators. The entry loggia has three arches leading to three doors, creating an inviting entry into the building.
Flanking the entry loggia are are two eight sided lanterns, repeating the octagonal shape of the building. Inside the City Building there were eight sided and six sided light fixtures. The six sided fixtures are reminiscent of the six-sided tower Ellington later designed for Asheville High School.
