Montford's History

Though it still remains unclear the exact origin of the name, Montford became firmly established in the modern record in 1893, when a small area approximately one mile north of Battery Park Hill was incorporated. This was a tiny community of about 50 people, mainly local businessman.

In 1905 the village of Montford was annexed to the city, and though a few structures survived from the original village, Montford lost its autonomous identity. Today, Montford is bounded by U.S. Routes 19/23, I-240, and Broadway.

The neighborhood we know today began as a dream of a development group called the Asheville Loan, Construction, and Improvement Company, chartered in 1889. The firm purchased and subdivided tracts of undeveloped land north of the Battery Park and sold lots. The enterprise languished until it was taken over by George Willis Pack, a lumber tycoon from the midwest who moved to Asheville in 1885. He is best know today as a philanthropist and benefactor of the town's library and principal public square; he also donated land for Montford Park on the north end of Montford Avenue.

The people who bought lots and built in the Montford area in its building prime were for the most part middle class individuals who carried out the day-to-day activities of the city--businessman, lawyers, doctors, and a few architects.

Several residents found immortality in Thomas Wolfe's autobiographical Look Homeward Angel.

Early city directories indicate that along with professionals, there were working class citizens and Montford has been home to African-American citizens as well as whites.

Though predominantly single family homes, land use in Montford has been mixed since the earliest days of development. The old Highland Hospital, located off the northern end of Montford Avenue, was the scene of a deadly fire in 1948, among the victims was Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Just off Pearson Drive is Riverside Cemetery which is the final resting spot for some of Asheville's most prominent citizens, including Thomas Wolfe, O Henry (William Sydney Porter), governors of North Carolina, Zebulon Vance (Civil War) and Locke Craig

In 1977, much of the Montford neighborhood was designated as a Historic District and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, the Asheville City Council in 1981 designated the Montford Historic District a local historic district as well. Additional information about the Historic Resources Commission and the Montford guidelines can be found on the ASheville City webpage link.

Today the Montford community is home to several businesses and the restoration of the neighborhood has developed a new business, the Bed & Breakfast. Montford is home to about 12 B&B's.

Montford's Architecture

Montford is popularly called a "Victorian" neighborhood. While some of these architectural features do abound in Montford, the term does not do full justice to the neighborhood's complex overall character, which is that of a late and post-Victorian suburb. The architects and builders of Montford were strongly influenced by a variety of progressive styles and design ideas that were emerging nationally in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

The neighborhood mirrors in subtle ways Asheville's cosmopolitan character at the turn of the century. Artistic influences in the town, including details from national architecturally trendsetters like Bruce Price, Bernard Maybeck, Frank Lloyd Wright, and others exist in Montford houses, but were relatively unknown in other parts of the state.

The Rankin House at 192 Elizabeth Street is Montford's oldest home, a Greek Revival style residence built around 1846 with Italianate embellishments.

When Montford's development began full force in 1889, the dominant building fashion around the country was what is generally called the Queen Anne style. This was a building mode with many variations, but one generally characterized by irregular, complex massing and rooflines, corner turrets or towers, a mixture of surface textures, and a lavish use of ornamental devices.

The appearance of English architect Richard Sharp Smith to Asheville in the late nineteenth century profoundly affected the city's subsequent architectural development. Best known as supervising architect for the Biltmore House, Smith opened an office afterwards and a few homes in Montford can be directly traced to him. His favorite motifs were gambrel roofs, hipped gables, pebbledash or stucco walls, heavy porch brackets and simple Colonial Revival details.

The use of shingles, stone, stucco, earth colors and informal composition became an established tradition in Montford.

Among the most numerous and most important houses in the district are those executed in the Shingle style. This prevalence reflects both the prosperity of the town and the presence of architects and clients acquainted with this fashionable trend.

A variety of houses in Montford are in the Colonial Revival Style, which became popular in the first few decades of the twentieth century. The earliest examples of this style have an informal quality, and are identified chiefly through the use of the gambrel roof and shingle wall coverings.

The Montford Hills sub-division of Montford, developed in the mid to late 1920's, incorporates designs found in Montford's original homes.

From styles mentioned above, to Neo-Classical apartment buildings to bungalows, Montford has one of the richest varieties of architectural styles in North Carolina.