"After countless stays of execution and pleas from Preservation North Carolina to save the Fabius Briggs House located at 1301 Hillsborough Street, it seems its day has come. Built in 1906 by a son of Thomas H. Briggs, founder of Briggs Hardware, it has stood witness to the evolution of one of Raleigh’s most attractive and well traveled streets.

An ominous precursor appeared late last week in the form of a chain-link fence circling the property, as if a white sheet had been laid over its lifeless body. This fencing is usually the first step in the abatement process many Raleigh residents have become accustomed to in recent months. With the loss of the NC State bookstore, the Ballentine’s Cafeteria building in Cameron Village, and The Brewery many downtown residents are starting to raise a few eyebrows. 

The Briggs House is a typically-styled Queen Anne Transitional, an architectural style common to Raleigh in the early 1900s. Our ancestral residents would have seen these houses lining Hillsborough street from the campus of NC State all the way to the Capitol. Many have been lost over the years to development and neglect, but thankfully the city is still holding on to a precious handful. But by early next week, one more will be gone."

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GoodnightRaleigh (11/30/2011)