110 East Geer Street

110 East Geer, looking east-southeast, 01.24.63

The apartment building at 110 East Geer St. was built in 1928 - one of a series of handsome apartment buildings built in the 1920s - typically displacing earlier single family homes. As mentioned in earlier posts, the apartment building was somewhat of a novelty in 1920s North Carolina - a new alternative to the rooming houses and hotels that people often used for itinerant lodging.

This example is typical of apartment buildings of this era - masonry construction with decorative detailing, porches/balconies, and front-to-back orientation of rooms (commonly known as 'railroad flats.')

This building was constructed by Clara Bellamy, a cousin of Fred Geer, who owned the large farmstead that encompassed this land; the Bellamy family also likely constructed the Bellamy apartments that adjoined the back of the property. It remained in the Bellamy family for many years. In 2002, it was purchased by Gold Leaf Construction Company, and subsequently, in 2006 by the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, which uses the building for their offices.

110 East Geer, 06.23.08

Find this spot on a Google Map.

36.003437,-78.894092

 

UPDATE, February 2019:

Local nonprofit Reinvestment Partners, formerly CRA-NC, purchased this four-unit apartment building in 2006. It had been neglected and fallen into severe disrepair. Reinvestment Partners invested over half a million dollars in restoring the building's interior and exterior, taking care to preserve its historic charm. The building was converted into office space, and is now used as the nonprofit's headquarters.

Reinvestment Partners' mission is to foster healthy and just communities by empowering people, improving places, and influencing policy.