Transformation, preservation and aspiration

“When you look at a city, it’s like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it.”
– Hugh Newell Jacobsen, Architect

The Trust Building is one of my favorite Wilmington buildings. Standing at the corner of Front and Market Streets, it rises nine stories above the street, holding the corner with strength and purpose, and towering over its neighbors. We would be hard pressed to find someone in our city that does not feel that it is a wonderful and significant part of our skyline, and worthy of preservation.

It is not a stunning piece of architecture; it does not scream for recognition or praise, but it exhibits a sense of purpose and confidence in our city that should not be overlooked. 

The Trust building was built in 1912. At that time, Wilmington had only recently been supplanted by Charlotte as the largest city in the state, and was home to thriving shipping and railroad industries. Much of the business district was in the process of being reconstructed – ours was a city on the rise. To build the Trust building, a smaller, two story structure was demolished.  Its builders had a vision for Wilmington that was greater than the status quo; they built up, setting a benchmark for the street, challenging their neighbors and contemporaries to rise up to meet them. But they never did.

Nearly 100 years later, Wilmington is a very different city. Much of the industry and commerce that supported downtown has left or relocated.  Tourism and development are the new engines that drive our economy, and we have been largely successful at recalibrating ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities that they present. However, we need to do more.

Currently, on the north side of downtown, we are in the midst of the most comprehensive construction boom that we have seen in our city core at one time since the era of the Trust Building’s construction. PPD, Bank of America, the Convention Center and Cape Fear Community College have all completed or begun large projects. Shortly, Cape Fear Community College will begin construction on a major voter-backed building program including a five-story classroom and building, a new parking deck, and a new Performing Arts Building that will be the largest venue of its kind in our area.

Additionally, the city has four streetscape enhancement projects underway downtown, and developers have ambitious plans for over 20 acres of vacant riverfront land north of the new Convention Center. 

How can we capture and build upon this momentum? How will we come out of the recession as a regional leader with a stronger economy, improved infrastructure, and status as a role model for others to follow? 

Recently, the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and I organized a group of civic leaders on a trip to Charleston. The goal of the trip was to learn from their example as a city that has embraced preservation and growth, balanced the two, and successfully blended tourism, industry, and commerce while enhancing quality of life for its citizens. It is a lot to do.

We learned a great deal during our short trip, and met with both private and public stakeholders in a collaborative dialogue. Some of the findings that I took from the trip are as follows:

We must expect and encourage change. A city is a living organism, and one that requires great care to nurture and grow. We cannot allow ourselves to fall victim to sentimentality – we need to embrace preservation while encouraging and seeking out quality development and growth. 

Preservation can be an economic development tool. We have a resource in the architecture of our downtown that other cities can only wish for. People visit, invest and live here – at least in part – because we have a physical history that tells a story. Care should be taken to maintain that story and build upon it for future generations.

Transformative change requires great vision. We must dream big and challenge our leaders to do the same. We need to agree upon a vision for our city, and then move forward to implement it.

Design matters. Great cities value great design, and take care to do the little things right. We need to encourage good design, and put tools in place that reward those who meet the vision. We also need to challenge our civic leaders to build our streets and infrastructure to a higher standard –the benefits of good design will encourage economic growth and pay dividends for years to come.

We must be true to who we are.  We are not Charleston, and should not try to be. We have our own traditions and history, and should embrace them, build upon them, and aspire to a greater Wilmington.

We are at a point of great transformative change within our city.  The current economic recession will change the way that we look at business and growth, but I have enormous hope for the future. 

In the coming months, our newly elected city council will have the opportunity to guide this growth and transformation will occur. One strategy that has had an enormous impact on other cities such as Charleston is the establishment of a civic design center. This can be a method to achieve many of the tasks outlined above: as a forum for discourse on design and preservation, a community education resource, and a way to promote quality design projects.

Our city is unique and wonderful in many ways, and I am proud to call it my home. Wilmington has a great past, but we owe it to ourselves and our children to believe that it has an even better future. Like the builders of the Trust Building, we need to challenge ourselves, our neighbors, and our contemporaries to dream big, rise up and remember that we are destined for even greater things.

Christopher L. Boney, AIA, is managing principal of LS3P Architects in Wilmington.