Asheville owes it’s architectural time warp to the Great Gatsby generation and the Great Depression.
Aside from the Biltmore house the majority of the remaining old buildings are relics of the tourist, 2nd home boom of the 1920s which was killed for decades when the market crashed.
The city did not finish paying off its Depression era bonds until the early 80s which meant it didn’t have the money for 1960s urban rehab thus the old buildings were saved from that fate.
Up through the 70s the city relied on fall leaf tourism as its major draw and still wore the mountain hillbilly image.
The current gentrification of old buildings started across from the Vance monument at Pack Square around the mid 80s. (The bastards tore down the granite obelisk at the square this past year because it memorialized the Confederate Governor of NC).
Wow, interesting stuff. Thanks. I’m fairly new to the area. I started the process of moving from NY about 15 years ago and actually got here (to Greenville County SC) 11 years ago.
I guess one more reason I don’t get Asheville is that I’m color blind and I can’t even see the color changes in the leaves! lol
I do appreciate the older architecture though. Greenville, as a whole, is kind of a mess in that regard, though that is changing over time.
More and more, I actually enjoy going for a day trip to Hendersonville over Asheville if we’re going to head up that way.