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Rotating images of the East Marion--Belvedere
Park Historic District
Photos courtesy of Uptown
Shelby Association |
The East Marion--Belvedere Park Historic District was one of Shelby's
earliest suburban neighborhoods developed east of town from 1921 through
the 1950s. It was also the most successful neighborhood in Shelby to
follow the new suburban ideas of the City Beautiful Movement. At the
turn of the 20th century, in reaction to the industrial revolution,
the City Beautiful Movement advocated for the creation of parklike settings
within cities. In response, suburban neighborhoods were developed across
the country with small parks, large lots, tree-lined medians and a curvilinear
street pattern which followed the natural topography of the land--a
dramatic departure from the traditional grid patterns of earlier neighborhoods
like the Central Shelby Historic District. These
types of neighborhoods were common in towns throughout the southeast,
and the Nation, as growing populations required development of neighborhoods
beyond the central city core, and new modes of transportation enabled
people to live further out. Shelby's greatest period of population growth
was during the 1920s, just as the popularity of the automobile increased
the demand for good roads. East Marion Street heading east from downtown
Shelby was paved in 1921, and lots along the street were laid out for
new subdivisions.
The
tree lined medians of the East Marion--Belvedere Park Historic
District were influenced by the City Beautiful movement at the
turn of the 20th century
Photo courtesy of Uptown
Shelby Association
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That same year, William B. Lineberger, a Shelby banker and businessman,
hired Leigh Colyer, a professional landscape architect from Charlotte,
North Carolina, to design a subdivision for him out of 45 acres of farm
land he had purchased south of East Marion Street. In keeping with the
tenets of the City Beautiful movement, Colyer's design for Belvedere Park
included a curvilinear layout, with tree-lined streets, and a central
median down Belvedere Avenue. A portion of Colyer's 1921 plat for the
neighborhood included small lots along Chestnut Street, only 30 to 50
feet wide, intended for investment rental housing. The majority of the
lots were 100 to 125 feet wide, facing wide boulevards, and generally
sold for $2,000. These lots were reserved for prominent Shelby residents
who built owner-occupied houses. Building restrictions were placed on
the lots to ensure that buyers would erect houses in at least two years
that cost no less than $5,000 and were set back at least 50 feet from
the sidewalk.
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A home in the East Marion--Belvedere
Park Historic District
Photo courtesy of Uptown
Shelby Association |
Lineberger built his own home in the neighborhood at 804 Hawthorne Road
to entice others to build. Occupations of residents within Belvedere Park
and along East Marion Street included small business owners, managers
and employees, mechanics, mill owners, workers and supervisors, clergy,
theater owners, physicians, attorneys, bankers and government workers.
The houses built in the district were typical of the building styles of
the day. Of the 123 buildings within the district that contribute to its
architectural history, the most predominant style in the district is the
Bungalow. Other styles in the district include small hip-roof or gable-roof
cottages, Four-Square and Cape Cod, and several Classical Revival styles
including Colonial, Dutch and Tudor. After Lineberger's death in 1936,
the remaining undeveloped lots on the east side of the neighborhood became
part of his estate, and his heirs did not sell them until the late 1940s
and early 1950s. In this later developed section, good examples of Ranch
and Modern houses can be found.
The East Marion--Belvedere Park Historic District, approximately
one-half mile east of downtown Shelby, is roughly bounded by Cline and
Chestnut sts. to the west, East Marion St. to the north, Edgemont Ave.
to the east and Belvedere Ave. and Elizabeth Rd. to the south. The houses
in the district are private and not open to the public.
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