Bev Perdue Soundscape

[Krysta Fitzpatrick]

The Mansion

The original plan of the city of Raleigh had designated Burke Square as a possible location for the governor's residence. By the time the state decided to build, however, Burke Square was already occupied by the Raleigh Academy, and a different site for the house was chosen. Later, under Governor Jarvis's prompting, the legislature passed a bill in 1883 authorizing the construction of Raleigh's third official residence on Burke Square, providing for its major furnishings, and requiring that the governor occupy the new dwelling. The governor and Council of State were directed to use prison labor for construction and building materials that could be made at the local penitentiary when feasible. Samuel Sloan, of Philadelphia, and his assistant, Aldophus Gustavus Bauer, were chosen as architects. Sloan arrived in Raleigh with his designs for the grand structure in April 1883 and work was begun in the mild weather of early summer. Unfortunately, Sloan died in 1885, six years before the completion of the house. Bauer then assumed full responsibility for the remainder of the project. Bauer settled in North Carolina, eventually becoming one of the state's most important nineteenth-century architects.
Construction of the mansion was supervised by the warden of the prison, Col. William J. Hicks. The use of convict labor was not new to state projects. Whenever possible, building materials were acquired from within the state. The bricks were made from Wake County clay and molded by prison labor. Many of these bricks, particularly in the sidewalks surrounding the house, still bear the inscribed names of the men who made them. The sandstone trim came from Anson County. The marble steps in front (later moved to the north side) came from Cherokee County, and oak and heart pine were shipped from all across North Carolina for use in building the house.
The Executive Mansion was completed in 1891 and remains one of the state's finest examples of the Queen Anne style of Victorian architecture. Its many attractive features include a steeply pitched gable, richly colored textural surfaces, and elaborate turned woodwork. The first occupant of the house was Gov. Daniel Fowle, who stayed from January 5, 1891, until his death on April 7, 1891. Present Governor Beverly Eaves Perdue is the twenty-eighth governor to live in the mansion. She is the sixty-eighth person to hold this office in North Carolina since the end of the American Revolution and the first woman.
The Governor

Bev Eaves Purdue is a member of the Democratic Party currently serving as governor of North Carolina. She is the first female governor of North Carolina. She served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1986 to 1990, and in the North Carolina Senate from 1990 to 2000. During her last three terms in the Senate, she served as one of the state's chief budget writers and was the first woman to hold this position. While she was in office, the General Assembly increased teacher pay and passed Governor Hunt's Excellent Schools Act and Smart Start. Additionally, she led the debate that created North Carolina's Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
In 2000, she defeated Republican Betsy Cochrane for the lieutenant governor's seat, becoming North Carolina's first female lieutenant governor; she was re-elected to a second term in 2004. As lieutenant governor, Perdue's most significant accomplishment was casting the tie-breaking vote that established the North Carolina Education Lottery.
Perdue announced her 2008 candidacy for governor on October 1, 2007. Perdue won the Democratic nomination for Governor, defeating State Treasurer Richard H. Moore and Dennis Nielsen. Her opponent was charlotte mayor Pat McCrory. Perdue defeated McCrory on November 4, 2008, 50.3 % to 46.9 %, to win the election.

[John Lee]

This is a very interesting article and soundcast. I have always been impressed with the Governor mansion. The style is haunting, and for my somewhat ironic. The irony works for me on a number of levels. First, there is the physical irony of this magnificent Queen Ann structure facing down the quintessential modernists NC Archives building, with the even more modernist Legislature building behind it. The mansion sits like an oasis surrounded by seas of parking, asphalt and concrete- another irony of place. Finally, the whole notion that the democratically elected governor of this state would live in a mansion is the ultimately irony.