Lee House , 3714 Country Ridge Road, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NC

2011 Leicester B. Holland Prize, Entry
Significance: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission website states that the Praise Connor and Harriet Lee House, at 3714 Country Ridge Road, possesses local significance as an excellent example of the Modernist style of architecture that emerged in Charlotte and throughout North Carolina in the years following World War II. With its roots in the International Style espoused by architects like Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, as well as the Prairie School of Frank Lloyd Wright, Modernist architecture did not fully come into its own in America until after World War II. After years of building restrictions and rationing of building materials, Charlotte, like the rest of the country, experienced a building boom at the end of the war. This dramatic increase in construction, coupled with a general emphasis on progress and the influence of educational institutions like the School of Design at North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University), led to the proliferation of Modernist architecture in Charlotte.

The Lee House is also significant as a rare example of Modernist residences built in postwar Charlotte. While more progressive architectural styles were widely used for institutional and commercial buildings, Modernist residences were relatively unusual. In the city's growing number of suburban developments, the handful of Modernist houses was far outnumbered by more traditional styles, which were generally easier and cheaper to build and appealed to a wider number of potential homeowners. Those Modernist houses that were built in postwar suburbs were designed to take advantage of the naturalistic layout of these developments, using building materials that would harmonize with the landscape, incorporating large expanses of glass in the rear of the house to maximize views and natural light, and integrating the topography of the site into the design by designing two or three stories at the rear of the house.1 The Lee House is a fine illustration of these design principles used in Modernist residential architecture.

Because many individual clients and developers in post war Charlotte were wary of building Modernist homes, a good deal of Modernist residential architecture can be found in the homes that architects built for themselves. Such is the case with Praise Connor Lee, who designed his house at 3714 Country Ridge Road in 1963, a few years after his graduation from the School of Design. P. Connor Lee was an enthusiastic supporter of Modernist architecture, and incorporated it into many of his designs for commercial and institutional buildings throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. The Lee House is one of two Modernist houses that Lee designed for his family in Charlotte.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1782
Survey number: HABS NC-415
Building/structure dates: 1963 Initial Construction