by Steve Rasmussen
Not many Asheville residents know the massive stone wall on Chestnut off Merrimon was once part of philanthropist George Willis Pack’s mansion, Manyoaks, which was built in the late 1800s and, sadly, razed in the 1970s when Deal Motors turned the estate into a car lot. The wall and its brick-paved carriage entrance, a section on Merrimon of wrought-iron fence framed by two stonework pillars (strikingly similar to the stonework on the Vance Monument, and possibly by the same architect), and a stately old magnolia tree (which looks to be the same age, 90-100 years, as the famous magnolia in front of City Hall) are the last remaining relics of the home of the man who gave Asheville Pack Square, the Vance Monument, the Montford neighborhood, Montford Park, and much more.
In spite of all G.W. Pack did for this city, no memorial or plaque to him exists anywhere in Asheville, as far as I know. Now that a developer, Harris Teeter, is meeting with neighbors prior to submitting a proposal for a grocery store on the Deal site, I think it’s a good opportunity for us Asheville citizens to ask that these historic relics be preserved, and even enhanced by the addition of a plaque.
The footprints of the pillars and fence next to Merrimon and of the magnolia tree (which is at the southwest corner of the site) are very small and near the property’s margins, so it shouldn’t be hard to site the development in a way that doesn’t disturb them. In fact, the pillars/fence could be incorporated into a pedestrian-friendly pocket park (such as recommended in the Downtown Master Plan) along Merrimon that might include the bus stop — and a memorial plaque. The tree could be the focus of an outdoor picnic area like many grocery stores now feature — and many more trees, by the way, should be planted to help shade any parking lot H-T builds, a “green” construction practice that helps reduce the heat-sink effect of the large swathe of black asphalt. The carriage entrance could be restored as a pedestrian entrance from Chestnut.
And as for that mighty retaining wall, there’s no reason not to keep it doing the job it’s done so well for over a century. Although the last Deal development proposal, the Horizons condos, planned to demolish it, the reason the developer gave was that his tall condo towers were too heavy for the wall to hold back the earth they would press down on. That’s not going to be a problem for even a large grocery store, since it’s mostly a hollow shell with just one or two floors. (BTW, the Horizons developers did promise in a public hearing to preserve the pillars, tree, and carriage entrance.)
Since there’s no zoning change and the relics aren’t extensive enough to qualify for Historic Register status, the city does not have leverage to compel a developer to preserve these elements (except possibly the wall), officials tell me. But considering how prominent G.W. Pack is in our city’s history, I think there is plenty of public-relations leverage — positive for H-T if it preserves these important historic artifacts, negative if it disregards this very reasonable request.
I’ve put up an online album of photos of these relics that I took in 2007 at: http://oldenwilde.org/gallery/
More information about G.W. Pack and Manyoaks is at: http://toto.lib.unca.edu/WNC_pack/pack_default.htm
