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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. 1919 to 1920
   Appointment, election or service · UNC campus, Chapel Hill The university hires Aberthaw and McKim, Mead and White for its expansion

   For the postwar building program the university engaged the Aberthaw firm in 1919 to survey the campus and rework its plan, and by May 1920 it had retained the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White, led by William Kendall, as consulting architects for red brick Colonial Revival buildings. Local supervision came later, under Thomas C. Atwood from 1921, with H. P. Alan Montgomery and, from 1922, Arthur C. Nash.

3. 1922
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Arthur Cleveland Nash comes to Chapel Hill as the university's architect

   Nash moved to Chapel Hill in 1922 to serve as architect for the University of North Carolina during its major expansion, working with the builder Thomas C. Atwood and the consulting firm McKim, Mead and White of New York.

4. 1922-1923
   Construction or physical change · Polk Place, UNC campus, Chapel Hill Murphey, Saunders and Manning halls are designed in the university's building office

   On the east side of the new south quadrangle, H. P. Alan Montgomery, architect in the university's building office under Thomas C. Atwood, laid out a smaller court of classroom buildings, with McKim, Mead and White as consulting architects: Murphey Hall for languages and literature, Saunders Hall (now Carolina Hall) for history and social science, and Manning Hall, with an Ionic portico and cupola, for the law school.

5. by 1923
   Founding or opening · Alumni Building, UNC campus, Chapel Hill Thomas C. Atwood and Arthur C. Nash form the firm Atwood and Nash, Architects and Engineers

   The firm served as the university's local architects and engineers through the 1920s building campaign, working under McKim, Mead and White's William Kendall. It kept its office in the Alumni Building and another in Durham.

6. 1924
   Construction or physical change · Old West, UNC campus, Chapel Hill Arthur C. Nash renovates Old West

   Nash's rebuilding of the 1822 dormitory, done alongside the work on Old East, left the brick walls as about the only original material.

7. 1925
   Construction or physical change · New East and New West, UNC campus, Chapel Hill Arthur C. Nash renovates New East and New West

   The two 1858-61 buildings were reworked under Nash, part of a series of renovations that left only the brick shells of the early campus buildings.

8. 1925
   Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill Nash designs Spencer Hall, the university's first dormitory for women

   Spencer Hall, designed by Nash and under construction in 1924, opened in 1925 as the first dormitory for women at the University of North Carolina; the trustees gave it Cornelia Phillips Spencer's name in 1927. It was one of a series of dormitories he designed on the campus through the 1920s.

9. 1926
   Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill, 124 South Boundary Street Nash builds his own house in Chapel Hill

   Nash designed and built a Colonial Revival house in Chapel Hill as his personal residence, at the address now numbered 124 South Boundary Street. The state listed it on the National Register on October 26, 2017 as the property most closely associated with his career.

10. 1926–1927
    Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill, South Building Nash renovates South Building and adds its portico

    Nash carried out the renovation of South Building and added the portico in 1926 and 1927, part of his remodelling of older campus buildings that also took in Old East, Old West and Gerrard Hall.

11. 1926
    Construction or physical change · Pi Kappa Alpha house, Chapel Hill Pi Kappa Alpha builds a $35,000 chapter house designed by Atwood and Nash

    Pi Kappa Alpha put up a new house in 1926 for about $35,000, one of the fraternity houses drawn by the university's architects Atwood and Nash.

12. December 1928
    Construction or physical change · 321 West Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill Chi Psi announces a Norman-style house for West Cameron Avenue

    Chi Psi announced plans for a $50,000 Norman-style stone house by the university architects Atwood and Nash on the old McCauley place on Cameron Avenue. The design broke with the campus's Colonial theme: steep slate roof, casement windows with stone trim, an arched entrance and a stone terrace. The old McCauley house, the chapter's home, burned on Christmas night 1929, and in November 1930 the chapter was still without a new house.

13. 1929
    Construction or physical change · Laurel Hill, Chapel Hill Cornelia Spencer Love designs and builds her own house in Laurel Hill

    Cornelia Spencer Love, granddaughter of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, planned her own one-story frame house in Laurel Hill; the architect Arthur Nash contributed the flared roof ends and a little porch.

14. October 19, 1929
    Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill The new University Library, later Wilson Library, is dedicated

    UNC dedicated its new University Library, designed by Arthur Cleveland Nash, on October 19, 1929, weeks after students began using the building that fall. It served as the main campus library for decades, was named for librarian Louis Round Wilson in 1956, and after a 1984 to 1987 renovation became the home of UNC's special collections.

15. 1930
    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Nash retires and leaves Chapel Hill, staying on as consulting architect

    Nash retired in 1930 and moved to Washington, D.C., but continued as the university's consulting architect until 1953, advising on later campus work.

16. 1940
    Construction or physical change · Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill The Carolina Inn completes the first of its rear additions

    The Carolina Inn, which Arthur Nash designed for John Sprunt Hill, gained a rear addition in 1940, the first of three (later ones in 1970 and 1995) that tracked the university's growth.

17. September 1942
    Construction or physical change · NROTC Naval Armory, 221 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill Archie Royal Davis's plans for the Naval Armory are settled and building begins

    After weeks of argument with consulting architect Arthur C. Nash, Durham architect Archie Royal Davis had his design for a Georgian Revival armory approved in mid-September 1942; R. K. Stewart and Son began building it late that year for about $41,000, meant as a temporary building to be replaced after the war.

18. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

19. 1966
    Closing or ending · Mary Manning house, 507 East Franklin Street (formerly 402), Chapel Hill The Mary Manning house on East Franklin Street, where Arthur Nash boarded, is torn down

    Nash lodged with Mary Manning from his arrival in 1922 until his own house was finished in 1926. The house stood at what is now 507 East Franklin Street, first numbered 402.

20. 1969
    Life event · Baltimore, Maryland Arthur Cleveland Nash, UNC's architect of the 1920s, dies in Baltimore

    He died at the home of his daughter Katharine and her husband, Edward Caldwell, and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.