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Local figure

Arthur Cogswell

Arthur Cogswell, a 1952 UNC graduate who trained in architecture at North Carolina State College, opened his own Chapel Hill firm in 1962. With Werner Hausler from 1967 he designed modernist houses in Coker Hills and other Chapel Hill subdivisions, the Community Church sanctuary on Purefoy Road and the Ridgefield Townhouses.

Source: NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), pp. 92-95

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Arthur Cogswell. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Arthur Cogswell’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 12 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Architect Arthur Cogswell designs his own house on Marilyn Lane Cogswell's 1960 house at 5 Marilyn Lane sits on two levels in a slope, planned on George Matsumoto's four-foot grid and sided in vertical pine, with a short bridge from the drive to the door and a living room under a row of small glass-ended gables. It won an award from the North Carolina chapter of the AIA. People: Arthur Cogswell, George MatsumotoSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 92
  2. Arthur Cogswell opens his own architecture firm in Chapel Hill Arthur Cogswell, a UNC graduate of 1952 who trained in architecture at State College and spent the late 1950s in Don Stewart's office, opened his own Chapel Hill practice in 1962, designing flat-roofed, cantilevered houses in the spare manner he learned from George Matsumoto. People: Arthur Cogswell, George MatsumotoSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 92
  3. Arthur Cogswell designs a barrel-vaulted concrete house for David Hill In 1963 Cogswell built a concrete house with a barrel-vaulted roof at 205 Wood Circle in Coker Hills for Duke engineering professor David Hill, an example of the period's trials of new building materials. People: Arthur CogswellSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 93
  4. Arthur Cogswell designs the Koch House on Clayton Road In 1964 Cogswell designed a one-story, flat-roofed house for botany professor Arthur Koch at 401 Clayton Road in Coker Hills: a floor plate projecting from a block base, with glass walls opening to a deck over a pond. It received a North Carolina AIA award. People: Arthur CogswellSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 93
  5. Werner Hausler joins Arthur Cogswell's Chapel Hill architecture firm Arthur Cogswell, who had opened his own practice in Chapel Hill in 1962, hired Werner Hausler in 1964. By 1967 the two were partners in Cogswell/Hausler. People: Arthur CogswellSearch the index · NC Modernist: Arthur Ralph Cogswell Jr. FAIA
  6. Architect Arthur Cogswell adds a flat-roofed art studio to the Voitle house on Country Club Road The low modern studio at the rear has vertical wood siding and large fixed windows, a sharp contrast to the 1930s cottage in front of it. People: Arthur CogswellSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation, National Register nomination (OR1748), p. 18
  7. Arthur Cogswell designs a pyramid-roofed house for Marion Townend At 411 Clayton Road in Coker Hills, Cogswell designed a house in 1966 for Marion Townend under a tall pyramidal roof. A skylight at the peak lights the central living room and the rooms around it, whose light shifts as the sun moves. People: Arthur CogswellSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 93
  8. Arthur Cogswell and Werner Hausler form Cogswell/Hausler Architects In 1967 Cogswell went into partnership with Werner Hausler, an East German-born architect he had met at State College. In its early years the firm worked mostly on houses, designing many in Coker Hills, Lake Forest, Morgan Creek Hills and Glendale, and it lasted until Hausler retired in 1990. People: Arthur Cogswell, Werner HauslerSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 93
  9. Cogswell/Hausler design Arthur Cogswell's second house on Elliott Road The firm's 1969 house for Arthur Cogswell at 308 Elliott Road is a flat-roofed steel-frame building, plain and white outside, whose glass-walled rooms wrap around a terrace with a heated pool. It won a North Carolina AIA award. People: Arthur Cogswell, Werner HauslerSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 94
  10. Cogswell/Hausler design Ridgefield Townhouses, subsidized housing off South Estes Drive The firm's 1970 Ridgefield Townhouses, on a secluded tract at the end of South Estes Drive, are two-story brick and frame apartments built on a small budget but made to look like middle-class housing, set in courtyards around a community building and playground. The 44-unit neighborhood joined the town's public housing after Craig-Gomains and Lindsay Street (1967) and North Columbia Street (1968). People: Arthur Cogswell, Werner HauslerNC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 95
  11. Cogswell/Hausler design a new sanctuary for the Community Church on Purefoy Road In 1970 the firm added a two-story International Style sanctuary with stained siding and large south windows to the Community Church at 106 Purefoy Road, tied to the congregation's plain brick building of 1957 by George Matsumoto through a glass link. The integrated, nondenominational church had been founded in 1953 by the Rev. Charlie Jones and members who left Chapel Hill Presbyterian with him. People: Arthur Cogswell, Werner Hausler, George MatsumotoNC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 94
  12. Beta Theta Pi alumni begin renovating the chapter house Following an alumni capital campaign, work began in 1997 to bring the 1929 house up to code while keeping its plan and original materials; architect and Beta alumnus Arthur Cogswell Jr. led it, and the Betas were the first fraternity to add a sprinkler system after the 1996 fire. People: Arthur CogswellSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, National Register nomination (OR1744), p. 12

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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