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Local figure

George Matsumoto

George Matsumoto (1922–2016), a Japanese American modernist architect who taught at North Carolina State College's School of Design from 1948 to 1961, designed the Community Church of Chapel Hill (1957) and Chapel Hill houses for Isaac Taylor, Milton Julian, and Cecile and Bryce DeWitt.

Source: NC State University Libraries: George Matsumoto Papers, 1945-1991 (MC 00042), finding aid

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to George Matsumoto. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about George Matsumoto’s life and work.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Architect George Matsumoto draws plans for Dr. Isaac Taylor's house on Morgan Creek Road George Matsumoto of the State College School of Design drew the plans for the house of Dr. Isaac M. Taylor, new to the medical school faculty, in Morgan Creek Hills. The Taylors raised their children there, among them the singer James Taylor. People: George Matsumoto, James Taylor Place: 618 Morgan Creek Road, Chapel Hill · Also named: Isaac M. TaylorSearch the index · NC State University Libraries: George Matsumoto Papers, 1945-1991 (MC 00042), finding aid · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, November 20, 1962, p. 3
  2. Milton Julian wins the right to build his modernist house on Ledge Lane When W. C. Coker's chosen architect, Walter D. Toy, refused to approve the plans for clothier Milton Julian's house on Ledge Lane, designed by George Matsumoto of the State College School of Design, Milton and Virginia Julian sued on September 30, 1953; Coker's executors, his widow and neighbors Cornelius and Beulah Cathey opposed them. The North Carolina Supreme Court held on June 4, 1954 that the approval clause was personal to Coker and ended at his death in June 1953, and the International Style house was finished by November 1956. People: George Matsumoto, Milton Julian Place: Ledge Lane, Laurel Hill, Chapel Hill · Also named: W. C. Coker, Walter D. ToySearch the index · Caselaw Access Project: Julian v. Lawton, 240 N.C. 436, 82 S.E.2d 210 (N.C. Supreme Court, June 4, 1954) · Also: NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 2, 1956, p. 1
  3. Milton Julian's Matsumoto-designed house on Ledge Lane is finished The modernist house George Matsumoto designed for clothier Milton Julian and his family, which neighbors had gone to court to stop, stood finished by November 1956, when it was one of ten homes on the School Art Guild's tour of Chapel Hill homes. People: George Matsumoto, Milton Julian Place: 101 Ledge Lane, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 2, 1956, p. 1 · Also: NC State University Libraries, George Matsumoto Papers finding aid
  4. George Matsumoto draws plans for a Chapel Hill house for Cecile and Bryce DeWitt Matsumoto's papers hold sketches, preliminary drawings and fourteen sheets of working drawings for a residence in Chapel Hill for Cecile and Bryce DeWitt. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Cecile DeWitt, Bryce DeWittSearch the index · NC State University Libraries: George Matsumoto Papers, 1945-1991 (MC 00042), finding aid
  5. 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: George Matsumoto, Arthur Cogswell Place: 5 Marilyn Lane, Chapel HillSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 92
  6. 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: George Matsumoto, Arthur Cogswell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Don StewartSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 92
  7. 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 Matsumoto, Charles M. Jones Place: 106 Purefoy Road, Chapel Hill · Also named: Charlie JonesNC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 94

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as George Matsumoto, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Background on Binkley Baptist and the Community Church of Chapel Hill

Background reading on Binkley Baptist and the Community Church of Chapel Hill. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss George Matsumoto. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Norman Gustaveson papers, 1948-2010

Gustaveson, Norman · 1948

Norman Gustaveson's papers cover 1948 to 2010 and belong to the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5500. The papers document his work as a university employee and Chapel Hill activist, including the Speaker Ban Law and academic freedom in North Carolina, the Campus Y, student political activity, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, and the Triangle Land Conservancy.

UNC

Robert E. Seymour papers, 1941-2017

Seymour, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1925-2020 · 1941

Thirty seven linear feet of papers from Robert E. Seymour (1925-2020), approximately 14,700 items dated 1941 to 2017, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 04554. Seymour was a Baptist clergyman in North Carolina. The papers concern Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill along with congregations in Mars Hill and Warrenton. Race relations and community life in the state are also subjects.

UNC

Joseph W. Straley papers, 1936-2002.

Straley, Joseph W., 1914- · 1936

Joseph W. Straley, born 1914, taught at the University of North Carolina, and his papers, about 600 items in a linear foot and a half spanning 1936 to 2002, are in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5252. Diaries and other primary material cover academic freedom and the Speaker Ban Law, civil rights work and segregation, the Community Church of Chapel Hill, Charles Miles Jones and Howard Lee.

UNC

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  • NC LIVE: prepared search for George Matsumoto Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
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