(May 7, 1890-1930 or later)
Collections
- Lyda Collection, UNCA
- Related Oral Interviews, UNCA
- E.M. Ball Photo Collection, UNCA
- Correspondence, AAM
- Watercolors, Drawings and Blueprints, AAM, ABLS
Biographical Information
Albert Carl Wirth (May 7, 1890-1930 or later), was a native of Buffalo New York he moved to North Carolina to practice architecture in 1916. From an early age in his native city he worked as a draftsman for several major building firms in the upstate New York area. In addition to this he received some training at the School of Design in Toronto. Following this he practiced for two years independently before moving south. His fist destination in North Carolina was Greensboro where he worked for the local architect Harry Barton. He joined the army for the last several months of the first world war. In 1918 he got married to Nettie Leete Parker of New Jersey. Not many of his projects from this period in Greensboro have been identified.
In 1924 Wirth moved to Asheville, a city emerging in the 1920's as a major tourist and resort center of the south east. Wirth became a founding member of the Architect's Association of Western North Carolina. Wirth had the beginnings of a auspicious career started in Asheville. He designed the striking Flatiron Building which is his most famous project. Unfortunately like many people who came to Asheville in the 1920's his promising career was cut short by the disastrous 1929 wall street crash. Probably in response to the severe drop off in new construction prospects after this event Wirth moved with his family back to Buffalo in 1930. His precise date of death is not known.
Related Oral Interviews
The Buildings
David L. Strain Warehouse (1925)
Flatiron Building (1925-1926)
Hardee Apartments (1925)
John H. Stone Apartment Building (1924)
L. B. Jackson House (1927)
Richbourg Motor Company Building (1926)
Selected Correspondence
Typological Motifs in Wirth's Work
Bibliography
Architects and Their Buildings in Asheville," typescript list, North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, North Carolina.
Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).
David R. Black, Historic Architectural Resources of Downtown Asheville, North Carolina (1979).
Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Marvin A. Brown, Greensboro: An Architectural Record (1995).
North Carolina Board of Architecture, Record Book 1915-1992. Microfilmed by North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.
H. McKelden Smith, Architectural Resources: An Inventory of Historic Architecture, High Point, Jamestown, Gibsonville, Guilford County (1979).
Beaumert Whitton Papers, J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Who's Who in the South (1927)
About this site