Wakelon High School Becomes Wake County Landmark

By MaryBeth Carpenter

Zebulon received its very first landmarked property in Fall 2018.  Wakelon High School was designated a local landmark by the Wake County Historic Preservation Commission (WCHPC). Zebulon Town Commissioners accepted the landmark status at their September meeting and WCHPC also approved it in September.

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) reported these details about Wakelon in its filing. “Erected in 1909 and doubled in size in 1914, Wakelon High School possesses local significance in the areas of education and architecture. As one of the first four high schools constructed in Wake County, the school is important in Zebulon for its role in the education of white students who resided in the town and surrounding areas over about seven decades. The building is also important in Zebulon and the county as a rare, exuberant, and well-preserved example of eclectic late Victorian design.

Landmark designation means the community recognizes a property as an important historic resource worthy of preservation,” according to SHPO.

This building at 1001 North Arendell Avenue, set back 220 feet from the street, displays both Neoclassical and Italianate architectural features.  Its most dramatic element is an octagonal tower with a domed roof that rises at the center of the eastern facing front façade. In 1914 a large addition was added to the school, doubling its size and repeating the massing, size, materials and architectural style of the original building.

Italianate architectural features include a beltcourse, corner quoins, segmental and round arches and hooded windows. Classical elements include paired windows, a boxed eve, and symmetry at each elevation. The red brick exterior contrasts nicely with granite sills and lintels at some windows while others display keystone brick window hoods.

The building closed as a school in the 1980s, and GlaxoSmithKline bought it for their purposes and undertook a renovation in 1998-1999 as a training center. It was sold to the Town and became the Zebulon Town Hall in 2009.

This article, written by Preservation Zebulon Executive Director MaryBeth Carpenter, appeared in the December 2018 edition of the Preservation Zebulon newsletter.