Graylyn Estate, or Graylin, is a historic estate located in

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

Forsyth County, North Carolina Forsyth County is located in the northwest Piedmont of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 382,590, making it the fourth-most populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Winston-Salem. Forsyth ...

and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978. The construction of the

Norman Revival Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

style mansion began in 1928. Associated with the house are a number of contributing outbuildings including a garage-guest house and "farm" complex. Today, Graylyn estate is used as a conference center and hotel. It is currently a member o
Historic Hotels of America
the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is on a estate.

History

Construction

In 1925, spouses Nathalie Lyons Gray and

Bowman Gray Sr. Bowman Gray Sr. (May 1, 1874 – July 7, 1935) was a former president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and a major benefactor of the medical school of Wake Forest College that would bear his name. Lif ...

, chairman of the

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and headquartered at the RJR Plaza Building. Founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the second-largest tobacco comp ...

, purchased the 87 acre estate from

R. J. Reynolds Richard Joshua Reynolds (July 20, 1850 – July 29, 1918) was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The son of a tobacco farmer, he worked for his father and attended Emory & Henry College from 1868 to 1870 ...

with the plan of building “the home of their dreams.” The land had formerly been corn fields and pasture for the Reynolda Estate which is now referred to as the

Reynolda Historic District Reynolda Historic District is a national historic district located on Reynolda Rd. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It includes work by Charles Barton Keen and by landscape architect Thomas Warren Sears. The listing includes 22 contribut ...

. The Grays then employed artisans and craftsmen from all over the United States to build what was one of the largest private homes in North Carolina. The groundbreaking for the mansion took place on January 15, 1928, and as many as 136 people worked on the construction of the estate at one time. The mansion was built in the style of

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used fo ...

and contained approximately 60 rooms. At the time, it was second to George Vanderbilt's

Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

for the largest private home in North Carolina. The ironwork throughout the property was designed by Joseph Barton Benson, an ironsmith from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Nathalie Gray personally decorated the rooms of Graylyn, and the grounds and gardens were designed by

Thomas Warren Sears Thomas Warren Sears (December 15, 1880 – June 1966) was a noted American landscape architect. Sears was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Alexander Pomeroy and Elizabeth Prescott (Jones) Sears. He received his A.B. in 1903 from Harvard Co ...

. The amenities of the house were considered very lavish at the time, and its original telephone system and floodlight system "were at the cutting end of technology for the 1930s."

Later Uses

Nathalie Gray and her sons gifted the estate to the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of in 1946. The estate was used as a psychiatric hospital from 1947 to 1959. Gordon Gray, the son of Nathalie and Bowman Gray, bought the estate back in 1972 and donated it to

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

. In the following years, the estate was used for multiple purposes including university programs and community service. From 1977 to 1980, Graylyn was used as a dormitory and housed approximately 40 students a year.

Fire and Reconstruction

On June 20, 1980, a fire started in the house during a performance on the lawn by the Winston-Salem Symphony. Nearly 7,000 people watched as the fire extensively damaged the interior of the house. The following day,

James R. Scales James Ralph Scales (May 27, 1919 – March 12, 1996) was president of Oklahoma Baptist University (his alma mater), 1961–1965, and eleventh president of Wake Forest University, from 1968-1983. He was a member of the Cherokee Nation and was active ...

, the president of Wake Forest University at the time, announced that Graylyn would be rebuilt and restored to its 1932 appearance. The restoration of the mansion and Bernard Cottage was completed in 1984 at a cost of $6,000,000.

Current Uses

Graylyn is currently used as a conference center and contains 85 guest rooms and 15 meeting rooms. Graylyn has 5 separate buildings for guest accommodations, including the Manor House, the Mews, Bernard Cottage, Gardener's Cottage and the Bungalows.

References

External Links

{{National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Romanesque Revival architecture in North Carolina Houses in Winston-Salem, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Historic hotels in the United States Hotels in North Carolina Historic Hotels of America