The Page-Walker Hotel, also known as the Page-Walker Arts & History Center, is a
historic house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...
and former hotel located in
Cary, North Carolina
Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest muni ...
. The founder of the town of Cary, Allison Francis Page, built the
Second Empire style
Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...
hotel about 1868, and J. R. Walker bought it later. Page's son
Walter Hines Page
Walter Hines Page (August 15, 1855 – December 21, 1918) was an American journalist, publisher, and diplomat. He was the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom during World War I.
He founded the ''State Chronicle'', a newspaper in Rale ...
(1855–1918) was an American journalist, publisher, and diplomat.
History
From 1868 until 1916, passengers from the
Southern
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express, M ...
and
Seaboard Air Line
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...
railroads stayed at the Page-Walker Hotel. The building served as a boarding house and private residence from 1916 until 1980. After the business closed, the building sat vacant and deteriorated for five years until the Cary Town Council purchased the property. Volunteers restored the exterior of the hotel to its original design.
Museum
The Arts & History Center also contains the Cary Heritage Museum, gallery exhibitions, educational rooms, an archive gallery, a
smokehouse
A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...
, and a garden.
Page-Walker Arts & History Center
The Page-Walker Hotel was added to 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 ...
on May 29, 1979.
Events Today
The Page-Walker currently hosts a variety of events such as weddings. Annually, they host a "Paint the Page" art contest in which young artists from grades 8-12 are invited to draw an aspect of the building that inspires them most.
See also
* List of museums in North Carolina
This list of museums in North Carolina is a list of museums, defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scient ...
*
References
External links
Town of Cary: Page-Walker Arts & History Center website
Friends of the Page-Walker Hotel website
{{National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Houses completed in 1868
Historic house museums in North Carolina
Museums in Wake County, North Carolina
Art museums and galleries in North Carolina North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east ...
History museums in North Carolina
Buildings and structures in Cary, North Carolina
Hotels in North Carolina
Hotels established in 1868
Houses in Wake County, North Carolina
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places in Wake County, North Carolina
Second Empire architecture in North Carolina