File:Manor Inn Gatehouse, Asheville, NC (46743336671).jpg

Manor Inn Gatehouse, Asheville, NC

The oldest building in the Manor Inn and Albemarle Park district, the Gatehouse, also known as The Lodge, is a Shingle-style structure designed by Bradford Gilbert, and constructed in 1897 for Thomas Wadley Raoul, and his father, William Greene Raoul, based on a master plan by Samuel Parsons Jr., to serve as the Raoul's on-site residence, and entrance to their vacation resort. The building is surrounded by a large hotel, known as the Manor Inn, and a collection of smaller cottages, which are collectively known as Albemarle Park. The design was based on an English Manor House and village, with the buildings being romanticist victorian interpretations of the architecture of their inspiration. The property was operated by the Raoul family until 1920, when it was purchased by Edwin Wiley Grove, and operated as a hotel until the 1960s. The building was subsequently converted into a retirement home, known as The Manor Retirement Club, before changing ownership in 1976 and becoming a residential hotel, before it closed in 1984. The building is clad in wooden shingles with a stucco-clad base and half timbering on one side and a rough hewn stone base on the other side, a central arched porte cochere under the center of the building, casement windows, a hipped roof, and a cylindrical tower at one corner with a conical roof. The building is a contributing structure in the Manor and Cottages Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Manor Inn and some of the cottages were purchased by The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County in 1990. The Gatehouse presently serves as the home of several small businesses.