Tryon Palace is a rare historic property in North Carolina – it is a reconstruction!
What one sees today as the last residence of the last colonial-era royal governor in the 1770s was actually built during the 1950s from the original plans of English architect John Hawks. Following other wholescale historic reconstructions, including colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, the State of North Carolina organized efforts to resurrect this building that fire destroyed in 1798.
The original plans remain in the British Library, and its Palladian style, drawing on Roman, Greek, and Italian antecedents, was amongst the most popular in England at the time.
While not listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Tryon Palace would likely be eligible as a historic reconstruction, one of the four historic treatments recognized in the United States for our nation’s historic buildings, and one important for historical interpretation, especially for lost but highly important buildings that help us understand places, peoples, and events better.
Reconstruction is defined by the National Park Service as “the act or process of depicting, by means of new construction, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific period of time and in its historic location.” Building plans or illustrations as well as historical and archaeological research are recommended for this approach.
The North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office’s Survey and National Register branch administers the statewide architectural survey program and nomination efforts for the National Register program in North Carolina to aid in the preservation of historic places throughout North Carolina.
Learn more:
- https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2016/04/08/tryon-palace-rebuilt-its-ashes
- https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/06/tryon-palace-c-2
- https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/john-hawks-1731-1790-papers-1767-1773-1857/130027
- https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/tryon-palace-its-restoration-and-preservation-by-the-tryon-palace-commission-1945-1965/3690662
- Alonzo T. Dill, Jr., “Tryon’s Palace, A Neglected Niche of North Carolina History,” North Carolina Historical Review, 19.2 (Apr. 1942).
Image credit: Tisdale, William, engraver. "Five-dollar bill of credit, 1775. (call no. CK123.1)" Hillsborough, N.C.: North Carolina Provincial Congress. 1775. North Carolina Collection Numismatic Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://dcr.lib.unc.edu/record/24c0e1ee-25b5-46a0-9234-1b37872c545a .