1808 Madison Avenue
Woodson G. Carson, Sr., took out the permit to build this house in 1951, making it one of the first post-world War II houses to go up in McCrorey Heights. Carson worked as a waiter on the Southern Railway. Railroad jobs such as porter and waiter were among the best employment open to African Americans in the mid-twentieth century, prized for their steady work and decent pay. Carson’s wife Willa M. Carson also held a desirable position as a teacher at Second Ward High School. After Woodson Carson, Sr., died in 1968, his son Woodson Carson, Jr., seems to have lived in the house.
Architecture
One of the few two-story houses in McCrorey Heights, this dwelling shows an uncommon mix of Colonial and Modernist influences. The two-story massing and gable roof look backward to Colonial traditions. But the rest of the “architectural vocabulary” is forward-looking, drawing on Modernist ideas popular in the mid twentieth century. Window placement is asymmetrical, including an unusual tall stairwell window of glass block. The front door is placed off-center and sheltered by a curved canopy. A gable-roofed one-vehicle carport at the west side of the dwelling is a 1958 addition by the original owner, done in keeping with the rest of the design.
Building permits
Madison 1808 permit a
Date issued: September 7, 1956
Owner: Erwin Const. Co.
Contractor:
Estimated cost:
Other permit info: [may be for wrong address?]
Madison 1808 permit b
Date issued: September 15, 1958
Owner: W. G. Carson
Contractor: W. G. Carson
Estimated cost:
Other permit info: to build carport
Madison-1808-permit-c
Date issued: July 17, 1951
Owner: W. G. Carson
Contractor: E. W. McKnight
Estimated cost:
Other permit info: to build residence
First appeared in city directory
1952 – Woodson G. Carson & Willa M.
He: Waiter, Southern Railway
She: Teacher, Second Ward High School
1981 city directory – Woodson Carson, retired, with wife Ollie T.
Resources
“News of N.C. and S.C. Deaths, Funerals,” Charlotte Observer, May 19, 1968.