Asheville Art Museum spotlights the city’s architects
In the early 20th century, travel writers dubbed Asheville “the Paris of the South,” a nod to its flourishing arts, literature, and culture — with architecture playing a starring role. Handcrafted cottages, terracotta towers, and stately churches rose across the skyline, combining ambition with artistry and signaling the city’s growing cultural clout. The Asheville Art Museum’s new exhibition, Lasting Legacies, traces this architectural flowering through the work of Richard Sharp Smith, Albert Heath Carrier, and Douglas D. Ellington. According to a press release, Smith and Carrier popularized the British Arts and Crafts style, adapting its rustic elegance to the Blue Ridge setting in places like St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Biltmore Village, and Albemarle Park. Two decades later, Ellington ushered in Asheville’s embrace of Art Deco. His most recognizable landmark, the Asheville City Building, still rises in tiered terracotta above Pack Square. “Ellington’s buildings defined the city’s skyline,” says Lauren Rusignola, strategic partner at the Douglas Ellington House. On loan from the Ellington family are site plans, drawings, and even whimsical chess pieces that give visitors a more intimate view of his creative world.
Lasting Legacies: Architecture in Asheville by Richard Sharp Smith, Albert Heath Carrier, and Douglas D. Ellington: September 19-January 18, 2026
Asheville Art Museum / 2 South Pack Square, Asheville / ashevilleart.org