Ghent Historic District

Ghent is a residential neighborhood of about 67 acres roughly one mile southwest of downtown New Bern, developed as a streetcar suburb in the early twentieth century. Its houses sit close to the street on narrow lots along Rhem and Spencer avenues and the north side of Park Avenue. A grassy median down Spencer Avenue marks where the New Bern-Ghent Railway's tracks ran from 1913 to 1929. Of 291 buildings, 203 are houses and 88 are outbuildings, mostly garages, and 191 contribute to the district's character. Construction between 1912 and 1941 produced Colonial Revival and Craftsman houses, American Four-Squares and many bungalows, along with about thirty side-hall-plan houses. The nomination also notes several houses that were probably ordered from Sears, Roebuck catalogues. Later infill includes 1940s frame houses, brick ranch houses and a 1950s Lustron steel house. The district was listed for its cohesive suburban character and the well-crafted work of local builders.