Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District

Gimghoul is a residential district of about thirty-seven houses and a church east of the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill, built mostly between 1924 and the late 1930s. The Order of the Gimghouls, a university society, subdivided part of its land here to raise money for its Gimghoul Castle, completed in 1927. Early residents were largely university faculty and staff, along with some local businessmen. The neighborhood's houses are predominantly Colonial Revival, with some Craftsman and Tudor Revival examples among the 1920s houses. Many were built from popular plans by area contractors, and a few were designed by architects including William Sprinkle, George Hackney and Thomas C. Atwood. Stone retaining walls line the street frontages and curving Glandon Drive follows the slope above Battle Creek. The district is regarded as significant for its planning, for its early role as a residential development beyond the village, and for the streetscapes set within a wooded ridge landscape.