Ritcher House
Why it's listed
Built in 1950 on a deep, wooded lot in west Raleigh, the Ritcher House is a one-story wood frame and post-and-beam dwelling laid out on a six-foot module. Its flat and shed roofs, deep eaves, and clerestory windows reflect Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses of the 1930s and 1940s. The house has Cherokee-red concrete floors with radiant heating pipes, redwood exterior boards, and a fully glazed rear wall that opens onto a sunken brick terrace. George Matsumoto, then 27 and an assistant professor at the new School of Design at North Carolina State College, designed it for Paul and June Ritcher. Contractor Frank Walser built it for $19,145. The house is regarded as an early Raleigh modern residence of high design quality, and it was published in House and Home and Quality Budget Homes in 1952.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the house is one of the first innovative modern residences created by faculty of the new School of Design at North Carolina State University. It is regarded as the work of architect George Matsumoto, who was 27 at the time, and it applies Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian techniques with high artistic value. Contemporary architectural publications documented the design.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 94001087, listed September 21, 1994. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 3039 Churchill Rd., Raleigh |
|---|---|
| County | Wake County |
| Listed | September 21, 1994 |
| Reference number | 94001087 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1950 |
| Architect / builder | George Matsumoto (architect); Frank Walser (contractor) |
| Architectural style | Wrightian |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Restored interior spaces mostly to original appearance by recent owners after reversing earlier alterations. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 35.80560, -78.67720 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 94001087.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7336646
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.