After last week’s post about Douglas Ellington’s drawing for a city auditorium, Asheville architect Jim Samsel, with an interest in buildings that didn’t get built, brought our attention to this 16-story building also designed by Douglas Ellington, and also never built. The site location is at Pack Square next to the Langren Hotel, the current location of the Akzona-Biltmore
Most people are familiar with, and bemoan, the decision our county forefathers made to not go with Douglas Ellington’s proposed twin designs for the Asheville City Hall and the Buncombe County Courthouse. But did you know about Ellington’s plan for a civic auditorium? Douglas Ellington introduced Art Deco architecture to Asheville in the 1920s, starting with