The Brown Town neighborhood is located with North Elm to the east, and Cone Boulevard to the North. This part of town is called Brown Town because it was developed by the Brown Corporation- in the 1950’s. The neighborhood is known for having a large concentration of ranch style homes. It is a small, tight-knit community with approximately 300 homes. The neighborhood, full of families, children and young professionals, has a coordinated annual block party every October.
Brown Town is home to prominent modernist architect Edward Loewenstein’s home. Loewenstein moved to Greensboro in 1945, after marrying Frances Stern, the daughter of a prominent Greensboro family. He established a design practice and then partnered with Robert A. Atkinson Jr. in 1953, becoming a local leader of modernist design. Over three decades, Loewenstein and Atkinson completed 1,600 commissions, including Loewenstein’s own residence, a masterpiece of modern architecture set in a two-acre wooded suburban lot approximately three miles north of downtown Greensboro, located at 2104 Granville Road. It is surrounded largely by Georgian and Colonial revival structures, some of which date from the 1920s.
The Loewenstein House exhibits many characteristics of midcentury modern design: a single-story, open floor plan that stretches out horizontally on the site; flat and low-sloped roofs; large expanses of windows; an informal relationship to the street; and connections from the inside spaces to the surrounding landscape.
Loewenstein became a significant figure in Greensboro not just for the infusion of modernism to the landscape of the city, but also because of his progressive ideas. Loewenstein taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, then known as the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina. A house designed by his class of twenty-three female interior design students in 1958 was profiled in McCalls magazine. This course for “college girls” was intended to “demonstrate actual planning, design, construction, and finishing of a home.” It was hailed as “a unique project … an educational first!” for a profession that was largely dominated by men. Loewenstein was familiar with pushing social norms. Loewenstein and Atkinson was the first white firm in Greensboro to hire African American architects and design professionals, among them William Streat (Loewenstein’s MIT classmate) and W. Edward Jenkins.
Today, the house is occupied by the architect’s daughter. It is a private residence that is not open to the public.
Explore Like a Local
Brown Town is in walking distance to State Street, home of 30 unique shops, galleries, restaurants, and boutiques housed in refurbished 1920s buildings. Some favorites include Vida Pour Tea, Bitters Social House, Be Kind Kids, Cafe Pasta and Greensboro Power Yoga.
Insider Tips
Residents enjoy the ease of walking to Saint Pius Catholic Church, Sherwood Swimming and Tennis Club and Brown Gardener, an old-fashioned pharmacy and soda fountain.
