Mae and Philip Rothstein House
- Address: 912 Williamson Dr
The 1959 Mae and Philip Rothstein House is the work of G Milton Small Jr advocate of the International Style who was instrumental in its spread in North Carolina during the 1950s and 1960s. As a student of Mies van der Rohe, he used the modernist vocabulary in all of his work, receiving a dozen awards for commercial and residential work in the course of his career. In 1963, he was made a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. The Rothstein House is a prime expression of Miesian ideals and fulfills the requirements of Criterion C by embodying the aesthetic achievement of a master as a distinctive example of the modernist period. Small deliberately revealed the Miesian philosophy for all to see: use of vertical and horizontal planes to define form; exposure of its structure through the use of steel posts; clear definition of base, body and roof; integration of outdoors and indoors via large window walls; and use of rich interior finish materials. The Rothstein House also satisfies the requirements of Criteria Consideration G, for the less- than-fifty-year-old dwelling has been widely recognized as a significant and largely intact residential design by a leading master of modernism in North Carolina. - NRHP, 29 November 2004