| This research deals with the urban development of Asheville, North Carolina in the first half of the twentieth century and, specifically, the transformation of an urban hillside known as Battery Park. It is a case study of how one person and his beliefs about technology, modernization, and commercial appeal had the power to forever change the city's form. In a very short time period, E.W. Grove transformed a bucolic twenty-five-acre Battery Hill with a rambling Victorian hotel into a flattened automobile-centered commercial district with two skyscraper hotels. During this period, Grove concentrated his financial investments in this area, and worked diligently through many channels to ensure their success. Focusing on the time frame of 1900 to 1930, this investigation covers the Battery Park changes by combining three methods: the careful study of the existing landscape, historic visual analysis, and the use of traditional archival evidence. The ultimate goal of the project is to address the Battery Park landscape as a physical representation of the changing values in Asheville's history. The research traces the physical, functional, and technological evolution of this urban landscape and relates these changes to national, regional, and local history. It examines why certain values in Asheville took precedence over others and whether certain themes, such as transportation, were major influences. |
