The Longview Gardens Historic District is a historic neighborhood one-and-a-half miles east of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is roughly bounded by King Charles Road to the west, Donald Ross Drive to the east, Poole Road to the south, and Bertie Drive to the north.
Developed from 1938-1965 by Clarence Poe, the longtime editor of The Progressive Farmer, Longview Gardens was designed by Richmond landscape architect Charles Gillette. A student of the City Beautiful movement, Gillette designed a pattern of curvilinear streets on both sides of a parkway (now New Bern Avenue) for the neighborhood. This format remains today, and the Longview Gardens still provides a pastoral setting only a 3-5 minute drive from downtown.
The Longview Gardens neighborhood grew over a series of three separate phases: 1938-1940, 1948-1949, and 1959. Accordingly, its architectural styles reflect this progression, with the earliest homes constructed in the Colonial and Tudor Revival styles, popular before World War II, and the later homes constructed in the Ranch and Split Level styles. Lots throughout the neighborhood are wooded and large, with the smallest being approximately three-quarters of an acre in size. Several notable mid-century homes were constructed in the latter periods of development, including the A. Lewis Polier home at 111 Longview Lake Drive, the Dixon House, designed by Leif Valand at 105 King William Road, and the Cooper Residence at 107 King William Road. These three houses are featured on the Triangle Modernist Houses website.
In the late 1940s, the Raleigh Country Club purchashed a large tract of land within Longview Gardens for its new clubhouse and golf course, the latter of which was the last course designed by famed golf course designer Donald Ross. The country club was substantially renovated in 2002. The neighborhood is also home to two churches, Longview Baptist Church (1955) and Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church (1958), both striking Modernist structures. Other nearby attractions are Wake Med Hospital, Longview Mansion, Enloe Highschool, access to the Capital Area Greenway, and the Longview Pool.
Longview Gardens is the largest and most artistically designed mid-twentieth century subdivision in Raleigh and remains largely intact today. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2011.