Overlooking Crabtree
1956 - The Pierce Oliver "Kidd" Brewer House, 509 Homewood Banks Drive Raleigh., The property was known as "Belle Acres" after Brewer's mother, Jennie Belle Jones Brewer. Brewer was a politician—an aide to two U.S. senators—who made his fortune buying the land where future roads would go. Nothing novel there, of course. But when, in 1963, he was sentenced to 18 months in state prison for bid-rigging, Brewer responded with a gala "going-in party" at his fabulous house high above Crabtree Creek, to which everyone who was anyone in the Cap City was invited. And when he got out four months later (what's a little bid-rigging among friends?) and was asked about his future plans, he replied, "I'm going to peddle influence."
Earlier, Brewer'd made his mark as an athlete at Duke and as the football coach at Appalachian State, where the stadium still bears his name. (His '37 team was unbeaten and unscored upon.) But his greatest claim to fame came in Raleigh, where in the mid-'50s he bought 115 acres of land outside of town near the intersection of U.S. 70 and the forthcoming Raleigh Beltline. Where others saw a floodplain, Brewer saw a shopping center, and soon Raleigh rewarded him with its biggest shopping mall by far (at the time, it was the biggest between Atlanta and Washington) smack dab in the middle of where it floods every time there's a good rain. (Still floods there, in fact, which is kind of funny unless it's your car they're dragging out of it on the news.) While Raleigh shoppers shopped below, though, Brewer took care to preserve Kidd's Hill for himself, tucking his house in under the ridgeline 120 feet up, near what's now Blue Ridge Road. The house was a thoroughly modern affair, complete with connecting indoor and outdoor swimming pools. When I moved to the area 20 years ago, it had been turned into a quite nice restaurant (the mailbox still bares the name "It's Prime Only"), which from its back deck offered a glorious view of floodplain management done wrong. But that kind of negative thinking is perhaps why Brewer named the house "Belle Acres"—and among family and friends liked to call it "Belly Achers."
It burned (aerial shot, left) in 2006. The pools were in the oval area at the top of the building. You seek a camoed pill bottle, which is hidden at the base of a tree. Happy hunting! Brewer's nephew Ben Brewer recalls that "the home was built as a square horseshoe. One pool was located just North of the home by about 30 feet. It overlooked the Crabtree Valley where the Mall now sits. In the younger years we would sit by the pool and look over the acres down to a pretty good sized lake. The lake site would probably be in one of the Mall parking areas...if not directly inside the Mall. The second smaller pool I would say measured 15 feet by 20 feet in size. It was on the inside of the horseshoe. There was a tree growing right through the ceiling to the outside. I don't recall exactly, but I think the roofing there was some kind of hard plastic covering. The east wing of the horseshoe had the bedrooms and bathrooms in it. The top of the horseshoe, if it were standing on end, housed a very large living room and kitchen all open. Then on the east part of the horseshoe was another middle sized room used for personal talking. It didn't get much use as I recall. Most family gatherings took place in the main grand room. It had floor to ceiling glass panels which gave one panorama view of all of the area east to west and north for as far as the eye could see."