At 1330 St. Marys an outdated office building is being gutted and reinvented. The office building was originally designed for doctors offices supporting the former Rex Hospital across the street. The hospital moved to its current location in 1980, and the building has seen better days. The Lewis Group has high hopes for their project, and has a website for the project that includes much information, including an nice summary about the Hayes Barton neighborhood:

The finest representation of Raleigh’s upper class domestic architecture is found in Hayes-Barton, a ca. 1920 suburb named for Sir Walter Raleigh’s birthplace in Devon, England.  Hayes-Barton is bordered by Glenwood Avenue, Fairview Road, Williamson Drive and St. Mary’s Street and is abundant with Pecan and Willow Oaks as well as faithful reproductions of Georgian and Colonial Revival homes that date back to the mid 1920s. Hayes-Barton remains an area of impeccably manicured landscapes and well-maintained facades, and still houses many of the capital city’s most politically and socially influential citizens.

Before the Raleigh city limits extension of 1920, the Five Points intersection consisted of dirt crossroads between adjacent farmlands owned by B. Grimes Cowper and Mrs. B.P. Williamson. In 1912 electricity provided by Carolina Power and Light Company powered a trolley line from Peace Street northward up the center of Glenwood Avenue to the newly created Bloomsbury Amusement Park, behind what is now the Carolina Country Club. Brilliantly lit on weekend evenings, Bloomsbury Park housed a roller coaster, a boathouse overlooking the lake, and a carousel. Within several years the picnic and amusement facility dissolved and later the carousel was moved to Pullen Park.

As is usually the case, development followed the transportation system, bringing scattered homes and a store or two to the Hayes Barton area between 1912 and WW I. With much foresight, The Allen Brothers realty firm struck an agreement with the two farmland owners to develop their combined 175-acre property. The former’s land was situated on the west side of Glenwood while the latter’s holdings were located to the east of Glenwood. Landscape architect Earle Sumner Draper was commissioned to create a design based upon principles seen earlier in Charlotte’s Myers Park. All lots have 40 feet of frontage and the natural contours of the land were preserved. Hayes-Barton appealed to the well-to-do with its promise of private large wooded lots and close proximity to downtown Raleigh. The Fairview Company, which sold the lots, saw a slow start in the post World War I economy. By the end of 1921, however, nearly two-thirds of the lots were purchased.

Hayes-Barton continues to grow, still offering the convenience of downtown Raleigh and the beauty of Draper’s well-preserved plan.  The area remains known as one of Raleigh’s most historical, cultural and influential addresses.