Queens Road Is The Queens Way…

June 5, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC
Queens Road Is The Queens Way…
Charlotte is noted for many things, but most of all for her trees. Flying over Charlotte, the uptown is clearly visible and then there is the canopy of the great ladies. The Willow Oaks and Post Oaks, the Red Oaks and all their beautiful Sisters: the Maples, and Elms, and Pines, the Willows…a forest of green. And yet, today Charlotte has slipped beneath the Federal requirement for green space…so I wonder.

Do we move so fast, tear down so quickly, change for what we deem to be better…when we already have such an incredible city with such amazing streets as Queens and Queens Road East and Queens Road West.Sound silly to have all those Queens? Believe me when I tell you, it is not nearly enough. For over fifty years I have ridden through the Queens' pathways, the wide boulevard-like streets and breathed in the elegance and charm of our history. We who have lived here for eons, speak to the trees, bask in their shade and calm our racing minds by walking or running in their shadows. We treasure this beautiful city.
This evening, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and talking to Alan Simonini about hislatest community: Stephens Square…on the corner of Queens Road West and SelwynAvenue. Stephens Square looks as though it has been there for many years. As a matter of record it replaced two fourplexes that had been there for years and none the worse for wear…I asked Alan how the vision came and what was their notion. Stephens Square has its name and its roots in Myers Park. Please allow me to introduce George Stephens. I’ll read this from the Simonini presentation…

"There are no freeways in his name, no hospital wings, auditoriums, libraries or museums. Yet George Stephens left an imprint on Charlotte that all but defines this city.
It was he, more than any other individual, who conceived of creating Myers Park. With his father-in-law John Springs Myers, he purchased the land, funded its development through his company and led the city to embrace the brand new notion of suburban living.
In those days, what is now Myers Park was largely farmland. At first, few could see the wisdom of Stephens' plan to build large houses on the open space beyond the city limits. But steadily, progressive citizens came to appreciate what Stephens had in mind -and to make Myers Park their home.
To fulfill his vision, Stephens enlisted the services of the most promising landscape architect of the day, John Nolen of Harvard Square in Boston. On account of Nolen's exceptional contribution, his name has come to be most closely associated with Myers Park through the years.
It is our hope that Stephens' name will also come to be remembered for our city's pre-eminent neighborhood as it should. It only seems right that the landmark corner of Queens Road West and Selwyn Avenue be forever known as Stephens Square.

Now we’ll follow soon with my interview with Alan Simonini and Scott Teel... and pictures from Stephens Square.Simonini is to be applauded for preserving, making better, honoring the grace of QueensRoad West. If you love Charlotte, I am sure you’ll agree. Stephens Square is very welcomed...as it sits behind the gracious old trees. As it should.

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo Cando® in Charlotte, NC