The West End experienced a serious decline in the years between 1948 and 1968, when the West End Neighborhood Association was formed. The Association was formed in part to protest an apartment building at the intersection of Manly and Summit Streets. Scathingly called the “Summit Street Motel,” the proposed apartment building was so outrageously out of character with the surrounding houses that residents organized to protest the structure. While it was not successful in its efforts to stop the apartment building, the neighborhood association succeeded in having the West End back-zoned to R2, and it has remained a strong advocate for the preservation of the West End.
Fortunately, even though the declining years, the West End managed to retain its dignity and its integrity of both building stock and landscape features. There are intrusions in the neighborhood today, but it still remains a richly varied tapestry of terraced lawns, flights of stone steps, curving avenues, manicured parks and outstanding architecture. The West End is undoubtedly one of the finest tum of the century neighborhoods remaining in North Carolina, and its nomination to the National Register should help insure its continuing prominence.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination (1987)