STUART OLIVER BAESEL, FAIA (1923-2009)

Baesel was born in Charlotte and graduated from Central High School in 1940. He attended UNC-Chapel Hill, served in the Army Air Corps in World War II, and completed his undergraduate degree in architecture at NCSU in 1949. He married Betsey London in 1949 at The Church of the Good Shepherd in Raleigh, after which he completed postgraduate work at Cranbrook in Michigan and Fontainebleau, France. They lived in Charlotte, New York City, and Columbia SC before settling in La Jolla CA in 1972. Both died in 2009.

Baesel worked for Odell in Charlotte, Skidmore Owings Merrill in New York City, and Lyles Bissett Carlisle and Wolfe in Columbia SC. He was extremely active in the SC AIA and edited the SC AIA Review of Architecture during the 1960s.

A new position as director for design for JN Pease and Associates in Charlotte moved him into larger architectural projects. He moved to La Jolla CA and focused on houses and buildings reflecting the bright sun, cool colors and clean lines of the Mediterranean. He and wife Betsey also owned a flat in Villefranche sur Mer on the Cote d'Azur in France where they lived off and on for ten years.

1954 - The Stuart and Betsey Baesel Residence, 4109 Melchor Avenue, Charlotte NC. Won a 1956 AIANC design award. Featured in the Charlotte Observer (their first color feature spread) and the book Artist's Interiors by Laurie Dickenson. Sold in 1985 to Eric and Jennifer Anderson who still owned it as of 2021.

1957 - The Better Homes and Gardens Five Star Plan #2702.

1977 - 8301 Sugarman Drive, La Jolla CA. Sold in 2012 to Peter Lancia and Liya Sharif.

1979 - House in La Jolla CA.

1980 - Beach House in La Jolla CA. Sold in 2018 to Joe and Marjorie Davis who did a renovation.

1984 - 8356 Gilman Drive, La Jolla CA. Sold in 2015 to Nicholas Priymak.

Sources include: Gail Jodon; History of The North Carolina Chapter of the AIA, 1913-1998: An Architectural Heritage by C. David Jackson and Charlotte V. Brown; Charlotte Observer.