Louis Sumner
Winn Jr.

(1928–2000)

Sumner Winn grew up in Worchester MA and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1950. After a year at the Sorbonne in Paris and four years in the Air Force in a MASH unit during the Korean War, Winn earned a BS in Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. He moved to Chapel Hill around 1960 and worked for Archie Royal Davis. In 1967 he worked as Winn/Condoret architects with Jon Condoret. In approximately 1968 he joined Don Stewart's CPAA as a partner. He left in 1973 to form his own practice in Chapel Hill. Most of his records and drawings were destroyed in 1994 when his Chapel Hill home office at 127 Stateside Drive burned. With second wife Genie, he rebuilt the house in 1998 and spent his last years sharing an office in Carrboro with designer John Lindsey, known for designing the Wellspring Groceries (later Whole Foods), Magnolia Grill, and Aurora Restaurant. Winn's houses are known for beautiful corner windows, brick mass fireplaces, and extended post and beam exterior eaves.