|
Agenda Survey Committee Wednesday, May 30, 2012 8:30 a.m.
1. Welcome: Jill Walker, Committee Chair 2. Director's Report: Dan Morrill 3. Prospective Historic Landmarks A. Funderburk-Plaxco House, 316 E. Matthews Street, Matthews, N.C.
The HLC has submitted an offer on the property, and is requesting that this property be processed for historic landmark designation. Staff believes that the property possesses the requisite significance to be eligible for landmark status and recommends that the interior and exterior of the house, the outbuildings, and the lot of land be designated. Click here to view the Survey and Research Report. The current owner supports historic landmark designation. B. Whitley Mill, Long Creek off of Beatties Ford Road, Charlotte, N.C. Click here for the Survey and Research Report. The owner supports historic landmark designation. Click here to view the Survey and Research Report.
Staff believes that the property possesses the requisite significance to be eligible for landmark status and that the two tax parcels that contain the mill ruin and the millrace be designated. 4. Study List Applications A. Love House, Charlotte, N.C. The owner has requested that the property be placed on the Commission's Study List.
Above: Detail of Stair Banister Railing Staff believes that the property does not possess the requisite special significance required of historic landmarks. The essential issue is the almost total loss of its historic setting. B. Herb Cohen and Jose Fumero House, 1154 Cedarwood Lane, Charlotte, N.C. The owner has requested that the property be placed on the Commission's Study List.
Staff believes that the property does potentially possess the requisite special significance required of historic landmarks. C. Homer Albro House (1926), 1943 Queens Road, Charlotte, N.C. The owner has requested that the property be placed on the Commission's Study List.
Staff believes that the property does potentially possess the requisite special significance required of historic landmarks. D. Huntersville Jail, Huntersville, N.C. The Town of Huntersville has requested that the property be placed on the Commission's Study List and that a Survey and Research Report be produced on the property.
Staff believes that the property does potentially possess the requisite special significance required of historic landmarks. Staff recommends that the cost of the report be split with the Town of Huntersville. 5. Requests for Review of Property A. Sharon South Townhomes, Regent Park Lane, Charlotte, N.C.
Above: Clubhouse for the Townhomes Historical Synopsis of Sharon South Homes Association By: Don Kaufhold, Sharon South Townhomes Board President. Compiled from resident interviews, interviews with original developer/builder and E. Lynwood Mallard, the attorney who wrote the by-laws for the Townhomes. Incorporation & Formation: · Incorporated 13 May 1970 by Robert C. Rapp, Jr., Vice-President of Westminster Company, recorded on Page One of Book 3196 of the Mecklenburg Public Registry. By-Laws enacted 8 July 1970 and filed by E. Lynwood Mallard (a graduate of the Chapel Hill School of Law), then of Ruff Perry Bond Cobb & Wade, thus (possibly) creating the first North Carolina (non-profit) corporation of its kind. A joint venture of Westminster Company of Raleigh, NC (a division of the Weyerhaeuser Company) and City Properties of Charlotte, NC. The architect was Thomas P. Heritage and Associates of Greensboro, NC.
Location & Ownership: · Originally an entity within both the North Carolina townships of Pineville (“Pineville Township”) and Sharon (“Sharon Township”). The plot of land was originally a farm owned by Sampson Wolfe (1799-1885) and his wife, Eliza Ann Rosser (1815-1895), consisting of 225 acres. · The Wolfe Farm was purchased by an Eye, Ears, Nose and Throat specialist named Albert M. Whisnant in 1911 for $7,241. It stretched from what is now the north end of Wolfe Ridge Road (at Park Road and Sharon Road), the length of Sharon Road West on the south and to South Boulevard on the west, encompassing both sides of where Sharon Road West meets South Boulevard. Dr. Whisnant died in 1963 (his wife, Hope Spencer Whisnant, died in 1965) and the Wolfe-Whisnant tract of land was eventually sold to developers. Now encompasses the streets of: Regent Park Lane, Knights Bridge Road, Sabrina Court, and Pewsbury Court.
Construction: · Began in 1970 at 8000 Regent Park Lane (the model home) and continued until 1973. · There are a total of 203 homes; primarily 2 or 3-story units; 6 one-level, garden-style homes (the original plans were for a larger community but those plans were later scrapped). Current amenities include a clubhouse (constructed in 2 separate stages) with a kitchen, storage room and meeting room, a swimming pool (with Olympic-grade diving board) and a Kiddie/Wading pool, and an adjacent playground.
Architecture style: Williamsburg (otherwise sometimes generally referred to as “Colonial” or “Georgian Colonial”) Key architectural elements employed at Sharon South: · Square, symmetrical shapes conveying a sense of formality. Exterior and interior areas are both arranged according to strict classical concepts of symmetry and proportion. · Use of double-hung, multi-paneled rectangular and evenly-spaced windows · Use of dormers (both with windows and as false dormers) · Shutters
Interesting facts: The purpose of the Association, as originally defined in the Articles of Incorporation, is: “This Association does not contemplate pecuniary gain or profit to the members thereof, and the specific purposes for which it is formed are to provide for maintenance, preservation and architectural control of the residence Lots and Common Area within that certain tract of property…”, where followed a legal description of the property itself. The Westminster Company was pioneering a new concept of “planned unit developments” (PUDs) with common areas and homeowners associations. At that time one of the top real estate lawyers in Charlotte, Robert E. Perry, asked Lynwood Mallard, a fresh, young lawyer, to assist with the legal work on the development of Sharon South. Per Mallard’s recollection, there were no HOAs in North Carolina at the time, so documents were procured from a PUD in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC to assist in the creation of the Sharon South legal documents. Mallard recalls struggling with confronting a project that had no precedent. Additionally, the then vice-president of the Westminster Company, Robert C. Rapp, Jr. (and an original signer on the Sharon South Declaration), recalls the Charlotte city manager at the time having no interest in a townhome community/association formation and in fact told him to ‘...build it elsewhere...’
Additional interesting facts: Original homeowners recall seeing outbuildings of the old Wolfe farm during the early years of construction in 1970 · Sharon Road West was two lanes. · South Mecklenburg High School had only been open for 11 years (Gleneagles Road was built to bus students to South Meck High) · There was no Quail Corners shopping center! · The area housing Park Lane Apartments along Knights Bridge was originally a swampy area, due in part to large patches of bull tallow soil left over as a remnant of water/alluvial movement; an aquifer is reportedly located in the vicinity of the pool · Sharon South II is a separate community built at a later date. · When the pavement in Lot One began to sink, the Association had the center of the lot unearthed where it was discovered that a small pond had existed during the farm years and construction workers had simply filled it in with construction debris. In order to correct this, a fabric cover had to be applied, followed by firm soil and then new paving. When Lot 14 was re-paved, the Bull Tallow was so pervasive that special soil from Virginia had to be trucked in and applied before re-paving could begin. · Former Sharon South resident and retired teacher, Miss Anne Batten (deceased), taught future journalist and former Charlotte resident, Charles Kuralt, in Junior High School. Batten recalls young Charles expressing an interest in journalism and asked her what classes he should take. She told him to take as much History as he could! · Established in the By-Laws, Sharon South’s annual meetings are held during the month of its incorporation, May.
Above: Floor plan from a 1970 promotional brochure for the Townhomes.
Above: Ad for the Sharon South Townhomes from the Charlotte Observer, September, 1973.
Above: Townhouse Example
Above: Sharon South Townhomes Streetscape B. North Charlotte Neighborhood, N. Davidson Street, Charlotte, N.C.
Lowder Building, N. Davidson Street.
3120 North Davidson Street
511 East 36th Street
N. Davidson Street (block between 34th and 35th)
3225 North Davidson Street
Water tower, 37th Street
3025 North Davidson Street
612 E. 35th Street
3212 N. Alexander Street
3221 and 3223 Yadkin Avenue
3217 Yadkin Avenue
Highland Inn, 3020 N. Alexander Street C. Benjamin DeWitt Funderburk House, 201 West Charles Street, Matthews, N.C.
The owner requests that the Survey Committee consider to recommend to the Historic Landmarks Commission that the interior of the house be designated. The exterior and the land associated with the tax parcel number, were designated in December of 2011. Click here to view the Survey and Research Report. 6. Old Business 7. New Business |
.jpg)
