1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Walter L. Alexander House is located at 523 Clement Avenue, Charlotte, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The owner of the property is:

Mr. Daniel G. Clodfelter & wife, Elizabeth K. Bevan
523 Clement Ave.
Charlotte, N.C., 28204

Telephone: 704/331-1000

3. Representative photographs of the property: This report contains representative photographs of the property.

4. A map depicting the location of the property: This report contains a map which depicts the location of the property.

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: Two parcels are included in the Walter L. Alexander House. They are:

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Ms. Dorothy Frye.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Thomas W. Hanchett.

8. Documentation of and in what ways the property meets the criteria for designation set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-399.4:

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: the Commission judges that the property known as the Walter L. Alexander House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the Walter L. Alexander House, erected in 1915, is the grandest residence dating from the 1910’s in the streetcar suburb of Elizabeth; 2) the Walter L. Alexander House has had a distinguished list of owners, including Walter L. Alexander, William C. Wilkinson, and Admiral Percy W. Foote; and 3) the Walter L. Alexander House is part of a cluster of homes (it, the John Baxter Alexander House, and the Jennie Alexander Duplex) which once formed a unique family complex in the Elizabeth neighborhood.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description included in this report demonstrates that the property known as the Walter L. Alexander House meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes “historic property.” The current appraised value of the improvement on Parcel 127-013-05 is $77,980, for the .562 acres of land, $13,000, making the total appraised value $90,980. The parcel is zoned R6MF. The current appraised value of the .248 acres of land in Parcel 127-013-23 is $8,500. The parcel is zoned R6.

Date of Preparation of this Report: November 5, 1986

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
1225 S. Caldwell St., Box D
Charlotte, N.C., 28203

Telephone: 704/376-9115

by Dorothy Frye
August 1984

The Walter L. Alexander house at 523 Clement Avenue in Charlotte, built in 1915 for the son of Charlotte banker and real estate developer W. S. Alexander, is a somewhat scaled-down but refined version of the John B. Alexander house next door, at 509 Clement Avenue. Like its neighbor, it is an elegant variation of the bungalow design, with a wide, wraparound front porch rounded at one end to form a pavilion seating area. The front door sidelights and transom are of heavy beveled glass placed in intricate variations of the diamond pattern; windows throughout the house–including the basement–repeat the theme. In use since the 1940s as an apartment house, it is now being reconverted to a single-family dwelling by its present owners, attorney Daniel Clodfelter and his wife, Elizabeth K. Bevan. In order to prevent overdevelopment of the Clement Avenue property, he has also purchased a strip of land 541 x 200 ft between his house and the J. B. Alexander house next door from Koch-Segal Corp., who had planned to build additional condominium units on that property. ¹ With the assistance of interior decorator Calvin Hefner, the Clodfelters are restoring the interior to its original state, modernizing only where restoration is not practicable. ²

In January 1915, Walter Lamar Alexander purchased a large lot, 246 x 76, x 246 x 115 ft, on which to build his home. ³ It was part of an entire block that had originally been purchased in 1906 from the Highland Park Company by Walter’s uncle, J. B. Alexander. ⁴ It had changed ownership several times during the interim; its various owners included Carrie Maie and F. O. Landis, W. B. Huntington, contractor W. J. Crowell and his wife Julia, and Harriet E. and Richard D. Thomas. ⁵

Some kind of structure may have been built on the property before it was sold by John B. Alexander; City Water Department records show that a tap application for 523 Clement Avenue was submitted in 1908 by Vance Improvement Company and plumber T. C. Toomey. ⁶ However, construction of the present house must have begun early in 1915, since a contract drawn up in March of that year between the Alexanders states that Walter L. Alexander is the owner of “a certain lot adjoining the said lot of John B. Alexander, fronting 115 feet on Clement Avenue, upon which the said Walter L. Alexander is now building a residence.” ⁷ In April 1915, Walter Alexander was able to complete the purchase of five additional lots facing Clement Avenue next to his homesite. ⁸ These five lots, which had formerly been part of the Oakhurst Land Company property ⁹, were owned by Frank R. McNinch, who had just lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for Mayor of Charlotte to Colonel Thomas L. Kirkpatrick in Kirkpatrick in a close race. (McNinch ran in the next election and won, serving as Mayor from 1917 to 1920.) ¹⁰ McNinch had purchased the lots from Carolina Realty Company five years earlier, but had not built on them. Although the home of Walter Alexander did not extend over into these lots, the two closest to his house remained vacant until recent years. John B. Alexander had originally invested in the lots with Walter, but then sold his half-interest to Walter in September 1915. ¹¹

Walter Lamar Alexander was born in Charlotte in 1884, the son of Walter S. and Minnie Ramser Alexander. He married Ernestine Bridges of Wilmington, North Carolina, and they had two children, Preston Stewart and Ernestine Lamar. ¹² Walter Alexander attended North Carolina A&M College (now N.C. State University) and graduated from Davidson College in 1904 . At the time he built his home, he was working as a salesman for his father in the Southern Real Estate Loan and Trust Company. ¹⁴ However, he left Charlotte around 1919 to live in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, where–as a successful land developer–he built the Mayview Manor Hotel, a prestigious resort. ¹⁵ He died in 1925 of an apparent heart ailment at the age of 41, while in Charlotte for a visit. ¹⁶

When Walter Alexander moved to Blowing Rock in 1919, he sold his home on Clement Avenue to William Cook Wilkinson, president of the Merchants and Farmers National Bank, and his wife, Rosalie Booker Wilkinson. From then until Mrs. Wilkinson’s death in 1943, it was the Wilkinson family home. ¹⁷ W. C. Wilkinson was born in Charlotte in 1866, the son of Thomas Jefferson Wilkinson of Tennessee and Laura Wilson of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. His father was a tailor by trade, and W. C. rose from “self-respecting poverty” to a position of wealth and prominence. At the age of 16, he took a job with the Merchants and Farmers National Bank and worked there for 48 years, becoming president of the bank by January 1919 and one of Charlotte’s most prominent citizens. He is perhaps best known for his work as head of the State Highway Commission for the 6th District. Wilkinson Boulevard, a twenty-mile road built in 1926 between Charlotte and Gastonia, and considered one of the best highways of that period, is named for him. He was also president of the Charlotte Bonded Warehouse Company, of Elizabeth Mills, Inc., and of the Lowell Mills at Lowell, North Carolina, as well as director of the Mechanics Building and Loan Association. ¹⁸

Rosalie Hamlett Booker Wilkinson, born in Martinsville, Virginia in 1868, was the daughter of John W. and Adelaide Hamlett Booker. She married W. C. Wilkinson in 1888, and they had five sons and two daughters: W. C. Jr., T. Harvey, Lawrence H., James W., George B., Laura (Mrs. W. R. Hopkins) and Mrs. Rosalie W. Haynes. After W. C. Wilkinson died in May 1930, his wife continued to live in the home, joined during the last few years of her life by two of her children, Mrs. Rosalie Haynes and George B. Wilkinson. ²⁰ At her death in 1943, the property at 523 Clement Avenue was left to her four surviving children, Rosalie Haynes, and James W., George B., and Thomas H. Wilkinson. ²¹ They house remained in their possession until November 1944, when it was sold to Mildred Myatt Aycock. ²²

Richard Noble Aycock and his wife, Mildred Myatt, had come to Charlotte in 1942 when he became treasurer of Rulane Gas Company. He was born in 1886 in Johnson County, North Carolina, and had become a school teacher at age 17. In 1918 he became the first National Bank Examiner in North Carolina, and lived in Raleigh. Later, he became vice-president of the First National Bank of Gastonia and business manager of Glenn Mills in Lincolnton, North Carolina. He and his wife had one daughter, Jane, and four sons, Richard N. Jr., William L., Everett, and Daniel Aycock. ²³

In 1946, the Aycocks sold the house to Rear Admiral Percy W. Foote and his wife, Genevieve C. Foote. ²⁴ Adm. Foote had retired in 1936 after a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy. Among his honors were the Order of the Crown, personally awarded to him by King Albert of Belgium in 1919, and the Distinguished Service Cross given him by President Woodrow Wilson. He also served as an aide to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels from 1918 to 1921. After his retirement he served as Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Motor Police Force before moving to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Adm. Foote was born at Roaring River, North Carolina in 1879, and was the son of Confederate Army Major James H. Foote, a founder of Wake Forest College. ²⁵ Until Adm. Foote and his wife bought the home, it had remained a single-family residence. However, in 1947 three couples were living there in addition to the Footes: Cyril and Eloise Jones, Russell and Virginia Smith, and Dr. Julian Neel and his wife, Phoebe. ²⁶

Dr. Neel was a resident physician at Charlotte Memorial Hospital. Between 1947 and 1958, a series of tenants are listed in the Charlotte City Directory at that address with Adm. and Mrs. Foote–sometimes with as many as five apartments being occupied. ²⁷ Adm. Foote died in 1961, and his widow apparently went to Hawaii to live. She sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Gibson and to two brothers, Arthur Pue, Jr. of Charlotte and Charles Leslie Pue of Hillsborough County, Florida. ²⁸ The Gibsons apparently never lived in the house, and in 1963, when they sold their interest in the house to the Pue brothers, were living in Fulton County, Georgia. ²⁹ Charles and Arthur Pue, Jr., were the sons of Arthur Pue, Sr. of Clarksville, Maryland. Their mother, Leslie Gray Pue, was living in Charlotte at the time of her death in 1976, but her burial was in Brunswick, Georgia. Of this family, only Arthur Pue, Jr. lived in the Alexander house during their ownership; he was salesman for Engineering Sales Associates. ³⁰ In 1965 the house was sold to Francis R. Samaha, assistant supervisor for Ford Motor Company in Charlotte, and his wife, Martha . ³¹ They lived in the house until 1969 when it was sold to David L. and Maria Ditroi Douglas. The Douglases were later divorced, and Maria Douglas was awarded the deed to the house as part of the settlement . ³² Maria Ditroi Douglas was a native of Hungary, and two of her sisters, Miss Lili Ditroi and Mrs. Emil Mascovits, also settled in Charlotte. ³³ Maria died in 1980, and in her will she named her eldest daughter, Nora Drye, as trustee of her estate. The property at 523 Clement Avenue remained in trust until 1983, when her children, Nora (Drye), David Paul, Michael Barry, and Maria Lili Douglas sold it to Daniel G. Clodfelter and his wife, Elizabeth K. Bevan. ³⁵ Dan Clodfelter, an attorney with Moore, Van Allen and Allen, is the son of Billy G. Clodfelter of Thomasville, North Carolina, and Lorene Wells Clodfelter of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. His father’s family were among the earliest settlers in the Thomasville area in the 1800s. Elizabeth K. Bevan, who works for First Union National Bank, is from Sumter, South Carolina, where her mother’s family–the Dabbs–lived for many generations. Her father is from a Welsh family in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Clodfelters have one daughter, Julia. Dan Clodfelter, a member of the City-County Planning Commission, has served for about seven years on the Board of Directors of the Elizabeth Community Association, which actively works for the preservation of the Elizabeth neighborhood. ³⁶

NOTES

¹ Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds, Deed Book 4777, Page 544 (18 January 1984).

² Daniel G. Clodfelter, personal interview by Dorothy Frye, 21 August 1984.

³ Deed Book 340, page 205 (23 January 1915).

⁴ Deed Book 216, page 16 (4 September 1906).

⁵ Deed Book 248, page 356 (23 November 1909); Deed Book 280, page 524 (22 December 1911); Deed Book 290, page 22 (8 February 1912); Deed Book 290, page 87 (6 March 1912).

⁶ Charlotte City Water Department, Tap Application No. 2336, 7 January 1908.

⁷ Deed Book 337, page 511 (27 March 1915).

⁸ Deed Book 337, page 510 (23 February 1915); Deed Book 334, page 596 (29 April 1915).

⁹ Deed Book 257, page 618 (5 April 1910); Deed Book 257, page 682 (5 April 1910).

¹⁰ Charlotte Observer, 14 April 1915, pp. 1, 6; Blythe, Legette, and Charles L. Brockman, Hornets’ Nest: The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. (Charlotte: McNally of Charlotte, 1961), page 449.

¹¹ Deed Book 340, page 593 (17 September 1915).

¹² Mecklenburg County Record of Deaths, Book 23, page 227; The Charlotte Observer, 10 September 1925, page 9, and 11 September 1925, page 5. These two sources differ in the spelling of Walter L. Alexander’s mother’s name; it is either Ramser or Ramsey.

¹³ Charlotte Observer, Ibid.; Alumni Catalog of Davidson College, 1837-1924. (Charlotte: The Presbyterian Standard Publishing Co., 1924), page 156.

¹⁴ Charlotte City Directory, 1916.

¹⁵ Charlotte Observer, 10 September 1925, page 9.

¹⁶ Ibid.; Record of Deaths, Book 23, page 227.

¹⁷ Deed Book 399, page 637 (13 August 1919); Charlotte City Directories, 1920-1943.

¹⁸ Charlotte Observer, 12 May 1930, pp. 4, 5; Ibid., 5 December 1937, Section 3, page 9; North Carolina, special limited supplement. (The American Historical Society, Inc., 1927), page 9; Record of Deaths, Book 37, page 469.

¹⁹ Charlotte Observer, 12 May 1930, pp. 4, 5; Ibid., 12 March 1943, Section 2, pp. 1, 13.

²⁰ Charlotte City Directories, 1942-1944.

²¹ Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court, Will Book V, page 189; Will Book 2, page 517.

²² Deed Book 1126, page 527 (1 November 1944).

²³ Charlotte City Directory 1945/46; Death Records, 1983, page 3559; Charlotte Observer, 25 December 1983, page 10-B.

²⁴ Deed Book 1221, page 311 (29 November 1946).

²⁵Charlotte Observer, 24 June 1961, page 8-A; The Heritage of Wilkes County, Wilkes County Genealogical Society, Mrs. W. O. Absher, ed. (Winston-Salem: Hunter Publishing Co., c. 1982); Death Records, 1961, page 987.

²⁶ Charlotte City Directory, 1947.

²⁷ Ibid., 1947-1958.

²⁸ Deed Book 2279, page 591 (22 November 1961); Death Records, 1961, page 987.

²⁹ Deed Book 2463, page 3 (7 October 1963). The City Directories do not list Calvin and Charlotte Gibson as residents of 523 Clement; they lived at 1233 East Boulevard, Apt. 44, in 1963.

³⁰ Charlotte City Directory, 1965; Charlotte Observer, 22 November 1976, page 7-A; Estate File 77-E-107.

³¹ Deed Book 2678, page 572 (25 August 1965); Charlotte City Directory, 1965.

³² Deed Book 3113, page 590 (31 July 1969); Deed Book 3746, page 860 (4 April 1975).

³³ Charlotte Observer, 7 January 1980, page 4-C.

³⁴ Ibid.; Estate Files 80-E-84, 80-E-1622.

³⁵ Deed Book 4746, page 287 (3 November 1983).

³⁶ Daniel Clodfelter, ibid.; Charlotte Observer, 15 May 1982, page 16-A, and 1 November 1983, page 1-B.

by Thomas W. Hanchett
July 1986

The Walter L. Alexander House is a large two and a half story residence whose broad roofs, wood shingle siding, and rustic stone trim show the architectural influence of the Bungalow style. Along with its near-twin., the J. B. Alexander residence next door, the Walter L. Alexander House ranks as the grandest residence dating from the 1910s in the streetcar suburb of Elizabeth. Today the exterior, interior, and large tree-shaded lot (complete with servants cottage) look much as they did after Walter L. Alexander moved in about 1915.

W. S. Alexander, chief developer of the Elizabeth neighborhood, conceived Clement Avenue as one of the suburb’s grand streets, a broad boulevard that would connect Seventh Street to Central Avenue. The connection was never made, and today Clement Avenue remains a handsome, tree-shaded by-way, retaining the elegance which most of Charlotte’s main streets have lost in the age of automobile traffic. The two dwellings which dominate the street were erected for members of the developer’s family. John Baxter Alexander, W. S.’s brother, built the house at 509 Clement Avenue in 1913. Walter L. Alexander, W. S.’s son, was evidently so impressed by the house that he copied it for his own residence at 523 Clement Avenue two years later.

In massing, the Walter L. Alexander House is basically a gable-roofed, two-and-a-half story rectangle, enlivened by asymmetrically placed two-and-a-half-story gabled wings at the front (east) and north sides, and two hip-roofed rear wings. The roof is sheathed in asphalt shingles, and features front and rear gabled dormers, plus a small decorative front gable. Near the center of the main ridgeline is a small stone chimney, and a larger interior chimney rises at the south side of the house. Eaves extend far out beyond the walls of the house, and are supported by large brackets built of square timbers.

Exterior walls are covered in wood shingle siding and windows have wide, plain surrounds. Most are double-hung sash units with a single lower pane and multi-paned upper sash with the mullions arranged to create a series of interlocking diamonds. In the main front and side gables, windows are arranged in a tripartite form that represents a variation on the Palladian Window.

At the first story, a huge porch shelters the entire front of the house. Its wide-eaved roof is supported by square pillars of rough-hewn stone. The balustrade has flat wooden balusters. The porch wraps around the north side of the house, and then extends to form a porte cochere over the driveway. At the south side the porch extends beyond the edge of the house to form a semicircular nook, then wraps around the north facade connect with a one story enclosed sunporch, whose bay-windowed form echoes the porch curve. The rear of the house also has porches, at the first and the second story level. They are skillfully interwoven with the two rear wings, until all becomes one form.

Before venturing inside the residence, we will take a look at the yard and servants cottage. The Walter L. Alexander house sits on an oversize lot, a bit further back from the street than most Elizabeth residences. This siting is very important, because the surrounding greenery gives the house a spaciousness and rusticity that complements its rustic Bungalow architecture. Today the yard is plainly landscaped with grass and trees and a minimum of shrubbery, but probably once had carefully manicured gardens. At the rear of the lot is the servants house, one of the largest such structures of its era surviving in Charlotte. It is a full-sized one-and-a-half story Bungalow, as big and well detailed as many middle class dwellings of the day. It has a gabled roof whose bracketed eaves and gabled side dormers echo the main house. Also like the main dwelling, the cottage has wood shingle siding, double-hung windows with diamond-shaped upper panes and wide surrounds, and a broad front porch (with wood columns on brick piers, rather than stone). The cottage appears to contain three living units. It has a small, shed-roofed addition on the west side.

Returning to the main house, we will examine the interior. Its design matches the Bungalow exterior — handsomely detailed throughout with high ceilings and wide, plain moldings and wainscoting, but with none of the intricate ornament characteristic of the earlier Victorian era. Despite the dwelling’s years as rental property, little has changed. This is especially apparent in the main downstairs rooms and in the second-floor hallway, where the fine varnished woodwork survives unpainted. Even the early electric switched, brass plates with pushbuttons, remain in use throughout the house.

One enters through the front door (the door itself is not the original one) into a large corner-entry hall. Exterior windows here have beveled glass in their upper panes, said to be leaded with copper to best split the morning sun into rainbows. The space is dominated by a massive fireplace of red brick. To the right, a French door opens to the port-cochere. Waist-high paneled wainscoting rings the walls. The ceiling is criss-crossed by beams. The blond wood floor is trimmed by two strips of dark wood near the edge of the room, which form an ornamental design at each corner. At the rear of the entry hall is the grand stair, located near the exact center of the house. The stair features wainscoting, a curved banister with square balusters, and a chunky, square newel post. At the back of the stair area on the first floor are closets, an opening for what was once a dumb-waiter, and a door to a porch that is now an enclosed utility room.

The two other main first floor spaces– the dining room and the library — open off to the entry hall. To the left, through a large pocket door, is the dining room. Its wainscoting is nearly five feet high, broken at one side by a built-in china cabinet with beveled glass doors and vintage electric lighting. The ceiling has beams like those in the entry hall and the floor has an identical ornamental border. Adjoining the dining room is the sun porch. It has unusual, sliding, double-hinged exterior windows, as well as an early screen door. Behind the dining room was the kitchen and pantry. This area has been completely rebuilt over the years with new walls and fixtures. Returning to the entry hall, we can move right and toward the rear of the house through a small pocket door into the library. It also has a beamed ceiling and ornamented floor. The room is dominated by an angled fireplace whose hooded mantel is supported by massive curved uprights. Wainscoting here is five feet high, and there is a built-in bookcase along the rear wall. Next to the bookcase is a door to the original downstairs bathroom, which retains its high tile wainscot and original fixtures.

On the second floor is a wainscoted central hallway with a window seat at either end. On each side of the hall is a four-room suite, consisting of a front bedroom, a shared bath, a back bedroom, and a sleeping porch. Each bedroom has a closet with a built-in bureau. The bedrooms also retain their brass sconces and ceiling fixtures. The north bathroom still has its original high tile wainscoting, pedestal sink, and unusually long tub, while the south bathroom has recently been remodeled. The north front bedroom was probably intended as the master bedroom, for it alone has a fireplace. The fireplace has a white tile hearth, cast iron coal grate, and a plainly designed mantle flanked by pilasters. Close inspection shows that the pilasters are surprisingly not solid, but rather are hinged to reveal several small cupboards inside.

From the second floor hallway, the stair rises to the small third floor, nestled under the roof. Unlike most big houses of the period in Charlotte, this space is fully finished, and in fact surpasses downstairs detailing in one room. Pilasters flank a central hallway. On the south side is a bedroom and closet, similar to those on the second floor. On the north side is a spectacular room with five foot high paneled wainscoting and a window seat along one wall. Its highlight is its parquet floor, which mixes light and dark woods in one main pattern and one border pattern. It is a showpiece of the woodworker’s art, unexpectedly tucked away under the eaves.

The house also has a half basement. It is divided into several rooms, and may have once held a servant’s apartment.

Related items…

This report was written on November 5, 1986

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Jennie Alexander Duplex is located at 1801-1803 East Eighth Street, Charlotte, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The owner of the property is:

Mr. Lyman Welton & Wife, Katherine S. Holliday
1803 E. Eighth St.
Charlotte, N.C., 28204

Telephone: 704/374-0294

3. Representative photographs of the property: This report contains representative photographs of the property.

4. A map depicting the location of the property: This report contains a map which depicts the location of the property.

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 4307, Page 755. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is: 127-013-01.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Dr. William H. Huffman.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Thomas W. Hanchett.

8. Documentation of why and in what ways the property meets the criteria for designation set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-399.4:

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Jennie Alexander Duplex does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the Jennie Alexander Duplex, erected in 1922, might be the oldest suburban residence in Charlotte which was initially designed as a duplex; 2) the Jennie Alexander Duplex was designed by James Mackson McMichael, an architect of local and regional importance; 3) the Jennie Alexander Duplex is the only known example of McMichael’s residential architecture which survives in Charlotte and is most probably the only example of a McMichael-designed duplex extant in Charlotte; and 4) the Jennie Alexander Duplex is part of a cluster of homes (it, the John Baxter Alexander House, and the Walter L. Alexander House) which once formed a unique family complex in the Elizabeth neighborhood.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description included in this report demonstrates that the property known as the Jennie Alexander Duplex meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes “historic property.” The current appraised value of the improvement is $83,800. The current appraised value of the .459 acres of land is $14,000. The total appraised value of the property is $97,800. The property is zoned R6MF.

Date of Preparation of this Report: November 5, 1986.

Prepared by:
Dr. Dan L. Morrill
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
1225 S. Caldwell St. Box D
Charlotte, N.C., 28203

Telephone: 704/376-9115

by
Dr. William H. Huffman
September, 1986

Walking or riding along East Eighth Street on the part that passes through the tree-shaded Elizabeth neighborhood, one encounters a house on the corner of Lamar Avenue that is rather different most of its neighbors. The duplex at 1803 East Eighth is the former residence of Jane J. (Jennie) Alexander (1861-1932), who had the house built in 1922.

Jennie Alexander was born in Monroe, N.C. at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. She was the daughter of Dr. Cook Alexander (d. 1882) and Sarah Coburn Stewart Alexander (d. 1902), who had moved to Charlotte from Union County prior to the hostilities, but removed to Monroe for the duration. After the war, the Alexanders returned to Charlotte, where they eventually established themselves as one of the wealthiest and most prominent families of the city. Jennie Alexander, her three brothers (Walter Stewart, William Coburn, and John Baider), and two sisters (Lucy and Mary) all bought and sold real estate in the city, but brothers W. S. and J. B. became two of the most important real estate developers in turn-of -the-century Charlotte.¹ It is said that W. S. Alexander (1858-1924) was the first in the city to make the real estate business a profession. In 1899, with Peter Marshall Brown (1859-1913), he organized the Southern Real Estate, Loan and Trust Company, and served as its president from 1908 until his death in 1924, when his brother J. B. Alexander took over the top post. Through his control of the Highland Park Company, W. S. Alexander began the development of the first part of the Elizabeth neighborhood in the late 1890s, in the area on each side of Elizabeth Avenue. By the time the electric trolley line was extended from the Square to Elizabeth College at the top of the hill a mile south of the city in 1903, development of the suburban area began to move at a faster pace.

Two areas just to the north of Elizabeth Avenue began development in 1900, Piedmont Park and Oakhurst, and in 1904, through the Highland Park Co., John B. Alexander and his nephew, W. L. Alexander (Walter’s son) opened up an extension of the original Elizabeth Avenue development to the southeast, which they called Elizabeth Heights. In the Teens and Twenties, many of the city’s prominent citizens as well as outer middle class families built houses in the Elizabeth neighborhood. ³

In 1906, John D. Alexander bought a whole block of land in the Elizabeth Heights section from the Highland Park Company for $3,600.00, which was bounded by Clement, 8th and Lamar on three sides, and the Oakhurst development on the fourth (roughly where Ninth Street would be if it went through). He intended this block to be where he and his family would build their homes, and in 1913 he built a spacious one for himself on the corner of Clement and 8th Avenues.⁵ Two years later, nephew W. L. Alexander built his own on Clement just up from Eighth Street⁶ and in 1921, Jennie Alexander bought a 100 x 200 foot on the comer of Lamar and Eighth from J. B. for her new house.⁷

To design the new residence, Jennie Alexander hired J. M. McMichael, one of the city’s leading architects James Mackson McMichael (1870-1944) was a Pennsylvania native who came to Charlotte in 1901. He was best known for many of the fine churches he designed in his career, many for black congregations. In Charlotte, some of his most important commissions include the old Charlotte Public Library (now demolished), and its companion building on North Tryon Street, the former First Baptist Church, now Spirit Square, the Little Rock A.M.E. Zion Church, now the Afro-American Cultural Center; the Tabernacle A.R.P. Church on Trade Street, the Myers Park Presbyterian Church, St. John’s Baptist Church on Hawthorne Lane; and the North Carolina Medical College building at Poplar and Sixth Streets. In all, McMichael designed twenty-two churches and some one hundred eighty-seven buildings in the Charlotte area, and hundreds more throughout the country. ⁹ For her residence, Jennie Alexander had McMichael design a duplex, which is believed to be the first one in the city.¹⁰ After its completion in 1922, W. S. Alexander’s unmarried daughter, Minnie, moved in with her Aunt Jennie in what they named The Pines.¹¹ The other part of the house was rented to various tenants. For ten years Jennie Alexander enjoyed the peaceful living in that serene part of Elizabeth.

At her death in 1932, Jennie Alexander, who was an active in the Presbyterian Church through her membership in First Presbyterian, as were the other members of her family, willed money to a number of Presbyterian missions and institutions, but her real estate was divided between her brother, J. D, and her nephew.¹² For the next twenty years, the house remained in the ownership of her heirs, who in 1952 sold it to Thomas and Comelia Haughton. The present owners bought the property from Mrs. Haughton, then a widow. in 1980. ¹³ The Jennie Alexander House, through its association with the Alexander family, its place in Elizabeth, and designed by J. M. McMichael is an important thread in the fabric of the city’s history.

Notes

¹ Charlotte Observer, Apr. 18, 1932, p. 4; May 30, 1924, p. 1.

² Ibid; Charlotte Observer, July 28, 1943, p. 12.

³ Thomas Hanchett, “Charlotte Neighborhood Survey”, Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission, 1984.

⁴ Deed Book 216, p. 16, 4 Sept. 1906.

⁵ Brochure, “A Tour of Historic Elizabeth”, Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission, 1984.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Deed Book 454, p. 158, 18 Nov. 1921.

⁸ City of Charlotte building permit 3505, 22 Dec. 1921.

⁹ Information on file at Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission; brochure, Historic Architecture Foundation,Washington, D. C, 1984.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Charlotte Observer, May 30, 1924, p. 1.

¹² Will Book W, probated, 22 Apr. 1932.

¹³ Deed Book 1559, P. 123, 29 May 1952; Deed Book 4307, p. 755, 30 May 1980.

By Thomas W. Hanchett

The Jennie Alexander Duplex is one of three large dwellings built in this block during the 1910s- 1920s for members of the Alexander family, the family who guided the development of the surrounding “streetcar suburb” of Elizabeth. Like the J. B. Alexander House and the W. L. Alexander House around the corner on Clement Avenue, Jennie Alexander’s residence shows influence of the Bungalow architectural style. It is a two-story weatherboarded structure, built as a”side-by-side” duplex,with wide bracketted eaves and chunky brick-columned porches. In both its interior and exterior, the dwelling remains in very good original condition, and the original servants’ quarter (also a duplex) may still be seen behind the house.

The Exterior:

The Elizabeth neighborhood boosted a number of owner-occupied duplexes in the 1920s, particularly on Greenway Avenue, but the Alexander Duplex is by far the largest example of the genre. The duplex sits on a slight rise at the corner of East Eighth Street and Lamar Avenue, with both units fronting on Eighth. The main block of the house consists of a two-story rectangle with a two-story wing set back at each side. A pair of large one-story front porches nestle in the niches created by the set-backs. The “west unit” of the duplex has a small, gabled, one-story kitchen and porch wing at the rear. The “east unit” has a larger rear kitchen wing, plus a one-story hip-roofed library wing which extends from the east side of the duplex.

The main block of the structure has hip roofs. The unusually wide eaves are supported by paired triangular brackets made of large squared timbers. There are two brick chimneys located between the units: an interior chimney near the center of the front roof, and an exterior chimney at the center of the rear facade. Windows have wide surrounds edged in simple molding. Panel blocks are added below the corners of the surrounds for a decorative effect. The windows themselves are double-hung sash units, and most have six panes in the upper sash with one large pane in the lower. An exception is found in the first-floor front facade, which has a pair of tripartite windows, each made up of a central six-over-one-pane unit flanked by two four-over-one-pane units. By the way, the library wing at the east side of the house has windows and surrounds which match the main structure, which is an indication that the wing may have been part of the original design.

The front porches of the duplex are prominent architectural features. Thick red brick columns with corbelled decoration at the tops support the corners. On each set of columns rests a flat porch roof, supported by both curved and triangular brackets. A simple balustrade with square balusters rings the roof, allowing it to be used as a balcony, and in fact a door opens onto it from the upstairs hall. A similar balustrade protects the main level of the porch. Brick steps lead from each porch down to a concrete sidewalk to the street, and this brick blends into the brick of the structure’s foundation.

The Yard and the Servants’ Quarter:

Before moving inside the main house, we will look briefly at the yard and at the Servants’ quarter. The main house sits back from Eighth Street approximately forty feet, in line with its neighbors, and near the center of its lot. Along Eighth Street and Lamar Avenue there is a low concrete wall approximately a foot high with a curved front face. Such walls were found elsewhere in Charlotte’s desirable early-twentieth century neighborhoods, including Dilworth and Fourth Ward, but rarely survive in good condition today. Behind the house is a new wooden fence shielding a newly landscaped back yard. In the back yard is the original servants’ house, a one-story gabled structure similar in form to mill housing of that day. Simple brackets in the eaves and weatherboarded wall section of the main house. The dwelling was originally a duplex, with two front doors. Today the doors remain, but the interior has been gutted and rebuilt under the design direction of owner Katie Holliday as a “bed and breakfast” unit. This early 1980s remodeling also included complete rebuilding of the quarter’s front porch, extension of its rear garage, and addition of a standing-seam sheet metal roof.

The Interior of the “West Unit”:

Looking first inside the “west unit,” we enter through the front door into a stair hall. It contains its original light fixture, a hanging globe. A handsome stair winds up the outside walls. It has a heavy balustrade and square newel with paneled sides and a bowl-like carved top piece. From the stair hall, doorways open into the living room, the dining room, and the breakfast room, giving the first floor an open feeling which is reinforced by the light spilling in from the many windows.

The living room at the front of the house has a wide molded baseboard and a small molded cornice,motifs which are carried throughout the house. A fireplace with a effirgian mantle of red brick and white wooden molding dominates the east wall. French doors in the opposite wall open onto the front porch. The north wall is actually a large opening to the dining room. The opening is flanked by a pair of large square Bungalow-style columns, and is topped by an oversized frieze and cornice. Moving through this opening, one enters the dining room. It continues the decor of the living room, and retains its original cast-metal hanging light fixture. Next to the dining room is a breakfast room, somewhat larger than the “breakfast nooks” typically found on houses of this vintage. The current owners have a molded chair rail here which blends well with the original trim. Behind the breakfast room is the kitchen, the only major room with no cornice molding. The kitchen sink unit and stove appear to date from the 1940s. One corner of the room was long ago walled off for a toilet. At the back of the kitchen is one door to a small pantry, and another door to the small enclosed rear porch.

Upstairs in the “west unit” is a stair hall containing a closet, a door to the front porch roof, and doors to the bedrooms and bathroom. Doors are four-panel units with two small upper panels above two long lower panels. The front bedroom is the master bedroom. It contains a Doric-columned mantel over a fireplace with a cast iron coal grate. A pair of simple electric sconces next to it were designed to light a dressing table. The room contains one closet. Behind the master bedroom is a similarly-sized second bedroom, also with a closet but without a fireplace. The current owners have cut a new door from this room into the “east unit” of the duplex, allowing passage from one side of the duplex to the other. Across the hall from the back bedroom is a much smaller room that may have originally served as a sewing room or child’s bedroom. At the back of the hall is the well-appointed bathroom. It retains its original tub, toilet, white tiled wainscoting, and built-in medicine cabinet with an unusual mirrored “Dutch door.” The only major change have been new sconces flanking the medicine cabinet, and a new pedestal sink in recent years.

Dissimilarities Between the “East Unit” and the “West Unit”:

According to the current owners, a thick brick wall separates the two sides of the duplex, providing a sound and fire barrier. The “east unit” of the duplex is identical to the “west unit” in its molding and mantles, but slightly different in its floor plan. On the first floor, the dining and living rooms are almost the same, except that they are separated by French doors rather than a columned opening. The current owners have added a molded chair rail in the dining room. The stair hall is similar, but the stairs wind in a different direction. Next to the stair hall is the library, not found in the “west unit,” with its own bathroom (original fixtures and tile –except for a new sink — match those seen elsewhere in the house). Behind the stair hall and next to the library is a breakfast room of quite different layout than in the “west unit.” The breakfast room contains an original built-in china cabinet. Behind the breakfast room is a spacious kitchen, with a new chair rail, and with rear doors that lead to a pantry and to an enclosed rear porch. On the second floor of the “east unit,” the two main bedrooms are similar to those already described. But the bathroom is slightly bigger and there is no “sewing room” opening off the upper stair hall. Instead a small room that may have been a nursery opens off the bathroom.

For more information…

Survey & Research Report: John Baxter Alexander House

Survey & Research Report: Walter Alexander House

Hezekiah Alexander House

Hezekiah Alexander was born January 13, 1722, in Cecil County, Maryland. He was the son of James Alexander and Margaret McKnitt. His grandfather, Joseph Alexander, had emigrated to Maryland in the early years of the eighteenth century. Sometime after 1754, Hezekiah, as well as his brother, John McKnitt, emigrated to North Carolina.

The Alexanders quickly established themselves in their new home, Mecklenburg County. Although Hezekiah had come to North Carolina as a blacksmith, it was as a farmer that he made his fortune. On April 1, 1767, he purchased, from his brother John, a tract of land containing over three hundred acres located on a branch of Sugar Creek. It was here that in 1774 he built a stone house to accommodate his wife, Mary Sample, and their growing family. The house was to remain Hezekiah’s residence until his death in 1801, and became the center of his expanding farming enterprises. Both Hezekiah and John McKnitt Alexander were active in the affairs of their county. John was a crown surveyor and county magistrate. Hezekiah played an active role in the church, being an elder in the Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church. He was also a trustee of Queens College, chartered in 1771, renamed Liberty Hall in 1774. Both brothers numbered among their friends and associates the prominent community leaders of Mecklenburg; among these were Thomas Polk, William Sample, Ephraim Brevard, the Phifers, the Averys, and Jeremiah MaCafforty.

With the approach of the Revolution, both of the Alexander brothers became increasingly involved in the events which would culminate in independence from Great Britain. In 1775 both men were members of the Mecklenburg County Committee of Safety. On August 21, 1775, Hezekiah was appointed by the Provincial Congress meeting in Hillsborough to the Salisbury District Committee of Safety which was to serve as the local governing body for a multi-county area. In November, 1776, Hezekiah joined other state delegates at Halifax to form the Fifth Provincial Congress which was charged with the task of writing the first state constitution. After the Halifax Congress, Hezekiah joined the Fourth Regiment of North Carolina Troops as Paymaster.

Hezekiah Alexander’s stone house is possibly the only extant structure belonging to a framer of the state’s first constitution.

Architecturally, the Hezekiah Alexander House reflects the influence of the German emigrants who came to North Carolina from Pennsylvania in the 1750s and 60s. During that period several thousand families settled in Mecklenburg and the adjoining counties. Many of those settlers constructed houses of native stone similar to that of Alexander’s. They were quite similar in form to houses built by the Germans in Pennsylvania and the Dutch in the Hudson Valley. The Hezekiah Alexander House is one of the few surviving examples of this architectural type in North Carolina.

Exterior: The Hezekiah Alexander House was constructed of native Piedmont stone in a random pattern with oyster shell mortar. The walls are two feet thick. The structure is two full stories over a high basement. The front and rear facades are each of three bays with contour doors. The attic is lit by a pair of small windows in the west gable and one in the northeast corner of the east gable. The windows are six-over-six in configuration, all having batten shutters. Segmental arches were originally constructed over all windows and doorways. Those on the front and rear facades have keystones. Some of these arches were eliminated during alterations to the house, probably at sometime during the nineteenth century. In the west gable there is an intersecting blind round window. The roof is now covered with asbestos shingles; originally it was covered with cypress shakes. The wide overhang of the eaves is not original. The exterior dimensions of the house are length 36′ 5″ and width 35′ 5″.

Interior: The present interior plan has one long room across the front of the house with an open stair in one end and a corner fireplace in the other. Originally there was a wooden partition dividing the stair hall from the parlor. The present stair is a replacement from the original enclosed one. Behind this room are two smaller rooms, a kitchen and bedroom, divided by a small passage leading to the rear door. The right-hand wall is one of a later date. Originally there were two rooms of unequal size on the rear. There are corner fireplaces in both rear rooms. The chimney breasts were originally plastered. There is a warming cupboard over the fire place in the right-hand rear room. This room must have been used as the kitchen.

On the second floor there are three rooms and a stair hall. The wall between the stair hall and the room behind it is of dubious form and may not be original. There are no fireplaces on the second floor. The basement is divided into two rooms of unequal size by a transverse stone wall. There is a stair to the second floor and an exterior entrance in the southeast corner if the east room. All ceilings show exposed structural members. All of the stone walls are plastered on the interior. The other interior partitions are

THE CHARLES AND LAURA ALEXANDER HOUSE

Charles and Laura House

This report was written on 29 June 1990

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Charles and Laura Alexander House is located at 203 Church Street in Huntersville, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The owners of the property are:

Marion C. and Mary Jane Sparrow
203 Church Street
Huntersville, North Carolina 28078

Telephone: (704) 875-2610

Tax Parcel Number: 019-061-05

3. Representative photographs of the property: This report contains representative photographs of the property by Ms. Nora M. Black.

4. A map depicting the location of the property: This report contains maps which depict the location of the property.

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3268 at page 179. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is 019-061-05.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Ms. Paula Stathakis and Dr. Dan L. Morrill.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Ms. Nora M. Black.

8. Documentation of how and in what ways the property meets criteria for designation set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-400.5:

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Charles and Laura Alexander House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:
1) the Charles and Laura Alexander House was constructed ca. 1880, during a period of factory growth in Huntersville;
2) J. N. Hunter, an early owner of the property, served as Postmaster ca. 1880;
3) C.S. and S.W. Davis, 1930’s owners of the property, were important merchants and operated a cotton gin in the Huntersville community;
4) the Charles and Laura Alexander house is an excellent example of an in-town house in a largely farming community;
5) the Charles and Laura Alexander House is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of the two-story, extended I-house of the National Folk House period;
6) the interior of the Charles and Laura Alexander House retains much of the early woodwork including mantels, flooring and some board ceilings;
7) the exterior of the house is enriched with Folk Victorian details; and
8) the location of the Charles and Laura Alexander House on an historic rail corridor in Huntersville helps document the economic growth of the town.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship), materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description by Ms. Nora M. Black, which is included in this report, demonstrates that the Charles and Laura Alexander House meets this criterion.

 

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes a designated “historic landmark.” The current appraised value of the improvements is $43,320. The current appraised value of the 0.848 of an acre is $10,170. The total appraised value of the property is $53,490. The property is zoned RL.

Date of Preparation of this Report: 29 June 1990

Prepared by:

Dr. Dan L. Morrill
in conjunction with
Ms. Nora M. Black
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission
1225 South Caldwell Street, Box D
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203

Telephone: 704/376-9115

by
Paula Stathakis
Dr. Dan L. Morrill
June 28, 1990

The Charles and Laura Alexander House is situated in Huntersville, a cotton mill and farm support community which emerged in post-bellum Mecklenburg County beside the A.T. & O. Railroad (now Norfolk Southern) line from Charlotte to Statesville. The earliest record of the property on which the Charles and Laura Alexander House is located shows that it originally belonged to the Hunter family. J. N. Hunter and J. H. Hunter sold the property to J. F. Grady for $300 in 1884.¹ Grady held the property for six years and sold it to Charles Alexander.² Charles and his wife, Laura, were long-time residents of the house, and passed the property on to Margaret L. Patterson.³ The property was returned to the children of Charles Alexander after Margaret Patterson’s death in 1925. According to her will, Miss Patterson left the house, furniture and lot in Huntersville, which adjoined the manse of Huntersville Presbyterian Church, to her nieces, Mrs. Bessie Alexander Grier, and Miss Mary Alexander.⁴ By this time, the former Alexander children were adults who chose not to keep the property. Bessie Alexander Grier had married Reverend Grier, minister at Ramah Presbyterian Church and Huntersville Presbyterian Church, and probably had no need for an additional household.⁵

Bessie and Mary sold the house in 1925 to W. W. and Minnie Lee Brown. ⁶ The Browns kept the property until 1932, when they sold it to C. S. Davis, S. W. Davis, and Nannie J. Davis.⁷ The Davis brothers held an important position in the Huntersville community and its environs. The C. S. and S. W. Davis General Store, situated in nearby Croft, supplied area farmers with dry goods and other supplies. The Davis family sold the house to I. I Earnhardt and Annabelle Earnhardt.⁸ The Earnhardts, in turn, sold the property to Howard L. and Ellen Rodgers in 1944.⁹ The Sparrows, the current owners, purchased the property from the Rodgers in 1971.¹⁰

The Charles and Laura Alexander House was built during a period of substantial growth in Huntersville. The town expanded in the late nineteenth century because of its strategic location on the railroad. Also, Huntersville participated in the cotton mill campaign which gripped the Piedmont section of the two Carolinas in the late 1800’s. Accordingly, the Anchor Mills, a large enterprise, opened in Huntersville in the 1890’s.¹¹. The mainstay of Huntersville’s economy, however, were the owners of the modest farms that surrounded the town. The census agriculture schedule in 1880 for J. N. Hunter indicates that he was a typical small farmer in the Huntersville community. He owned thirty tilled acres and two unimproved acres. He employed no tenant farmers or sharecroppers. His harvest for 1879 was one acre of Indian corn yielding twenty bushels, two acres of wheat yielding nine bushels, and fifteen acres of cotton yielding six bales. Hunter also produced ten bushels each of Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes. Most noteworthy in his agricultural pursuits was the dedication of the majority of his land to cotton, a common practice for small farmers in the South during this period. It is interesting that Hunter did not employ tenant farmers or sharecroppers to assist with cotton, a labor intensive crop. Few of Hunter’s neighbors in the Deweese township, which encompasses Huntersville and its environs, employed tenant farmers or sharecroppers in 1880.¹²

Of all the early owners of the property, the most is known about J. N. Hunter, whose commercial activities were at least episodically detailed in census records. In addition to farming, Hunter also served as postmaster according to the 1880 manuscript census of the population. Charles Alexander, a later resident of the property, was described in the 1890 census as a farmer; however, his agricultural record is unavailable. The Record of Settlements from his estate suggests that tenants worked for him, but since Alexander owned other properties, it is not clear where these tenants lived and labored.¹³

¹ Register of Deeds, Mecklenburg County Courthouse, Deed Book 42, Page 103, November 21, 1884.

² Deed Book 70, Page 15, January 4, 1890.

³ Deed Book 605, Page 90, August 22, 1900.

⁴ Will Book R, Page 392, Item 5. Mecklenburg County Courthouse, office of the Clerk of Estates.

⁵ Mary Boolean Bradford, “Huntersville Sparrow Echoes a By-Gone Era” Mecklenburg Gazette n.d.

⁶ Deed Book 605, Page 119, October 29, 1925. W. W. Brown briefly had joint ownership of the property with J. H. and Edith Brown who sold their share in 1929, see Deed Book 794, Page 490, February 8, 1929.

⁷ Deed Book 817, Page 57, February 17, 1932.

⁸ Deed Book 973, Page 264, March 9, 1934.

⁹ Deed Book 1125, Page 215, July 12, 1944.

¹⁰ Deed Book 3268, Page 179, February 25, 1971.

¹¹ The Anchor Mill building still stands.

¹² 1880 Census Agriculture Schedule. Mecklenburg County.

¹³ Record of Settlements, Book 11, Page 234, Mecklenburg County Courthouse, Office of Clerk of Estates.

by
Ms. Nora M. Black

The Charles and Laura Alexander House is located on the east side of Church Street, north of the intersection with Cemetery Street and south of the intersection with Gibson Park, in the Town of Huntersville in northern Mecklenburg County. The entry facade of the house faces west. One house and one outbuilding are still standing. The house is currently owned by Marion C. and Mary Jane Sparrow.

The house is an excellent example of the “in-town” version of the two-story, extended I-house with center hall that was fairly common in the post-railroad years between approximately 1850 to 1890. This period, often referred to as the National Folk House period, coincided with the spread of the railroad throughout the United States. The Charles and Laura Alexander House is enriched with Folk Victorian decoration on the front porch. On a street of simpler houses, it stands out to all passersby as a town home for cultured, relatively well-to-do people.

Construction of the Charles and Laura Alexander House was probably begun in the early 1880’s. Over the years, the house evolved to meet the needs of the owners. Most of the structure has been covered with blue vinyl siding to reduce the owners’ heating bill; however, the original material was not removed and remains in place under the new siding and trim. The original siding was painted, lapped horizontal boards – The original foundation consisted of brick piers; the piers have been infilled with brick.

The Alexander House has a compound, U-plan. The ground plan of the section of the house nearest the street is that of a side-gabled structure three units wide. Two gable-roofed, one story wings at the rear (east) of the house form the rest of the U-shape. The gable-roofed wings have small shed-roofed additions on the extreme east end; additionally, a rear porch (on the east facade) has a shed roof. The shed-roof porch fills in the interior of the U-shape.

The side-gabled (west or Church Street) section of the house is one unit deep by three units wide. The front (West) elevation of the house is divided into two units having symmetrical single windows and one unit with a door on each floor. The two upstairs 6/6 windows and door are original. On the first floor, the main entry and one 6/6 window are original; one window was replaced with a smaller, 2/2 window unit during remodeling. The gable ends each have two windows, a single, 6/6 window centered on each story; one window on the first floor of the north gable end has been replaced with a smaller, 2/2 window unit. The side-gabled section of the house has two masonry chimneys on the east facade exiting the house at the peak of each gable wing. This unusual arrangement allows each of the two chimneys to serve three rooms, one room upstairs and one downstairs in the side-gabled front section and one room in each gable wing.

The two one-story wings to the rear of the side-gabled section are two rooms deep by one room wide. The north wing has an exterior masonry chimney located on the east gable wall; the windows of this wing are 2/2 replacement units; one is a double window over the kitchen sink and the other is a single window. The south wing has a pair of original 6/6 windows and one 2/2 replacement unit. Each of the small, symmetrical shed additions (on the east facade of each wing) has a 4-pane square window centered on the east wall.

One unit of the width in the interior of the house is devoted entirely to a hallway and enclosed stair from the front entry to the rear entry. A small half-bathroom has been added in the hallway near the rear of the house, The entrance appears to have changed little over the years with the exception of the addition of a white storm door. The entrance consists of a wooden enframement with full transom light and abbreviated side lights surrounding the four panel door. Beneath the sidelights are white wooden panels. The door itself is original with two glass panels and two raised wooden panels with moldings. The full transom light has been covered for energy conservation.

The two-tiered entry porch on the street (west) facade of the gable section of the house is its most distinctive feature. The porch has wooden flooring; it is lit by an unshielded bulb in a ceramic fixture. The first floor section has square white fluted aluminum columns resting on brick piers. The original second floor columns are made of wood with chamfered corners. The second floor balustrade is composed of fluted pieces of wood assembled in an asterisk pattern. Jig-saw cut detailing on the second floor porch, done in a floral pattern, adds to the Folk Victorian look of the basic I-house.

A shed-roofed porch runs along the east (rear) facade of the house; it is enclosed at the back but open at the ends. This rear porch shelters an unusual back door with decorative enframement and abbreviated sidelights (very similar to the front entry) .

The western half of the gable roof of the I-house section is covered with black shingles. All other roofs are metal with the exception of the back porch which has brown shingles. The roofs have a low pitch which causes the wall to dominate the view of the facades. The boxed eaves have a moderate overhang but there are no moldings or decoration. There is a wide overhang on the gable ends.

The interior of the house has many original features; however, some remodeling has occurred. The ceilings in the south side of the first floor and the entire upstairs are of beaded board. The ceilings in the north side of the first floor have been lowered; the original board is above the suspended ceiling. There are six original fire surrounds in the Alexander House. Each surround exhibits a different look with various examples of raised, jig-saw cut panels. Early cabinets includes a large corner cupboard and a three-quarter height, two-door closet. The original wood floors have in some rooms been covered with carpet or hard flooring.

The year of construction of the only surviving outbuilding is unknown. It is possible that it was once used as a stable and later was converted to a garage/storage area.

The Charles and Laura Alexander House can provide important information about small town life in the early days of Mecklenburg County. Its presence on Church Street in Huntersville enriches the streetscape and reminds those who pause to admire the decorative “gingerbread” of a more peaceful, slower-paced era.