The Welch-McIntosh House

This report was written on June 9, 1997

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Welch-McIntosh House is located at 3301 Gibbon Road in the Derita community of Charlotte in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

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

Charlotte – Mecklenburg Historic Preservation Foundation, Inc.
2100 Randolph Road
Charlotte, North Carolina 28207
(704) 375-6145

3. Representative Photographs of the property: This report contains interior and exterior photographs of the property.

4. Maps depicting the location of the property: This report contains a map depicting the location of the property.

5. Current deed book references to the property: The most recent deed to the Welch-McIntosh House is listed Mecklenburg County Deed Book 8834 at Page 364. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is 045-372-27.

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

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description of the property prepared by Dr. Dan L. Morrill.

8. Documentation of why 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 history, architecture, and cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Welch-McIntosh House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the Welch-McIntosh House is the best preserved example of a transition Queen Anne style cottage in the Derita community, 2) the Welch-McIntosh House documents the dispersal of urban architecture into sections of rural Mecklenburg County in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and 3) George Stewart Welch (1867-1935) and Clara Rumple Welch (1868-1953), the initial owners of the house, demonstrate the impact of Charlotte upon the development of truck farming in turn-of-the-century Mecklenburg County.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and association: The Commission contends that the architectural description by Dr. Dan L. Morrill included in this report demonstrates that the Welch-McIntosh House meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The current Ad Valorem appraised value of the 1.501 acres of land is $49,010. The current Ad Valorem appraised value of the house is $4,290. The total Ad Valorem appraised value is $53,300. The property is zoned R12MF.

Date of Preparation of this Report: June 9, 1997

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill
Historic Landmarks Commission
2100 Randolph Road
Charlotte, N.C. 28207

Physical Description

Dr. Dan L. Morrill
June 9, 1997

Location Description

The Welch-McIntosh House is located on Gibbon Road in the Derita community in the north central portion of Mecklenburg County. Derita is approximately six miles north of the city center of Charlotte. Sited on 1.501 acres of land on the south side of Gibbon Road, the Welch-McIntosh property is located approximately one-half mile west of Derita’s commercial district, which borders the tracks of the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad, now Norfolk Southern Railroad, which extend from Charlotte to just beyond Mooresville, N.C. The Welch-McIntosh House is sited on a slight knoll, and a lawn and a semicircular, gravel driveway separate the house from Gibbon Road. The lawn contains mature trees. To the rear of the house, the site descends gradually toward a creek. The only other structures on the site are a well house to the immediate rear of the house, a privy and a small storage shed. The proposed designation includes the Welch-McIntosh House (interior and exterior) and 1.501 acres of land, plus the privy and the well house.

Architectural Description

The Welch-McIntosh House is a one and one-half story, double pile, frame building with a one story rear ell on the southwest side of the house. The house has weatherboard siding; a brick pier foundation (infilled except for the porches during restoration), and a  hip roof covered in slate. A wide, balustraded wraparound porch is on the front of the house, and an “L-shaped,” balustraded porch extends across the back of the house and along the east side of the rear ell. The front wraparound porch has a shed, composition roof. A rock rubble stairway leads to the front porch, which is surmounted at the front entrance by a pedimented gable with broad eaves with returns. The main body of the roof also has broad, overhanging eaves, as does a pedimented gable which is located on the northwest corner of the house. The front door with transom is original. Surrounded by a symmetrically molded architrave with corner blocks, it retains its original screen door, which is modestly decorated with filigree. Original doorways also open on to the rear porch, one directly opposite from the front entrance and two along the rear projection of the “L-shaped” porch (the door closer to the rear now opens on to an enclosed laundry room). Two interior brick chimneys, each with a modestly corbeled cap, penetrate the roof of the main block of the house; and an interior brick chimney with plain cap extends above the roof of the rear el. The predominant window type is 2/2  sash with large lights or panes. Pedimented dormers of identical design with replacement windows are located on the center portions of the front and rear elevations of the house. The interior of the Welch-McIntosh House is strikingly original. The only major changes have been the construction of a bathroom in the 1950’s near the rear of a wide center hall that extends from the front to the back of main block of the house, and the placement of updated cabinets and fixtures (also in the 1950’s) in the kitchen at the southern end of the rear ell. Otherwise the interior features date from 1907. These include the mantels in the front four rooms, the doorways and their hardware and surrounds, the base and ceiling molding, the  wainscoting in the center hall, and the newels, handrail, and pickets of the “L-shaped” stairway that leads from the center hall in a single landing to the second floor, which contains two rooms, completely paneled.

Conclusion

The Welch-McIntosh House has been modified. A modern bathroom was installed in the 1950’s, and the kitchen was updated in the same decade. At some point in time the rear porch was extended over the well house — a feature which was eliminated during the recent restoration of the house — and portions of the front porch were demolished — the missing portions of the front porch were rebuilt earlier this year. The spring house no longer exists, nor do most of the outbuildings used during the years when George Welch occupied the property as a farmer. The brick pier foundation has been infilled with block which has been recessed. New cabinets have been placed in the kitchen, and the house has a new central air conditioning and heating system. On balance, however, the Welch-McIntosh House, both inside and outside, is largely original. The house has individual significance architecturally because it is the best preserved example of its stylistic genre in the Derita community. Also, it demonstrates how an essentially urban style, the transitional  Queen Anne style cottage, spread into rural Mecklenburg County in the early twentieth century, especially into areas which were closely linked to Charlotte by the railroad.
A History of the Welch-McIntosh House

Dr. Dan L.Morrill
June 9, 1997

The Welch-McIntosh House was built in 1907 as the home of George Stewart Welch (1867-1935) and his wife, Clara Lee Rumple Welch (1868-1953), whom he had married on April 9, 1894. She was a native of Mecklenburg County and Derita.1 This was not the couple’s first home in the Derita community. Previously renters, they decided to construct a residence on farm land that Mr. Welch had already purchased.2 It is also reasonable to assume that Welch and his wife needed a larger abode to rear their seven children — three sons and four daughters.3 The oldest child was only 10 years old when the Welches moved into the Gibbon Road house.

A large, convivial man who enjoyed joking with and teasing his children, George Welch was a resourceful and imaginative truck farmer. In addition to raising crops, he was a dairyman and tended peach, apple and pear orchards. He regularly delivered milk, butter, fruits and vegetables to customers in Charlotte. One of Welch’s stops was the Berryhill Store in Fourth Ward, where he would deposit his farm products and pick up supplies for his wife.4 Another of his enterprises was establishing and superintending the North Derita Poplar Springs, which was situated at the bottom of the hill behind the house. “I wish to announce that I have opened the above Springs near Derita and am prepared to properly fill orders in any quantity at reasonable prices,” Welch declared in an advertising circular that appeared in 1911. The circular contains a photograph of a gable-roofed spring house (no longer extant) and a horse-pulled delivery wagon. The product, of course, was pure drinking water.5 Later the spring house was used to refrigerate milk produced by Welch’s cows.6 George Welch took an interest in community affairs, especially education. He was the School Committee Chairman of the Derita School for many years.7 The Derita community grew up along the tracks of the Atlantic Tennessee & Ohio Railroad in the second half of the nineteenth century.8 Now almost totally engulfed by Charlotte’s suburban sprawl, Derita was once a distinct trading center for farmers in the region. The centerpiece of the neighborhood was the commercial district beside the railroad tracks about one-half mile east of the Welch-McIntosh House.

A leading storekeeper and the first postmaster in the community was Amos L. Rumple, Clara Welch’s father. He gave Derita its name. He named it after one of his best friends, Derita Lewis.9 The Welch-McIntosh House is situated on Gibbon Road, which parallels the tracks of the railroad just northwest of Derita. Consequently, even in 1907, it stood on a well-traveled road and was, therefore, readily accessible from the outside world. The house is a more or less standardized early twentieth century dwelling, suggestive more of urban or small town building forms than those found in the countryside. It is of balloon-framed construction with mass-produced sawn lumber and nails.10 Stylistically, the Welch-McIntosh House is a Queen Anne style cottage. Part of the picturesque movement, the Queen Anne style had been gaining popularity in Mecklenburg County since the 1870’s. “Contrasting sharply with simple square or rectangular folk house types, Queen Anne dwellings displayed consciously irregular forms, with jutting wings and bays topped by interlocking hip and gable roofs,” writes architectural historian Richard L. Mattson.11 George Welch, a diabetic in his later years, died in the Welch-McIntosh House on November 7, 1935, and was buried in the Sugar Creek Cemetery immediately across Sugar Creek Road from the Church.12 His daughter, Ona Welch Puckett, described her father thusly:

George Welch was a large man, usually weighing about 185-200 pounds. He was grey at a very early age. He had a mustache part of his life, but shaved it off in his late years of life. . . . He had blue eyes and fair skin.13

Clara Welch lived until June 3, 1953, when she too died in the house.14 Clara, a life-long member of Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church, is buried beside her husband. According to her daughter Ruby McIntosh, Clara was a “quiet, gentle person” who spent most of her years performing the routine chores of homemaking — cooking, washing, cleaning, etc. She enjoyed the services of an African American maid, named Edna, for many years.15 Canning of vegetables from the garden lasted throughout the summer. Animals, including pigs and horses, had to be fed. A typical meal for the family would consist of corn, squash, beans, pork and cornbread. Clara never complained and, according to her daughter, never had an argument with her husband.16 According to Maurice McIntosh, Clara adamantly refused to have a bathroom put in the house. She simply did not think it appropriate to use indoor facilities. Consequently, the family continued to use the outhouse, which still stands behind the dwelling, until after Clara’s death in 1953.17

In 1936, Ruby Welch (1908 – ) married Fred Campbell McIntosh (1899-1953), a native of Sanford, N.C. The two had met several years earlier on the front porch of the Welch-McIntosh House, when he had accompanied a friend from Charlotte on a visit. The next year Ruby and her husband established residency in the house on Gibbon Road, because Ruby’s sister, Ona, had moved into Derita, leaving Clara alone. Fred McIntosh resided in the house until his death in 1953, and Ruby stayed on until 1995, when she moved to a son’s house on Shasta Lane in Charlotte. Fred and Ruby McIntosh had two children, both sons. They are Alfred Welch McIntosh (1939- ) and Maurice Daniel McIntosh (1940- ).18

Fred McIntosh was a marble and tile setter. An employee of Renfrow Tile and Marble Co. in Charlotte, he would lay tile in bathrooms of new homes, install broken-tiled porches at houses, and place marble and tile floors in commercial and industrial buildings, including the River Bend Duke Power Plant in Gaston County. An outdoorsman, he loved to go fishing with his two sons and tell them what to do. “Don’t go to close to the shore.” “Row over that way.” Ruby McIntosh, a nurse, worked outside the home after her children started to school in the mid-1940’s. She continued to rear her children after her husband’s death and met her many responsibilities with a quiet but resolute demeanor. Maurice McIntosh remembers his childhood in the Welch-Mcintosh House as an almost ideal, rural existence. He and his brother Alfred used to catch all sorts of animals, pin them up, and nurture them. These included frogs, birds of all sorts, squirrels, and snakes. Maurice was also fond of guns. He would “ping bees” from the beehive that was always at the corner of the house with his BB gun and shoot rats with his 22 rifle when they ran across the fields of neighboring farmers at hay harvesting time.19 In 1995, the Welch-McIntosh House became rental property. The following year the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Preservation Foundation acquired the house through donation from Ruby McIntosh and began restoring it. That effort is still underway at the time of the preparation of this report.
1 “Welch Family History,” compiled by Ona Welch Puckett (April, 1972). A copy of this manuscript is in the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission. Mecklenburg County Marriage Book 47, p. 646.

2 Interview of Ruby Welch McIntosh and Maurice Daniel McIntosh by Dr. Dan L. Morrill (May 28, 1997). Hereinafter cited as “Interview.”

3 The children of George and Clara Welch were Earl Parks Welch (1895-1984), Oscar Blaine Welch (1897-1984), Waldo Pharr Welch (1901-1953), Ona Marie Welch Puckett (1904-1996), Mabel Bertina Welch Ellis (1906-1994), Ruby Hazeline Welch McIntosh (1908- ), and Beulah May Welch Dean (1912- ). See “Welch Family History.”

4 Interview.

5 “Welch Family History.” An original copy of this advertising circular is in the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission. A concrete pad still marks the spot of the spring house at the edge of the creek behind or south of the house.

6 Interview. Maurice McIntosh says that there used to be a “churn house” immediately behind the main house, where milk was turned into butter. He also remembers a row of milking stalls behind the house.

7 “Welch Family History.”

8 The Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad opened in 1860. The tracks were taken up during the Civil War, because the Confederacy was in desperate need of track for its heavily traveled railroads. The line did not reopen until 1874 as part of the Atlanta & Charlotte Air Line. Its auspicious name notwithstanding, the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio only ran from Charlotte to Statesville, N.C. See Thomas W. Hanchett, “Charlotte And Its Neighborhoods. The Growth of a New South City, 1850-1930” (1986), p. 16, an unpublished manuscript in the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.

9 Christina Wright and Dr. Dan Morrill,  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Tours. Driving and Walking (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Preservation Fund, Inc., 1994), p. 30.

10 According to Ruby Welch McIntosh, the house was built by a “Mr. High.” Also, the lumber was fashioned from trees cut from her uncle’s farm on Beatties Ford Road (Interview).

11 Richard L. Mattson, “Historic Landscapes Of Mecklenburg County,”(1991), pp. 20-21, a manuscript in the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.

12 Mecklenburg County Death Book 47, Page 646. Charlotte Observer (November 8, 1935).

13 “Welch Family History.”

14 Charlotte Observer (June 4, 1953).

15 Interview.

16 Interview.

17 Telephone conversation with Maurice McIntosh by Dr. Dan L. Morrill (May 29, 1997).

18 Interview.

19 Interview.

WHITE OAK

Click here for White Oak National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form

This report was written on November 2, 1976

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as White Oak is located on Hood Rd. in the northeastern section of Mecklenburg County.

2. Name, addresses, and telephone numbers of the present owners and occupants of the property: The present owners and occupants of the property are:

John T. Porterfield & Ann C. Porterfield
White Oak Plantation
Route 8 Box 284F
Charlotte, N.C. 28212

Telephone: 536-4889

3. Representative photographs of the property: Representative photographs of the property are included in this report.

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

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent reference to this property is found in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 2816 at Page 499. The Parcel Number of the property is 10808106.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property:

William Johnston, a prominent Scotch-Irish resident of Mecklenburg County in the 18th century, served in the Colonial forces during the American Revolutionary War. His most noteworthy contribution occurred at the Battle of Kings Mountain in October 1780. On March 9, 1784, Mr. Johnston purchased from John Wiley the land on which the structure known as White Oak presently stands. Local tradition holds that the house was built c.1792. It is certainly one of the finer Federal Style homes extant in Mecklenburg County. It was the centerpiece of a major plantation of antebellum Mecklenburg. Documenting the standing which Mr. Johnston attained in the community was the fact that one of his daughters, Elizabeth, married Hezekiah Alexander Jr., a son of the locally famous leader of the movement towards independence from Great Britain in 1775 and 1776.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description prepared by Jack O. Boyte, A.I.A.

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

 
a. Historical and cultural significance: The historical and cultural significance of the property known as White Oak rests upon two factors. First, the structure has architectural significance as one of the earliest Federal Style plantation houses in Mecklenburg County. The Commission, however, believes that the architectural significance of the structure would be enhanced by removal of the front portico. Second, the plantation has historical significance because of its association with a family which was prominent in the early history of Mecklenburg County.

b. Suitability for preservation and restoration: The current owners have demonstrated an interest in returning the structure to its original appearance. Certainly, the structure is suitable for preservation and restoration.

c. Educational value: The structure has educational value because of its historic and cultural significance.

d. Cost of acquisition, restoration, maintenance, or repair: At present the Commission has no intention of purchasing the fee simple or any lesser included interest in the property. The Commission assumes that all costs associated with maintaining the structure will be paid by the owners or subsequent owners of the property.

e. Possibilities for adaptive or alternative use of the property: The Commission concurs with the current owner’s use of the structure as a private residence.

f. Appraised value: The current tax appraisal value of the structure is $31,520. The current tax appraisal value of the land is $40,500. The Commission is aware that designation of the property would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the rate upon which the Ad Valorem Taxes are calculated.

g. The administrative and financial responsibility of any person or organization willing to underwrite all or a portion of such costs: At present the Commission has no intention of purchasing the fee simple or any lesser included interest in this property. Furthermore, the Commission assumes that all costs associated with the structure will be met by whatever party now owns or will subsequently own the property. Clearly, the present owner has demonstrated the capacity to meet the expenses associated with restoring or maintaining the structure.

9. Documentation of why and in what ways the property meets the criteria established for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places: The Commission believes that the property known as White Oak on Hood Rd. in Mecklenburg County, N.C., does meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. Basic to the Commission’s position is its understanding of the purpose of the National Register. Established in 1966, the National Register represents the decision of the Federal Government to expand its listing of historic properties to include properties of local, regional, and State significance. The Commission believes that the property known as White Oak is of local historic significance and therefore meets the criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

10. Documentation of why and in what ways the property is of historic importance to Charlotte and/or Mecklenburg County: The property known as White Oak is historically significant to Mecklenburg County for two reasons. First, it has architectural significance as one of the earliest Federal Style plantation houses in Mecklenburg County. Second, the plantation has historical significance because of its association with a family which was prominent in the early history of Mecklenburg County.

Click Here For White Oak Furniture
Bibliography

An Inventory Of Older Buildings In Mecklenburg County And Charlotte For The Historic Properties Commission.

Ruth Blackwelder, Old Charlotte and Mecklenburg Today (The Mecklenburg Historical Association, 1973).

Charlotte News (March 17, 1973) p. 34.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds Office.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Tax Office.

Date of Preparation of this report: November 2, 1976

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill, Director
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
139 Middleton Dr.
Charlotte, N.C. 28207

Telephone: 332-2726

 
Architectural Description

by Jack O. Boyte, A. I. A.

In the Reedy Creek community of northeastern Mecklenburg County a prosperous pioneer, William Johnston, purchased a large tract of farm land in the early 1790’s. After service in the colonies’ revolt against the crown, which included captain’s duties at Kings Mountain, Johnston engaged in farming and land trading for the next decade or so. Finally in 1792 he acquired the Reedy Creek lands for his proposed plantation manor house. Subsequently he built the fine two story brick walled structure, known as White Oak Plantation, standing today just south of Reedy Creek on a high rise facing Hood Road.

During the middle years of the eighteenth century the Piedmont wilderness was settled largely by Scotch-Irish pioneers. By nature thrifty and hard working, many of these early families achieved a high level of affluence by the turn of the century. Consequently, a number of the finest historic houses in the county date from the early years of the nineteenth century, and were originally plantation manor houses for pioneer Presbyterian settlers. And by coincidence, or perhaps as a result of simpler tastes, most of these houses exhibit the spartan simplicity of the Federal style as opposed to earlier Georgian elaboration. The Johnston house is done in this Federal style, although there are a few indications of Georgian details affecting the design.

The house has the characteristic plantation manor house form. An imposing brick structure, the two story rectangle is dominated by massive single shouldered chimneys at each gabled end. The roof has front and rear uninterrupted surfaces rising steeply to a high ridge running from gable to gable. Front and rear facades are three bays wide. The entrance side features a large six panel door with a recessed molded frame with a rare three light  transom above. Flanking the door are tall nine light over six light windows. At the second floor the three bay facade is repeated with large nine light over six light windows. Above the windows on both floors are skillfully crafted jack arches with fine tapered shapes and a center wedge. At the top of a recently erected pedimented entrance frame one may see a small corner of the original jack arch over the door.

This discordant frame does not appear to have damaged the original entrance. At the front there is also a recently installed two story portico with tall wood columns supporting a new gabled roof. A brief look at these added elements indicates that the original wall and roof surfaces could be cleared of the later materials with relative ease and the original exterior features revealed as they were.

At each end the large brick chimneys rise from field stone bases to stepped shoulders above second floor fireplace heights. Over these shoulders the chimneys continue in a diminished size to corbeled caps. Typically, gable chimney construction in this architectural mode set out from wall surfaces. So to achieve this effect in the Johnston house, the narrow sides of the gable chimneys are built with carefully defined edges and shallow recesses. Yet in the mass of the chimneys adjacent to the brick wall the chimneys are built solidly as integral parts of the brick work. At each end there are tall, narrow nine over six light windows flanking the chimneys at the first floor and nine over six at the second floor. Gable windows in the garret walls are double hung four over four.

On the rear wall there is a center six panel recessed entrance door. This frame has no transom since the low interior stair landing passes just over the head in the rear stair hall. At the right rear there has been added a one story kitchen wing in recent years. Connecting this wing to the main house is an original paneled exterior door which has a three light transom frame similar to that over the front entrance. At the opposite side downstairs is a nine over six light window matching the front. On the second floor are three symmetrically placed  nine over six light windows also like those at the front.

The house includes an astonishing number of fine bricks in its construction. Not only are all outside walls of solid brick more than a foot thick, but there is a rare fireplace wall between the library and the dining room on the first floor which is more than three feet thick. Also one wall of the central hall is solid twelve inch brick on both floors. This generous use of brick is an indication of the affluence of William Johnston. Not a rare building material locally at the turn of the century, (skilled brick makers had moved south from Virginia earlier in the eighteenth century) masonry work was nevertheless more costly than the plentiful lumber being produced at several water powered saw mills in the vicinity. Most contemporary planters were content with massive brick chimneys, usually laid in  Flemish bond, as is White Oak. One may see some strikingly similar chimneys today at such places as Cedar Grove, Latta Place, Rosedale, and Beaver Dam as well as the sister northern Mecklenburg brick house of William Tasse Alexander.

The exterior of the house reflects largely an Adam style simplicity. There is little or no elaboration in the wood trim. At the cornice, however,there is a mild Georgian influence in the wide overhang. This overhang appears out of context with the design of the house and is perhaps not original.

Entering the front door brings one into a wide center hall finished with rare elegance. Flooring consists of wide pine boards which have aged to a fine patina. Walls are plaster above a molded chair rail, with solid wide panels cut from a single width of pine below. At the beaded plank ceiling there is an elaborate wide classical cornice. Intricately molded casing frames window and door openings. At the right rear of the hall a skillfully crafted  stair rises in three runs some fourteen feet to the second floor. This stair has been changed several times since first built. Originally the staircase was located on the Southeast wall (parlor). The house used to have a Quaker floor plan. That was changed by the addition of a partition to create a central hall. However, the original  rail and  balusters appear to have been preserved and installed in proper sequence. The stair brackets are gracefully turned scrolls. Between the chair rail and stair stringer there is a triangular panel defined with a fine classical molding and ornamented with a carved wood garland.

At the left of the hall are two rooms divided, as described below, by a thick chimney wall. The small front room, which was likely a library, has a modest fireplace near the outside wall surrounded by a fine Adamesque mantel. Oval reeded pilasters flank this fireplace opening and rise to a narrow molded mantel shelf, where the pilaster support is reflected in flared relief in the mantel profile. Below the mantel is a delicately carved apron with a unique inverted scalloped edge creating a series of triangular indentations. The fine chair rail, plastered walls, crown mold and  wainscot from the hall are repeated here. Adjoining the fireplace in the thick middle wall is a deep recessed opening above the chair rail. Here the original house likely had built-in shelves or a cupboard of sorts. Now the opening is simply a plastered alcove .

Throughout the first floor the windows are splayed in the thick outside brick walls. With the window sills placed at chair rail height, the wainscot and base, as well as the rail, follow the angular flow of the wall surface at the windows. Over the window heads plastered walls and ceiling cornices are not recessed.

At the left rear on the first floor there is a relatively small dining room featuring a modest fireplace and mantel similar to that in the library. Finishes are also similar, and there is a plaster alcove in the middle wall. At the rear of this room is the door mentioned above, which was built at first to provide access to the original exterior kitchen. This door is hung on original cast iron butt hinges secured with pointless screws, as are the other first floor doors.

On the right, or east, side of the center hall is the large parlor. Encompassing half of the first floor, this imposing room is essentially undisturbed, and features a fine federal mantel and overmantel. With details similar to those in the two smaller mantels across the hall, this elaborate element typifies the skilled carpentry found throughout the house. In this room trim and finishes are also similar to those found in other first floor areas.

On the second floor one finds bed chambers which reflect the floor plan of the first floor. On the west side are two rooms divided by a foot thick masonry wall and equal in size to the two areas below. Windows are centered in the front and side walls. On the second floor, however, the windows are not splayed as found below. This is an obvious result of less thick exterior brick walls on the second floor. The hall wall adjoining these two rooms is also masonry, although not as thick as below.

On the east side of the second floor hall a partition of single thickness, beaded, tongue and grooved boards forms the enclosure for one large bed chamber. Again, this room is equal to the parlor in size. Also, in this large chamber is a side wall fireplace and mantel. Details of the mantel are similar to those on the first floor, with oval reeded pilasters and molded mantel shelf. However, at the top of each pilaster is a console bracket, a fine detail not found elsewhere in the house.

The finishing details throughout the second floor are comparatively elaborate. Whereas in many contemporary houses the usual first floor elaboration is modified or omitted in the second floor, here the chair rails, molded casing and elaborate ceiling cornice are altogether as fine on the second floor as on the first.

A curious feature on the second floor is the apparent omission of fireplaces in the two small bed chambers. As noted above, the west chimney has high shoulders well above the normal location of second floor fireplaces, but neither room shows any sign of ever having had such a device.

From the rear of the second floor hall a short stair run leads to a wide landing centered in the rear hall window. From this landing a simple paneled door opens to the steep garret stair. In this stair enclosure are unfinished pine boards showing typical elongated shallow grooves resulting from hand planing. In the garret there are heavy hand hewn joists which span the width of the house, front to rear. Above are heavy rafters showing typical vertical marks of water powered saws. At the ridge and at the eaves these members are rabbeted and pegged in tight joints. Joining each pair of rafters are sawn collar beams at head height, also rabbeted and secured with toenails. Across the rafters are the original shingling strips spaced about one foot apart. Embedded in these strips are numbers of the original machine headed cut nails used for the first shingling. At the gable end the solid brick walls appear in unfinished rough coursing.

As is often the case, most of the original dependencies on the manor house grounds have been demolished. Gone are the kitchen, smoke house, well house, etc., but there is one small stone structure remaining on the west side which is likely the original dairy. Although the roof of this building has been rebuilt – probably several times -the walls are intact and there is an original wood bar grill vent beside the one small door.

This fine old house is a rare example of frontier Federal architecture. From the hands of the skilled pioneer craftsmen hired by William Johnston the community has inherited an extraordinary historic building. In recent years the house suffered from neglect and disturbing, though well meaning, change. But fortunately it now has owners who know and care about its historic significance. Preservation and restoration seem assured and should be vigorously supported.

DR. WHITLEY’S OFFICE BUILDING

This report was written on October 3, 1988

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as Dr. Whitley’s Office Building is located on Hillside Drive, Mint Hill, N.C.

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

Mint Hill Historical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 23086
Charlotte, N.C., 28212

Telephone: c/o Becky Griffin (704) 545-5766

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 5172, Page 023. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is: 137-065-35.

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

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Dr. William H. Huffman, Ph.D.

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 Dr. Whitley’s Office Building does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) Dr. Whitley’s Office Building, erected c. 1909, is a remnant of the rural environment which once supported country doctors in Mint Hill and other outlying areas of Mecklenburg County; 2) Dr. Ayer Whitley and his wife, Esther Calcenia Mangum Whitley, served Mint Hill and its environs for about 40 years; and 3) the Mint Hill Historical Society plans to restore Dr. Whitley’s Office Building and to make it part of a historical park.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description by Dr. William H. Huffman which is included in this report demonstrates that Dr. Whitley’s Office Building 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 $0. The current appraised value of the land is $23,960. The total appraised value of the property is $23,960. The property is zoned B2.

Date of Preparation of this Report: October 3, 1988

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

Telephone: 704/376-9115
Historical Overview

Dr. William H. Huffman
July, 1988

The Dr. Whitley Office Building in Mint Hill is an unique early twentieth-century remnant of the town’s and Mecklenburg County’s once rural character. It appears to have been built by Dr. Ayer Manny Duncan Whitley ( 1884-1951 ) about 1909 as a physician’s office, but it may also have been built earlier by his predecessor, Dr. John McCamie DeArmon ( 1857-1945).

In 1908, Dr. Whitley took over the practice of the town’s first physician, Dr. DeArmon. Descended from a pioneering Mecklenburg County family, Dr. DeArmon was the son of Richard Lawson and Pamela Alexander DeArmon. After an undergraduate education at Rutherford and Yadkin Colleges, he received his medical degree in 1886 from the Baltimore Medical College (now part of the University of Maryland) where he also served his internship. On his return to his parents’ farm in Mallard Creek, his father told him to go to Mint Hill, twenty-four miles away: “They need a doctor there,” 1

Arriving on a skinny black bay horse named Wallace late on August 14, 1886, Dr. DeArmon had to shout loudly for some time to wake his host, Frank McWhirter, who put him up in an empty upstairs room of what was but a shell of a house. Hardly had he bedded down for the night, the house, which was covered with a tin roof, began shaking with great clatter of the tin, and McWhirter thought his young guest was having fits. After DeArmon made his way down the rickety stairs, they realized an earthquake was responsible for all the commotion. (It turned out to be a foretaste of the disastrous Charleston earthquake of August 31, 1886.) Thus began his 21 year stay as the town’s first physician. 2

On May 27, 1890, Dr. DeArmon and Susie (Sue) Eliza Wolfe (1868-1944) were married in the Amity Presbyterian Church. She was the daughter of C. H. and Jennie Hunter Wolfe of Mecklenburg County, and an elocution teacher at the old Bain Academy in Mint Hill, a private secondary school. They honeymooned in Richmond, Va., at the Confederate Veteran’s Reunion just for the excitement, since they were both youngsters during the war. 3 In 1891, Dr. DeArmon bought ten acres on what is now Fairview Road (N.C. 218) and built a modest house, which was added to over the years. 4 There he practiced medicine and they began their family, which came to number twelve children. Apparently Dr. DeArmon eventually had a growing practice in Charlotte, and in 1907 sold the Mint Hill home and moved to the bigger city. He continued to practice until the age of seventy-five, and was at one time the president of the Mecklenburg County Medical Society. 5

After about a year without a resident physician, Dr. Ayer Whitley, a twenty-four-year-old native of Union County, came to town in 1908 and began his practice. The son of Phillip and Mary Simpson Whitley of Union County, he also attended Rutherford College and the Baltimore Medical College, where he received his medical degree about four months before coming to Mint Hill. Arriving in October,1908 with a nine-day-old baby, the Whitleys first took up residence across the road from the ten-acre DeArmon place, and bought it the following March, 1909. 6

It was probably about then that the detached office building was built (about forty feet from the house) where Dr. Whitley conducted a typical small-town/country general practice. It was set up with three rooms: a reception/waiting room in the front half, and two examining rooms in the back. (Dr. DeArmon had used a back corner room of the house as an office.) For house calls, he used the one-horse buggy familiar to all country doctors of the time. Later, he tried a motorcycle, but the bumpy ride apparently broke too many medicine bottles, so he ended up with an automobile equipped with fog lights. 7

For about forty years, just up to a few years before his death, Dr. Whitley ministered to the needs of his Mint Hill-area patients. He also set up offices in Concord and Monroe, mixed his own medicines, made house calls 24 hours a day, and in the process delivered 6,784 babies. This included 12 of his own; eleven were born in the Fairview Road home, and the other just before they moved in the house across the road. Called “Professor Whitley” by some of his colleagues because he often referred to his medical books when faced with a difficult case, Dr. Whitley began practice charging $3 to deliver a baby, plus $1.50 for travel expense. At the end of his practice, he charged $75 for the same service. 8

Esther Calcenia Mangum Whitley ( 1884-1987), Dr. Whitley’s wife, occasionally helped him in his practice, although she did not have any formal training, by assisting with his “labor cases,” sutures, pulling teeth and administering anesthesia. She even delivered thirty-six babies under his supervision, and two others by herself. 9

Mrs. Whitley was the third of ten children born to John Cullen Mangum, a well-known magistrate of Chesterfield County, S.C., and Ida Letha Funderburk Mangum. Married on January 5, 1908, the Whitleys lived in Baltimore while Dr. Whitley finished his residency, after which they moved for a short time to Union County. In an interview, Mrs. Whitley recalled that she always raised a garden, chickens, pigs and cattle, and instilled a sense of hard work in her children as good preparation for life. 10

Although the country practice was always busy, it was not lucrative, since the poor country folk who were many of his patients commonly paid with livestock or produce, or couldn’t pay at all. None were ever refused treatment for lack of money. Thus the ten-acre home place was utilized as a small farm to provide enough food for the large family. In addition to the main house, which was built over a well, and the office building, there was a barn, a crib and another outbuilding on the property that were used as part of the farm. 11

Following the death of Dr. Whitley, the DeArmon/Whitley home place was sold to a son, Dr. Ayer C. Whitley (d. 1978) in 1971, and in turn to his son, Ayer C. Whitley, Jr. in 1980. 12 The latter donated the doctor’s office building to the Mint Hill Historical Society on November 4, 1986, and the Society moved it to its present location on Hillside Drive (on property donated by the family of the late Carl J. McEwen) July 21, 1987. 13

With a seed grant from the North Carolina General Assembly of $10,000, a restoration design plan from UNC-Charlotte architecture students and the offer of other donated goods and services (which include some of Dr. Whitley’s medical equipment), the Society is undertaking the restoration of the office and plans to incorporate it into a historical park with other buildings and artifacts representative of Mint Hill’s early history. Thus will a unique remainder of both the medical and rural heritage of Mint Hill and Mecklenburg County be preserved and available to future generations.
Notes

1 Charlotte Observer. April 23, 1945, Sect.2, p. l; letter from Dr. DeArmon to Gladys DeArmon Robinson, printed in Mint Hill Historical Society Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 3, Sept.1986.

2 Letter, cited above.

3 The Southern Echo. January id, 1986, p.1.

4 Mecklenburg County Deed Book 81, p.409.

5 Charlotte Observer. cited above; Mecklenburg County Deed Book 220, p. 134.

6 Mecklenburg County Deed Book 242, p. 325; Charlotte Observer. December 29, 1951, p. 12B; unidentified newspaper article by Avery Phillips on file with Mint Hill Historical Society.

7 Undated Charlotte News article by Carol Lowe Timblin on file with Mint Hill Historical Society.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.; article by Avery Phillips cited in note 6.

11 Ibid.

12 Mecklenburg County Deed Books 3342, p.338; 4376, p.427.

13 Donation Agreement on file with Mint Hill Historical Society; Mint Hill Historical Society Newsletter, Vol.2, No. 4, Sept. 1987; Charlotte Observer. July 26, 1947. “Mecklenburg Neighbors” Section, p. 12.
Architectural Description

The Dr. Whitley Office Building was built about 1909 as a physician’s office and examining room by Dr. Ayer Duncan Whitley ( 1884-1951). It is presently the only structure occupying a one hundred feet by two hundred feet gently sloping lot on Hillside Drive in Mint Hill, and is sited along a northwestern-southeastern axis, with the front facing northwest. Dr. Whitley’s grandson donated the office to the Mint Hill Historical Society in 1986, and in 1987 the Society moved the building to the present site.

Originally the building was constructed about forty feet west of Dr. Whitley’s house on Fairview Road in Mint Hill, which was about three-tenths of a mile east of the present site. Both the office and the house (which is no longer extant) faced south, and directly to the west of the office was a blacksmith shop on an adjacent corner property. Physical and interview evidence has revealed that the office was reconstructed to its present size in the Twenties or Thirties. 1 Originally the building had a front section that served as a pharmacy. Entry was through recessed, glass-paneled double doors, and inside was a counter for serving customers. There were glass windows on either side of the front doors, and a lean-to porch across the width of the facade was supported by four posts. A decorative parapet false front rose above the roof line from the point where the porch roof attached to the facade, so that the whole gave the appearance of a storefront. Sometime in the Twenties or Thirties, the front section of the building was sawn off, rolled on logs to the rear of the Whitley property, and turned into a tenant house. it is no longer extant.

The resulting present building is rectangular in plan, one-story with a front-gabled roof, covered with tin, and rests on ten brick piers. It is covered with drop board siding, and has one chimney on the eastern side near the front, which has been reconstructed in stretcher bond. On the front of the office, which was newly built when it was cut in two, two eight over eight  double-hung sash windows with simple surrounds are on either side of a six-panel solid wood door. A small, one-bay gable-roofed porch extends out over the front door that is supported by two simple wood posts.

The two other extant windows are in the rear of the building, and are six over six double-hung sash. One is near the rear on the northeast side, and the other on the rear near the southwest side. There is a six-panel rear exit door that is not original: it appears to have been put in where a window that matched the other rear window was located. Another door is located near the rear on the southeastern side; the opening appears original, but not the door. This would have been where Dr. Whitley entered the office from his house.

Except for the front wall, all the interior walls are covered with tongue-and-groove board. The front half of the building is a single open room, presumably a waiting room. The rear half is divided into two rooms, both of which were examining rooms; the one on the west side was also an office, and the one on the east side still has a sink and original tongue-and groove board ceiling.

When moved, the roof and some wall sections were in considerable need of repair, but restoration efforts to date have corrected the most serious problems. Much of the interior tongue-and-groove board interior is in good condition, as are the extant winders.
Notes

1 From oral history gathered by Becky Griffin and others of the Mint Hill Historical Society.