HELPER HOTEL S&R

This report was written on October 5, 1976

1. Name and location of the property: The properly known as the Helper Hotel is located at 215 North Main St. Davidson, NC.

2. Name, addresses, and telephone numbers of the present owners and occupants of the property:
The present owner and occupant of the property is:
Davidson College
Davidson, NC 28036

Telephone: 892-8021

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 1210 it page 607. The Parcel Number of the property is: 00325605.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property:

In 1848 Lewis Dinkins erected a structure which was later to become a part of the Helper Hotel. Leased as a store building to Mr. Leroy Springs in December of that year, the structure served the growing number of students enrolled at Davidson College directly across the Great Road from Statesville to Charlotte. Mr. Dinkins demonstrated his awareness of Presbyterian sensitivities by including within the lease an explicit prohibition regarding the sale of intoxicating liquors or any other article that may be prohibited by the Regulations and Ordinances of the Trustees of Sd. College.” In 1855 the building was purchased by Hanson Pinkney Helper, a native of Davie County. Mr. Helper, known as “Mr. Pink” to the students, transformed the structure into a thirteen-room hotel, the Helper Hotel.

In the late 1850s he added a two-story portico to east side of the building. Indeed, his interest in architectural embellishment persisted during the years following the Civil War. The “Widows’ Walk” or observatory was added in 1871. The evidence suggests that the structure continued to house a variety of commercial enterprises. For example, in the late 1800s Dr. J. J. Dupuy operated a drug store in the big north room on the first floor. Two of his daughters, Miss Julia and Merle, married Davidson students who were to become Presidents of Davidson College — Henry Louis Smith and Walter Lee Lingle. The Sloan family of Davidson purchased the building about 1901. The structure continued to serve the needs of the students across the street. During the 1920s and 1930s Mrs. Sadie Sloan Bohannan operated the inn as a weekend rooming house for visiting college girls. From the outset she enforced the rule that Davidson students could go only to the top of the stairs to deposit the suitcases and no farther. Obviously, she knew what she was doing. Davidson College bought the Helper Hotel in 1946. In 1971 Mr. Grover C. Meetze, architect and Director of the Physical Plant at Davidson College, supervised the restoration of the building. It is now used for the Honors College under the leadership of Dean Frontis W. Johnston. In addition to offices, classrooms, social rooms, kitchen, etc., it contains a V.I.P. suite on the second floor for visiting scholars and honored guests.

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 who 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 the Helper Hotel rests upon two factors. First, the structure is architecturally significant as a fine example of Jeffersonian Classicism. Second, the structure has strong associative ties with Davidson College and with the surrounding community. It is the oldest building in Mecklenburg County which once served as a hotel. The father-in-law of two Presidents of Davidson College operated a drug store in the building.

b. Suitability for preservation and restoration: The Helper Hotel is one of the finer examples of historic restoration in Mecklenburg County.

c. Educational value: The Helper Hotel has educational value as one of the finer examples or Jeffersonian Classicism in Mecklenburg County. It also has educational value as an example of historic restoration.

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 this property. The Commission assumes that all costs associated with maintaining the structure will be paid by the owner or subsequent owners of the property.

e. Possibilities for adaptive or alternative use of the property: The Commission concurs with the owner’s adaptive use of the property to house the Honors College of Davidson College.

f. Appraised value: The current tax appraisal value of the structure is $42,310. The current tax appraisal value of the land is $20,000. 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 or 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 and 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 judges that the property known as the Helper Hotel does meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. Basic to the Commission’s judgment is its knowledge of the fact that the National Register of Historic Places functions to identify properties of local and state historic significance. The Commission believes that the property known as the Helper Hotel is of local historic significance and thereby meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.

10. Documentation of why and in what ways the property is of historical importance to Charlotte and/or Mecklenburg County: As noted earlier, the property known as the Helper Hotel is of local historical importance for two reasons. It is architecturally significant as one of the finer examples of Jeffersonian Classicism in Mecklenburg County. The structure, the oldest building in Mecklenburg County which once served as a hotel, has strong associative ties with Davidson college.

 

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Bibliography

An Inventory of Older Building in Mecklenburg County and Charlotte for the Historic Properties Commission.

Chalmers Gaston Davidson, The Plantation World Around Davidson, pp. 11-15.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds Office.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Tax Office.

Date of preparation of this report: October 5, 1976

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

Telephone: 332-2726

 

Architectural Description

 

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

The historic significance of early nineteenth century Davidson College buildings is well known statewide and to some extent nationally. Inspired as they were by Thomas Jefferson’s classical work at the University of Virginia, the two most renowned historic structures on the campus, Eumenean Society and Philanthropic Society halls exhibit an elegance of design which is now unique in Mecklenburg County for the period. In the 1840s the literary societies contracted with a well-to-do Mecklenburg citizen, Lewis Dinkins, for the construction of the two buildings. No record of the designer or architect is known, but the sensitivity of proportion and detail is clear indication that a trained architect worked on the projects.

At about the time Lewis Dinkins began work on the two halls, he launched a private endeavor across Statesville Road from the college. Anticipating the need for visitor lodging and for a convenient off campus store for students, he built a small inn and store building on an axis with the two halls, and not surprisingly, in the same architectural mode. Lewis Dinkins may or may not have employed the college architect, if there was one, but he certainly faithfully duplicated the details of the two structures he was building for the college.

Having passed through numerous proprietorships, the building has also known several alterations and additions. One pre-civil war daguerreotype shows a small structure approximately half the present size and with an apparent high columned portico, or pilastered wing, on the south side. Another picture taken soon after the war shows the building essentially as it is today. This second photograph was used by the college as a guide during recent reconditioning work. The building is a simple two story rectangular structure topped with a low, slate-covered tripped roof which rises to a high flat rectangular promenade enclosed in turn by a delicate wooden balustrade. Across the front, or Statesville Road side, is an antebellum portico extending out some eight feet to the edge of the road and covering the sidewalk. Above this is a second floor balcony of like size, sheltered by a flat slate covered roof. There are seven square wood columns width simple molded caps supporting the balcony floor, then extending up to a narrow overhang at the balcony roof. Trim at this overhang cornice is minimum and includes only a simple bed mold with a plain soffit and fascia above. At the second floor, the balcony is enclosed with a small rounded rail resting on thin rectangular pickets.

As mentioned above, the original design of this structure followed the theme of the Eumenean and Philanthropic halls. Strong vertical lines created by repeated stuccoed pilasters divide the red brick exterior surfaces into uniformly spaced bays. On the front, which faces east, there are three such bays defined by corner pilasters and two more located at approximately third points in the front. Centered in the ground floor end bays are double wood paneled doors with granite sills, which are flanked by tall windows with six over nine light sash. The center bay has one window, also with six over nine light sash. On the second floor front the same window and door pattern occurs although the doors, which open from second floor bed chambers to the balcony, are single rather than double. The stuccoed pilasters are two stories high and terminate at the eaves in capitals with simple curved Doric forms. This molded form is continued in the shape of the brick between the pilasters and creates a fine overhang cornice at the roof line. This brick cornice is a striking detail and actually reflects more sophistication than the two halls across the road. This molded brick does not carry through the entire perimeter of the structure, however. At the front there are two bays where the molded cornice appears, but at the third, or south, bay this shape is replaced by simple corbeled brick courses of relatively primitive form. It could be said that this portion of the building is the addition appended, or altered, by Hanson Pinkney Helper in the late 1850s when the front portico and balcony were attached.

On the north side there are four tall pilasters rising, not from the ground as at the front, but from a broad stucco base which extends four feet above grade. Below this base one can see evidence of a low field stone foundation wall. Between the pilasters on this side the wall surfaces are locally made red brick. On the first floor there is one six over nine light window centered in the third bay. The second floor includes single six light over nine light windows centered in each bay with heavy wooden pegged wood frames, shallow jack arches and thick stucco sills. Continuing the front and side pattern, the rear facade includes four high stuccoed pilasters spaced as are those at the front. Here are three massive brick chimneys, one in each of the three bays. From field stone bases these chimneys continue the same width up to stepped shoulders at the roof cornice. Above this they continue in reduced proportion high above the roof to corbeled caps. In the rear wall there are heavy six panel doors with granite sills in the two center first floor bays and one six over nine light window in the left center bay. On the second floor there are three windows with six over nine lights in line with the door and window below. On the south side there are again four pilasters which form three equal bays. Centered in each bay on each floor are single six over nine light windows.

The exterior brick work on the inn walls varies from the front to the side and rear, whereas the brick coursing in the Statesville Road elevation is all Flemish Bond, panels on the sides and rear are English (or common) Bond with one row of headers for every six stretcher courses. This variation reflects the brickwork in the college buildings. On Eumenean Hall the brickwork is all Flemish Bond and on Philanthropic it is English Bond. An additional similarity in the structures is the unique brick jack arch which is similar in all the buildings. This flat arch is one brick tall of tapered shapes with a small wedge brick in the center. Original sills of cut Mecklenburg granite occur below the first floor windows. On the second floor there are like-size heavy brick sills covered with stucco.

The building interior has obviously been altered and remodeled several times since the original small inn and store building was erected by Lewis Dinkins. The most recent work included refinishing all interior surfaces and replacement of doors and windows. A summary of this work indicates that new materials were fabricated to carefully match those remaining from earlier construction.

Through the paneled double doors in the right front bay one enters a large assembly hall with a ten foot ceiling, which encompasses over half of the first floor area. On the rear wall of this room is a carefully preserved original pine mantle. Surrounding a relatively small fireplace opening, this mantle is simply detailed. Plain rectangular pine half columns at each side of the opening rise to an unadorned rectangular mantle shelf with a simple square apron below. This fireplace is the only one remaining in the building on either floor. Whereas, the existence of three large original chimneys at the rear clearly show that both floors were well served by fireplaces when the store and inn flourished in the mid 1800s.

On the left side of the first floor a second front entrance, also of double paneled doors, leads to a wide corridor. Here are a number of smaller rooms and a narrow stair which leads, in two runs, to the second floor. This stair is likely in its original location and possibly led originally from an entrance lobby to lodgings on the second floor. There is little of the original work or material now visible on either floor, however.

The importance or this building is its reflection of the architectural mood of the Davidson College Community as it emerged from Eighteenth Century Mecklenburg County. Alterations which have from time to time occurred, do not conceal the original design theme. The bold white stucco pilasters and broad white base creating precise bays of red brick and crowned by Doric capitals and broad molded cornices may have been the first classical architecture out in the county. The Jefferson-Palladian influence is here, and in the two sister buildings across the road, seen for the first time locally. It is a delightful building and its preservation enriches the community.

Helms-Bell House

This report was written on June 7, 2000

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Helms-Bell House is located at 2021 Euclid Avenue in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The present owner of the property is:
Mr. Allen L. Brooks
2021 Euclid Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28203

(704) 333 7004

3. Representative photographs of the property: This report contains representative black and white photographs of the property. Color slides are available at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission office.

4. Maps depicting the location of the property: This report contains two maps depicting 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 9611 on page 974. The tax parcel number of the property is #121-068-25.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property.

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 its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Helms-Bell House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:
1) The Helms-Bell House, erected in 1899, is a rare survivor of the earliest phase of development in Dilworth, Charlotte’s first streetcar suburb.
2) The Helms-Bell House is a significant reminder of the late-nineteenth century solution to housing the burgeoning population of middle-class professionals who were drawn here by Charlotte’s expansion and growing reputation as an economic center of the New South.
3) The Helms-Bell House is a very good example of a Queen Anne Victorian house with good integrity and in excellent condition. It has a unusual recessed balcony, which is attributed to C. C. Hook, one of Charlotte’s first professional architects.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission contends that the physical and architectural description which is included in this report demonstrates that the Helms-Bell House meets this criteria.

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 2000 total appraised value of the improvements is $ 261,150. The 2000 total appraised value of the lot is $ 55,000. The 2000 total value is $ 316,150. The property is zoned R-5.

10. Portion of the Property Recommended for Designation: The interior and exterior of the 1899 Helms-Bell House and its lot at 2021 Euclid Avenue are currently being considered for designation. The pre-existing 1949 house on Euclid Avenue and the 1998 structure joining the two buildings are not being considered for designation at this time.

Date of preparation of this report: June 7, 2000

Prepared by:Mary Beth Gatza
428 N. Laurel Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28204

(704) 331 9660

 

 

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Helms-Bell House, erected in 1899, is a very good example of a middle-class Queen Anne-style house built during the earliest phase of development in the Dilworth neighborhood. Dilworth, which opened in 1891, has great significance as Charlotte’s first streetcar suburb, and serves as a case study in the history of both architecture and development patterns in Charlotte. The neighborhood was developed in three phases (1891, 1912 and 1920), and contains buildings from the 1890s through the 1940s and later. A range of academic and nationally-popular architectural styles are represented in the neighborhood–especially the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Foursquare and Craftsman. The Helms-Bell House was originally located at the intersection of S. Caldwell Street and Lexington Avenue, and is the only survivor of the many turn-of-the-century residences which lined the streets around that intersection. During its early years, the Helms-Bell House served as the residence for a succession of different families. Research shows that these families were headed by men who were drawn to Charlotte from outside the area and took professional positions in industries that were fueled by Charlotte’s expansion and growing reputation as an economic center of the New South. The Helms-Bell House is a significant reminder of the late-nineteenth century solution to housing Charlotte’s growing population of professionals. Architecturally, the Helms-Bell House is a well-designed Queen Anne Victorian-style house with good integrity and in excellent condition. The predominant feature is a recessed balcony in the front gable, which is unusual in Charlotte. This treatment strongly suggests that the house was designed by an architect (rather than built from a stock plan). The design is attributed to Charles Christian Hook (1870-1938), one of Charlotte’s first professional architects. Hook is known to have designed other houses in Dilworth around the same time, including the 1895 Mallonee-Jones House (400 E. Kingston Ave.) and the 1901 Robert J. Walker House (329 E. Park Ave.). The recessed balcony is similar to three others known to have been designed around the turn of the century by his firm, Hook and Sawyer. None of the other examples are still standing.

 

Historical Overview

 

Dilworth

Nineteenth-century Charlotte was a pedestrian-scale city–the scope of urban development was restricted by the unmechanized transportation systems of the day. The 1890 population of slightly over 11,500 people all lived within an area roughly bounded by today’s John Belk and Brookshire Freeways (I-277).

Edward Dilworth Latta (1851-1925) had a vision for a new suburb–it was to be located beyond the boundaries of the “walking city” and reached by streetcar. Latta banded together with five other men (M. A. Bland, J. L. Chambers, E. K. P. Osborne, Eli Springs and F. B. McDowell) in 1890 and formed the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company. The Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company (nicknamed the “Four C’s”) bought the existing horse-drawn streetcar system in Charlotte, then expanded and electrified it. They purchased 442 acres of farmland, laid out 1635 lots in a regular, intersecting grid pattern, and proceeded with improvements (graded streets, water, sewer, gas and electricity). Their grand plan for the new suburb called Dilworth included the trolley line, a professionally landscaped park, and a grand boulevard. The elaborate ninety-acre Latta Park included walking paths, a pavilion, a boating lake, and a racetrack with grandstand. The grand opening was held on May 20, 1891, and attracted newspaper reporters from around the region. Festivities included fireworks, a baseball tournament, a comic opera performance, and, most importantly, an auction of building lots. Seventy-eight lots were sold on the development’s opening day of May 20, 1891, with prices ranging from about $350 to $500 ($7 to $10 per foot of frontage).

Dilworth developed steadily after Latta’s 1893 “buy a house with your rent money” building and loan plan to finance individual home ownership. In the 1890s, Charlotte’s first professionally-trained architect, C. C. Hook, arrived and contracted with Latta to design thirty-five houses in Dilworth. He was proficient in the Queen Anne style, and designed the 1895 Malonee-Jones House at 400 East Kingston Ave. (a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmark). Hook is also credited with introducing the Colonial Revival style to Charlotte through private commissions in Dilworth (such as the 1900 Villalonga-Alexander House at 301 Park Ave. and the 1902 Walter Brem House at 211 East Boulevard).

In 1907, Dilworth was annexed by the city of Charlotte. Soon thereafter, in 1911, Latta hired the renowned Olmsted Brothers firm of landscape architects to design an expansion. The new plan followed the precepts of the “City Beautiful” movement which had swept the nation around the turn of the century, and featured curved streets, mature landscaping, and irregular lot shapes. It was a departure from the original Dilworth arrangement of straight streets intersecting at regular intervals. The southern part of this plan was implemented in 1912, resulting in the section that centers around Dilworth Road East and Dilworth Road West. In 1920, Latta proceeded with developing the northern portion of his expansion, though the Olmsted Brothers plan was not followed as closely there.

 

Helms-Bell House

The Helms-Bell House was built by Bessie Herring in 1899. In 1918 it was sold to the T. Edward Helms family, who lived there until 1943. From 1943 through the mid-1990s, it was the home of Miss Ethel Bell.

 

Herring Family

Bessie Herring (1867-1908) was born Bessie McReary in Vermont in 1867. She had married and was widowed from Jasper DeLaughter by the time she first appeared in the Charlotte city directories in 1897/98. With DeLaughter, she had two children: Ralph, who was born in 1887 in Georgia, and Lillian, who was born in 1890 in Alabama. In 1897/98, Bessie DeLaughter and her two children were living in Charlotte at 611 N. Brevard Street. On April 6, 1898, Bessie married fifty-three year old Marcus D. Herring (b. 1843), who was a traveling salesman. They stayed at her home on N. Brevard Street for another year.

On September 2, 1899, Bessie Herring purchased an empty lot in Charlotte’s new suburb of Dilworth for the sum of $625.00. The lot fronted forty-eight feet on South Caldwell Street and ran down Oak Street (now Lexington Avenue) to a depth of 150 feet.

The Herring’s built a house on this lot right away. In October, a newspaper item noted that “Mr. J. C. Herring is building a house on the corner of Oak [ now Lexington Avenue] and Caldwell Streets for Mr. M. D. Herring.” Bessie, M. D., and Bessie’s two children were all living at this address when the census was tallied in June 1900. The Herrings left the house around 1904 and moved to nearby East Boulevard. At some point, the children left home. Ralph went to St. Louis, and Lillian moved to South Carolina. Bessie was visiting her son Ralph in St. Louis when she wrote her will on November 7, 1908. She died in Missouri thirty-three days later on December 10, 1908. Since her domicile was still Mecklenburg County, the will was probated here. In it she bequeathed a house on Davidson Street to her husband, this house on South Caldwell Street to her daughter, and nothing to her son. Lillian D. Hawkins sold the South Caldwell Street house in 1918.

 

Tenants

According to city directories, the house was never vacant. There was a succession of residents, all of whom were tenants of Bessie Herring or Lillian Hawkins. The first tenants were Roswell Lawrence Wommack (1867-1940) and his wife Anna. R. L. Wommack came to Charlotte from Winston-Salem, via Savannah, in 1904, and lived in the Herring house for at least a year or two. He was employed by the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company (“the Four C’s”) and was superintendent of their street railway shops until 1908. Wommack transferred over to Duke Power Company in 1911, and served for many years as superintendent of the street railway and bus lines in Charlotte. He had a professional reputation throughout the southeast and was known in the business as the “street railway king.”

Frederick Lee Riggsbee (1870-1948) and his wife Adelaide (Addie) lived in the Helms-Bell House from around 1905 through 1909. Riggsbee was from Chapel Hill, and came to Charlotte in 1904 to manage King’s Business College. He held that position until he retired nearly four decades later.

George W. M. Aitken (1871-1919) and Barbara Aitken (1873-1964) resided in the Helms-Bell House from 1911 through 1916. They were both natives of Scotland. They were married there in 1903, though George is known to have moved to the United States around 1890. Mr. Aitken was a superintendent for the Queen City Granite and Marble Works.

 

Helms Family

On February 18, 1918, Lillian D. Hawkins sold the house she had inherited from her mother to J. D. Short. Short turned around and sold it the next day to Taylor Edward Helms (1885-1971) and his wife, Ray Elizabeth Helms (1891-1979). T. Edward Helms was the son of Sudie Marze and Henry Jackson Helms of Mecklenburg County. He was an optician, and worked for the Pruett-Southerland Company and Charlotte Optical Company before founding the Southerland-Helms Optical Company in the 1920s. He died on July 28, 1971 of leukemia.

Mrs. Helms, the former Ray Elizabeth Brown, was from a local family. Her parents were Genevive Johnson and Joseph Ross Brown. T. Edward and Ray were married in Mecklenburg County on April 14, 1913. Together they had two sons, Edward Jr. (1915-1977), Julian W. (1916-1989), and a daughter (b. 1918). The Helms children were raised in the house; the family resided there until 1943.

 

Miss Ethel Bell

Miss Ethel Bell (b. 1919) purchased the Helms-Bell House from the Helms’ in September 1943. She was an accountant by profession, and lived in the house with her mother, Addie V. Bell (1901-1966). Addie and her husband, James O. Bell, were both from South Carolina families. For the 1920 census, they and their one-month old daughter, Ethel, were tallied with Addie’s family in Chester County, S. C. James O. Bell died sometime prior to 1944, when Addie appears in Charlotte with her daughter, Ethel. Miss Ethel Bell lived in the house until the mid-1990s–over fifty years.

 

 

Architectural Description

 

 

Setting/Relocation

By 1997, The Helms-Bell House on South Caldwell Street had become surrounded by late-twentieth century commercial development, and was thereby isolated from the residential character of its original setting. It was sold to the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, who intended to demolish the house and use the lot for parking. To save the house, it had to be moved. The current owner rescued the house and moved it about a mile away, to Euclid Avenue. The Euclid Avenue lot was specifically chosen because it is similar to the original location in terms of character, setting, and general environment. Both lots have approximately the same frontage and the same physical characteristics (terrain, landscaping, etc.).

The Helms-Bell House is located today on the southeast side of the 2000 block of Euclid Avenue, which was included in the original 1891 plan for the Dilworth neighborhood. The streets in this section are laid out in a regular grid pattern with rectangular lots approximately fifty feet wide by 200 feet deep. The landscaping consists of mature trees and shrubbery, sidewalks and curbs. The entire block is residential, and the neighboring houses date from the early- to mid-twentieth century. The Helms-Bell House is consistent with the other houses on Euclid Avenue with regard to scale, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. Care was taken so that the setback and orientation at the new site are consistent with both the original setting and with the other houses on Euclid Avenue. The Euclid Avenue lot is included in this nomination for historic landmark status.

 

Physical Description

Queen Anne Victorian was in vogue across the nation in the last years of the nineteenth century, and the Helms-Bell House was designed true to the style. Characteristic features of the idiom that are found on this house include the cross-gabled roof, full-width front porch, and two-over-two sash windows. The form and massing are consistent with the style. The woodwork, both interior and exterior, exhibits Queen Anne detailing.

The Helms-Bell House is a one and one-half story frame dwelling with a cross-gabled roof and irregular footprint (photo #1). The front porch runs the width of the facade and is engaged, meaning that it is contained beneath the roof of the main body of the house (as opposed to having a separate roof of its own). The roof over the porch is supported by five Tuscan columns, which illustrate the turn-of-the-century practice of blending certain classical elements with the Queen Anne style. A frieze consisting of short vertical boards and half-diamond shingles spans the junction between the porch and the gable. Walls are covered with German siding on the first story, and with wood shingle in the gable ends. The front entrance is in the right (west) end bay of the facade. Two-over-two sash windows are found throughout the house. There are two brick interior chimneys.

The predominant feature of the Helms-Bell House is the recessed balcony centered in the front cross gable (photo #1). The opening is delineated by thick turned pilasters supporting a perfect half-round arch. Beyond the arch, a double-hung sliding-sash walk-through window provides ingress to the house. This type of balcony is unusual and rare in Charlotte.

The floorplan of the Helms-Bell House is an irregular arrangement, which is characteristic of Victorian architecture. There is an entry foyer and living room across the front; a small hall, bedroom and dining room in the center; the kitchen and a second bedroom are located in the back of the house. The bathroom was originally located in a small ell off the back of the house. The ell has been removed and replaced with a full-width addition containing a new bathroom and closets.

On the interior, the original woodwork remains in place to further identify this house as a Queen Anne Victorian. The visitor enters through the front door into an entry hall. In the doorway leading out of this entryway is an original bracketed, lath and spindlework screen which makes an immediate impact (photo #5). All doors and windows in the house are trimmed with molded surrounds, base blocks and bullseye corner blocks. The cross-panel doors have original pressed steel hardware and black ceramic knobs. An interesting feature is the turned finial blocks at the baseboard junctions found in the rooms without wainscotting. Wide-board pine floors run throughout the house. Vertical beaded-board wainscoting is found in the entry hall, dining room and kitchen. The brass light fixtures with hanging globes that are in the living room and entry hall are original to the house. The dining room has some built-in cabinetry, including a glazed cabinet door whose treatment echoes door and window trim elsewhere.

There are three fireplaces in the house with original mantels. The primary fireplace is in the living room (photo #7). It has a shelf, an overmantel with a beveled mirror, and a classically-influenced surround consisting of square pilasters with Ionic capitals and a plain architrave. The fireplace in the first bedroom is in one corner of the room and has a mantel with applied, turned columns and a high shelf (photo #8). The mantel in the second bedroom is simpler and has a pair of turned pilasters supporting a plain shelf. An enclosed stair rises up from the hallway to the garret (visible in photo #5). The interior space upstairs is characterized by the sloping ceilings of the cross-gabled roof structure. The recessed balcony on the front of the house is accessed from this room, by a large walk-through window.

 

Alterations

There have been two periods of alteration, and one complete renovation in the one hundred year lifespan of the Helms-Bell House. At some point during the 1920s or 1930s, the Helms family updated the living room. They added a Craftsman-style colonnade with square wood columns to mark a transition between the entry foyer and the living room (photo #6). They installed the narrow-board oak flooring which was in vogue at the time on top of the original wide-board pine floor. The fireplace mantel was replaced with an Arts and Crafts-inspired brick surround. At this time, they simply moved the original mantel (with its mirrored overmantel) into the dining room, thereby keeping it intact. Fortunately, they left the pine flooring untouched beneath the new finish. Miss Ethel Bell also spruced up the house, probably in the 1950s. Her renovation was limited to sheathing the exterior with asbestos shingles. Happily, all of the original German siding was found intact when the asbestos was removed, and has now been repainted and returned to its original appearance.

Mr. Allen Brooks, the current owner, renovated the house when it was moved to Euclid Avenue. The asbestos shingle was removed from the exterior. Most of the changes made by the Helmses were reversed, including uncovering the wide flooring in the living room and returning the living room mantel to its original position. The Craftsman-style Colonnade still remains. In addition, Mr. Brooks changed the configuration of the stair slightly. The staircase originally began with winders at the interior corner of the dining room and ended in the unfinished attic. It accessed the finished room in the front gable which opens onto the recessed balcony (it may have been a servant’s room without a fireplace). Now it is in the same position, but it runs straight up from the hallway, and turns at the top to open into the completely finished home office. The same treads and risers were used–the winders were simply moved from the bottom to the top.

Some additional changes are planned for the exterior. Sanborn maps from 1911 show an open porch pergola at the right front (now the northwest) corner. It ran from the front porch to the first floor bedroom window, whose sill is at floor level. The owner intends to restore that element as well as recreating a period porch balustrade that resembles the overhead screen in the front foyer.

 

Additions

When it was moved to Euclid Avenue, the Helms-Bell House was attached to a small pre-existing house, which dates from 1949. The small house was pushed to the back of the lot, stripped of its brick veneer, wrapped in weatherboard siding, and attached to the Helms-Bell House (photo #4). In full compliance with building codes, the two structures were joined with a two-story hyphen of new material (photo # 3). The two-story section was carefully designed to successfully blend the 1899 and the 1949 sections of the building into one harmonious whole. The hyphen echoes the 1899 house in materials and scale, and yet the use of smaller, fixed-sash windows clearly identifies it as being from a later construction period. This approach is in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation Projects (the federal guideline for restoration procedures).

HAYES-BYRUM STORE AND HOUSE

 

This report was written on January 2, 1990

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Hayes-Byrum Store and House is located at 8600 Steele Creek Road in Charlotte, North Carolina 28210.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The owner of the property is:
Mrs. Agnes S. Byrum
8600 Steele Creek Road
Charlotte, North Carolina 28210

Telephone: (704) 588-0434

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 listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3753 at page 974. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is 199-241-12.

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. Richard Mattson 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-400.5:

 

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Hayes-Byrum Store and House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following, considerations: 1) the Hayes-Byrum Store is a rare survivor of the “old country store” which once served farmers both as a shopping center and meeting place; 2) the Hayes-Byrum Store, erected ca. 1890, is rural Mecklenburg’s oldest surviving, commercial building; 3) the Hayes-Byrum House, ca. 1900, is a excellent example of a simplified, popular interpretation of the Queen Anne style of architecture, and 4) the Hayes-Byrum Store and House are key historic and architectural landmarks in the crossroads community of Shopton in southwest Mecklenburg County.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description by Dr. Richard Mattson which is included in this report demonstrates that the Hayes-Byrum Store and 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 landmark.” The current appraised value of the improvements is $63,250. The current appraised value of the 15.190 acres is $124,060. The total appraised value of the property is $187,310. The property is zoned B1.

Date of Preparation of this Report: January 2, 1990

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

Telephone: (704) 376-9115

 

 

Historical Overview

 

Erected ca. 1890, the Hayes-Byrum Store is rural Mecklenburg County’s oldest surviving commercial building. With many of its key original elements intact, the store stands one-story high and is constructed of load-bearing brick walls laid in a common bond. The store remains in operation, selling an array of foodstuffs and general merchandise. North of the store is the ca. 1900 Hayes-Byrum House, a simplified, popular interpretation of the Queen Anne style. It is two story, frame, and has an asymmetrical form. Behind the house is a contributing auto garage, as well as a noncontributing barn and shed/dog kennel, and a small swimming pool, which is a noncontributing structure. North and west of the house is cultivated farmland constituting about eight acres and currently farmed in hay. Both the store and the house face southeast towards Steele Creek Road (NC 160). Although Steele Creek Road has witnessed residential and commercial development in recent years, it is also the site of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church and cemetery, which stand less than one mile north of the Hayes-Byrum Store and House and are important historic and architectural landmarks in this area. Furthermore, the store and house are key elements of the small crossroads community of Shopton. This rural assemblage of residential, commercial, civic, and industrial architecture boasts a collection of bungalows, l9th- and early 20th-century farmhouses reflecting vernacular I-house and hip-roofed, double-pile domestic forms, and a ca. 1945 brick industrial building that is a former dairy. Directly south of the Hayes-Byrum Store is a ca. 1960 volunteer fire station. Shopton, therefore, continues to reflect the many roles performed by the traditional crossroads settlement.

Hayes-Byrum Store

Measuring about 35 feet by 60 feet, and capped by a standing-seam metal gable-front roof, the Hayes-Byrum Store includes a host of original exterior and interior elements. The original three-bay front facade has a wide, arched entrance with wooden double doors. This recessed entry flanked by large sash windows with two panes in each sash and original wooden shutters, which, like the doors, consist of two recessed panels in each leaf. The front facade was partially remodelled in the 1950s, when the original flat-topped parapet was increased in height by several feet, and the original shed-roofed frame porch was replaced by a flat-roofed metal canopy suspended over the windows and entrance. The remodelled facade, like the original, has a simple flat-topped parapet. Along the south elevation is a one-bay addition erected in the early 20th century where cotton was stored. The rear (west) facade has a one-step parapet roof which appears to be original (Henry Freeman Interview 1989; Agnes Byrum Interview 1989; Gatza 1987). The interior of the store retains original wooden floors, tongue-and-groove ceiling, and shelves along the north and south walls. These shelves include wide moulded cornices treated with decorative brackets. These wooden brackets feature pendants and give the utilitarian interior a Victorian flair. Typical of general stores, the interior originally included a large wood-burning stove placed in the middle of the store. It was removed in the 1950s, along with display tables, when the store was updated with new counters and refrigerators.

Hayes-Byrum House

Erected about 1900, the Hayes-Byrum House is a handsome, largely intact version of the Queen Anne style. The two-story weatherboarded dwelling has an irregular form that is essentially T-shaped. Topped by a cross-gable roof with asphalt shingles, the house has decorative vents in the gables and sash windows with two panes in each sash and simply moulded surrounds. While the standard lapped weatherboarding covers most of the exterior, that portion of the first-floor facade shielded by the veranda is covered by thinner German siding. The hip-roofed wraparound veranda extends around one bay of the north elevation and has a small front-facing roof gable that marks the main entrance. The original heavy Tuscan porch columns are intact, though the balustrade was removed in the 1960s. The front facade also features a cutaway bay on the north side, and a main entry with fluted surround and bull ‘s-eye corner blocks. The rear elevation includes a gable-roofed, one-story kitchen on the north side, an original hip-roofed, two-story wing on the south side, and a porch that was enclosed in the 1960s.

The interior of the house contains a broad central hall with two first-floor rooms on each side. The open-string stairway in the hall rises in two runs to bedrooms arranged around a hallway on the second floor. The stairway has turned balusters and a heavy square newel. Original mantels and other woodwork survives in most of the rooms. Notable is the mantel in the living room (north front room) which features free-standing colonettes and a mirrored overmantel. It is the dwelling’s only classical mantel. The other mantels are less pretentious, with reeded pilasters and friezes and brackets supporting shelves. Doors have five panels and heavily moulded surrounds; walls are plaster; and ceilings are tongue-and-groove. The center hall and flanking rooms have tongue-and-groove wainscot. Although the majority of rooms are basically intact, both the kitchen and bedroom in the south, front upper-story room have been extensively remodelled. Both, for example, have dropped ceilings covering the original wood ceilings, and panelling over the plaster walls. The mantel in the remodelled bedroom has been removed.

Contributing Outbuildings

 

• Auto Garage Built about 1930, this garage reflects a popular garage type of this period. It has a metal gable-front roof with exposed rafters. Measuring about 20 feet on a side, it is covered with wood shingles and boasts a simple, decorative truss in the front-facing gable. Standing intact, this garage accomodates two autos.

  Noncontributing Outbuildings

   

• Storage BuildingBuilt in the 1950s, this simple gable-front building is frame constructed and sheathed in metal. It has a shed addition on the north side. Measuring about 10 feet by 15 feet, the building is used for all-purpose storage and has been adapted to house dogs as well.

   

• BarnBuilt about 1910, this barn is a four-unit, central-passage building with a gable-front roof. The barn is weatherboarded and the roof is sheathed in metal. Reflecting a traditional barn form and plan, this barn is basically intact and is currently used for all-purpose storage.

   

• Noncontributing StructureThis small swimming pool with surrounding concrete patio measures about 20 feet by 30 feet.

  Standing in the small crossroads settlement of Shopton, the Hayes-Byrum Store and House are excellent vernacular renditions of turn-of-the-century commercial and Queen Anne architecture in rural Mecklenburg County. The ca. 1890 Hayes-Byrum Store is not only the oldest surviving commercial building in rural Mecklenburg, but retains significant original elements of design. Key exterior features include the front facade’s windows, shutters, doors, and shallow entryway. The major post-World War II changes on the exterior have been the replacement of the original porch by a flat metal canopy, and the heightening, by several feet, of the simple parapet roof. Despite these changes, the basic utilitarian rectangular shape and flat-topped parapet roof which characterized the original building remain. The interior of the store retains much of its original finish, notably the bracketed wooden shelves lining the north and south walls. Consequently, the Hayes-Byrum Store is architecturally significant under Criterion C (see Associated Property Type V–Commercial Buildings–Crossroads Stores). The ca. 1900 Hayes-Byrum House also qualifies for the National Register under Criterion C (see Associated Property Type I–Houses–Queen Anne Style Dwellings). The house exhibits such hallmarks of the Queen Anne as a consciously irregular shape, including a cutaway bay, a variety of wall textures, and a wraparound porch. It is among rural Mecklenburg County’s few relatively intact examples of this style, reflecting in its classical porch columns and classical mantel in the parlor the “Free Classic” subtype of the Queen Anne (Gatza 1987; McAlester and McAlester 1984). The interior of the dwelling remains essentially intact, with original woodwork surviving throughout the house. Finally, the contributing outbuilding, the ca. 1930 gable-front auto garage, is a typical vernaculr expression of this building type as it appeared in the early 20th century in rural Mecklenburg County. The garage thus contributes to the architectural significance of the property (see Associated Property Type II–Outbuildings).

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  The Hayes-Byrum General Store and House are an integral part of the history of the Steele Creek community, and the focal point of the small Shopton settlement. The general store, once so important a part of the post-bellum economy, has been disappearing from the rural landscape. The relationship between the storekeeper and the farmers were essential for the maintenance of the rural way of life. The Hayes-Byrum store is the oldest surviving example of its kind in the county. In January, 1881, Joseph Rufus Hayes ( 1849-1914) bought a one-acre lot fronting on what became the Shopton Road (now Steele Creek Road), but did not record the deed until 1888.¹ It was his intention to build a general store to serve the rural Steele Creek community and also build a house next door. On January 10, 1882, the 32-year-old Hayes married Emma Spratt, age 21, and they set up housekeeping in the community.² It wasn’t until about 1890 or so that he built his store, however, and somewhat later, about 1900, that the house was constructed.³ The crossroads community of Shopton (a shortening of Shoptown) came into being because a blacksmith’s shop, wood shop, saw mill, and flour mill were all built in the vicinity of the store. There was also a cotton gin nearby, and, by the end of the century, the Shopton Post Office was located in Hayes’ store. A schoolhouse completed the services available in the small community. If a farmer did need anything that wasn’t located there, such as fertilizer, a day-long trip to Charlotte was necessary. He would get his horses shod, then start out the next day at 4:00 a.m. and get back after dark, if there were no delays.⁴ J. R. Hayes ran his store until his death in 1914, and was survived by his wife and two daughters, Maud and Ruth Hayes. At the time, a newspaper article described him as follows:

   

  “Mr. Hayes was one of the best known men of the county. For the past 35 years he has been engaged in the mercantile business at Shopton and during that long period he built up a fine trade abiding always in the respect and confidence of his neighbors and those with whom he had to do in a business way.”⁵

  Some years before his death, he hired a local young man, William Lester Byrum (1879-1952), to work in the store.⁶ In 1919, W. L. Byrum bought the one-acre lot that contained the house and store, as well as eleven other tracts belonging to Mrs. Hayes, and became the long-time owner and operator of the store.⁷ The store remains today in the ownership and operation of the Byrum family. When W. L. Byrum, who was a bachelor, died in 1952, ownership of the house and store passed to his nephew, Robert Franklin Byrum (1925-1973), and his farmland went to another nephew, Erskine Byrum (1920).⁸ The store and house are currently owned by Robert Franklin’s widow, Agnes Byrum, who lives in the house.⁹ Two of her children, Robert Franklin, Jr. (Robby) and Linda Ann (Bunny) Slye, continue the family tradition by operating the store.¹⁰ Although the character of rural Mecklenburg County is rapidly changing, the Hayes-Byrum store remains as a rare surviving country general store that has been in continuous operation for nearly one hundred years. The house associated with the store is also still occupied by the owner of the latter.

   

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  NOTES

  ¹ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 60, p.499.

  ² Mecklenburg County Marriage Register, 1872-1888.

  ³ Interview with Erskine Byrum (1920- ), nephew of W.L Byrum, by William Huffman, 1989. Erskine Byrum has tape recorded interviews with two of his uncles, one of whom was Samuel Knox. The latter was born about 1890 and remembers seeing the store built as a child. The date of the house is from family interviews and the style of the house.

  ⁴ Ibid., The History of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church. 3rd edition (Charlotte: Craftsman Printing and Publishing, 1978), pp. 171-172.

  ⁵ Charlotte Observer, August 22, 1914, p.6.

   

  ⁶ Interview with Erskine Byrum, cited above.

  ⁷ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 409, p.193.

  ⁸ Ibid., Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1555, p. 309.

  ⁹ Interview with Robert Franklin (Robby) Byrum by William H. Huffman, 1989; interview with Erskine Byrum, cited above; Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3753, p. 974.

  ¹⁰ Interview with Robert Franklin (Robby Byrum), cited above.

   

   

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  Bibliography

  Byrum, Agnes. Long-time resident of house and owner of the house and store. Interview by Richard Mattson, 1989.

  Byrum, Erskine. Nephew of W. L. Byrum. Interview by William H. Huffman, 1989.

  Byrum, Robert Franklin, Jr. (Robby). Son of Agnes Byrum. Interview by William H. Huffman, 1989.

  Charlotte Observer, August 22, 1914.

  Freeman, Henry. Long-time resident of Shopton. Interview by Richard Mattson, 1989.

  Gazda, Mary Beth. “Architectural Inventory of Rural Mecklenburg County.” 1987. On file at North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Raleigh.

  The History of Steele Creek Church. 3rd edition. Charlotte: Steele Creek Presbyterian Church, 1978.

  McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.

  Mecklenburg County Deed Books.

  Mecklenburg County Marriage Register. 1872-1888.

   

HAWTHORNE LANE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

 

This report was written on May 4, 1992

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church is located at 501 Hawthorne Lane, Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The owner of the property is:
Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church
Robert W. Lawing, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
501 Hawthorne Lane
Charlotte, North Carolina

Telephone: (704) 332-8131

Tax Parcel Number: 080-204-08

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 maps which depict the location of the property.

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to Tax Parcel Number 080-204-08 is not listed in Mecklenburg County’s Tax Office.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Ms. Paula M. Stathakis.

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 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 its history, architecture, and /or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:
1) the congregation of the church was organized in 1914 as Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church to serve the Elizabeth-Piedmont Park community and became a United Methodist Church in the 1960’s;
2) many of Charlotte’s most prominent business leaders, including J. B. Ivey, B. D. Heath and E. A. Cole, were charter members of Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church;
3) Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church was designed by a leading Charlotte architect, Louis Asbury;
4) the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church was built in a popular church design of the period, the “Akron Plan”;
5) the first service at Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church was held on December 3, 1916;
6) the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church has many exterior features, such as the bell tower and slate roof, intact and in very good condition;
7) the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church has many interior appointments, such as the ceiling lined with American chestnut and stained glass windows with cast stone tracery, intact and in very good condition;
8) the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church is architecturally significant as a fine example of an early 20th century Gothic Revival church; and
9) the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church has, since 1914, continuously served the neighborhood and the city of Charlotte with its active programs for both members and non-members.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials feeling, and / or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description by Ms. Nora M. Black included in this report demonstrates that the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church 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 $610,450. The current appraised value of Tax Parcel 080-20-08 is $149,000. The total appraised value of the property is $759,450. Churches are exempt from ad Valorem taxes. The property is zoned R6.

Date of Preparation of this Report: 4 May 1992

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill
in conjunction with
Ms. Nora M. Black
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission
The Law Building, Suite 100,
730 East Trade Street
P. O. Box 35434
Charlotte, North Carolina

Telephone: 704/376-9115

 

 

Historical Overview

 

Prepared by: Ms. Paula M. Stathakis

The congregation of Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church was organized in 1914. The establishment of this congregation was the end result of two years of preliminary work of a committee created to investigate the necessity of building a Methodist church to serve the Elizabeth and Piedmont Park neighborhoods. The proposal to create a new congregation and church to serve the Elizabeth-Piedmont Park community was approved at the meeting of the joint quarterly conference of Charlotte Methodist Churches on April 14, 1914. Among the members of this committee were some of the most prominent men of the Charlotte business community; J.B. Ivey, B.D. Heath, and E.A. Cole were all charter members of Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church.¹

The congregation held its first service on December 5, 1915. Before the sanctuary on Hawthorne Lane was completed, the congregation met at Elizabeth College and Conservatory of Music, now Presbyterian Hospital. Charles B. King, president of Elizabeth College, agreed to rent the Elizabeth College Chapel to the Hawthorne Lane congregation for $50.00 a month. This fee included the chapel, two recitation rooms on the first floor for Sunday School, electricity, and the sexton’s salary. In the winter, an additional fee for coal was assessed. The pipe organ was also rented to the group for an additional $4.00 a month.²

The congregation met at Elizabeth College until the new church was completed. The first service in the new facility was held on December 3, 1916. The church was designed by Charlotte architect Louis Asbury.³ Asbury used the “Akron Plan”, a popular church design of the period that used roll up partitions to divide the building into classroom and sanctuary sections.

 

 

The interior of the church, featuring details of the “Akron Plan”

The seating in the sanctuary is arranged in a semi-circle around the altar. Two large, fine stained glass windows depicting John Wesley speaking on the grave of his father and Jesus at age twelve in the Temple of Jerusalem flank the altar. The church was built upon land that was donated to the congregation by charter member B.D. Heath. ⁴

The first service in the church celebrated the completion of the structure as well as the first anniversary of the congregation. The service was conducted by Rev. R.D. Sherrill; his sermon was “Our Indebtedness to the Past and to the Future” during which he exhorted the members of the new generation, whom he judged to be especially well endowed with material wealth, to maintain the blessings of the past and to perpetuate God’s work: “What might we accomplish as a church at large with the old life and power in our new equipment?”⁵

Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church’s primary significance lies in its role as a neighborhood church for the Elizabeth suburb. Elizabeth is Charlotte’s second oldest streetcar suburb and until the construction of Myers Park, Elizabeth was Charlotte’s most fashionable suburban address.⁶ Residential construction began in 1891, and by 1925, Elizabeth had four neighborhood churches. Hawthorne Lane Methodist was the second church built in the suburb preceded by St. Martin’s Episcopal.⁷

Although the formal organization of Hawthorne Lane Methodist was guided by some of the most prominent men of Charlotte, the congregation was composed of people from different socio-economic levels. Most members contributed to the maintenance and the welfare of the church in the best ways they could. Robert E. Evans, who joined the congregation in 1923, went to the church at 11:00 on Saturday nights to start the coal furnace so everyone would be warm on Sunday mornings. Air conditioning was installed in 1969, thanks to Terry Hodges. Prior to leaving for Vietnam in 1968, Terry asked his parents to make a contribution to the air conditioning fund in his name if anything happened to him. Terry Hodges was killed on August 19, 1968. The air conditioning fund became the church’s tribute to Terry. Within a year, $30,215 was raised to install air conditioning in the church. On hot summer Sundays, the parishioners can thank Terry Hodges for the air conditioned sanctuary.

Charter member J.B. Ivey was in a position to be generous with both his money and his time. Ivey served the congregation as a Sunday School teacher and as the Sunday School Superintendent. One of his former Sunday School students, Zelda Thomas Shoemaker, recalled that Ivey visited her one Sunday when she was home sick. Ivey brightened her day by taking her a pair of earrings he made out of peanuts. Ivey also held Easter Egg hunts in his gardens at the corner of Central Avenue and Louise Avenue.⁸

The most renowned member of the Hawthorne Lane congregation was Hal Kemp, a band leader popular in the 1930s. Kemp began his musical career with his childhood friend John Scott Trotter in the Sunday School Orchestra. Kemp’s band, which included John Scott Trotter on piano, Skinney Ellis on Drums, Saxie Dowell on sax, and Ben Williams on clarinet, immortalized such hits as “I’ve Got a Date With an Angel” and “You’re the Top”.⁹

The congregation of the church has traditionally been involved in missionary and outreach activities. Since December 1915, the women of the church have contributed to Charlotte community projects, such as providing social activities at Camp Greene during World War I, contributing to the Florence Crittendon Home and the Bethlehem Center. The church has sponsored missionaries in India and Japan. Various youth organizations meet at the church, both Methodist groups, such as the United Methodist Youth Fellowship and secular clubs, such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Many of the members of the church have attended the same Sunday School class for years.^l0

As the needs of the neighborhood changed, the mission of the church adapted. Whereas the church once focused on the needs of its members, most of whom lived in the neighborhood, the church now extends its services to the neighborhood in general. Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church assists in the support of Crisis Assistance Ministries, and keeps an account at Stanley Drugstore, where homeless individuals are sent for meals.

Hawthorne Lane Methodist church is also important to its congregation. Many members have moved out of the Elizabeth neighborhood but return every Sunday for church. Many young adults who grew up in this church also maintain their membership there. The most striking testimony to the significance of this church to its members is the Heritage Room. The Heritage Room houses every document and relic that is historically significant to the Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church. Great pains have been taken to catalog information through photographs, videotape, and transcripts of interviews. Much of the information is kept in scrapbooks. The Heritage Room is very clearly a labor of love and an eloquent expression of the important role this church has played in the lives of its members.

 

 

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Endnotes:

¹ Histories and Organization Notebook: Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church. Souvenir Booklet, Dedication Day, April 27, 1924.

² Letter from Charles B. King to J.B. Ivey, October 21, 1915. Letter property of the Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church.

³ Louis Asbury also designed the E.B. Gresham House and the Mayfair Manor (now the Dunhill Hotel).

⁴ B.D. Heath established the cotton and banking firm of Heath Brothers; he owned several textile mills in North and South Carolina, and was also president of the Oakhurst Land Company. The cost of construction, equipment and fixtures for the new church was $350,000.00. A parsonage was constructed adjacent to the church in 1916. The two story four bedroom, two bathroom house was torn down in the 1960s and a new parsonage was built at 4818 Hardwicke Road. The original location of the parsonage is now a parking lot.

⁵ Charlotte Observer, “Hawthorne Church in New Building.” December 4, 1916, p. 6.

⁶ Thomas Hanchett, Charlotte and Its Neighborhoods. The Growth of a New South Citv, 1850-1930. Section III. The Streetcar Neighborhoods. Unpublished manuscript prepared for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission, 1981-1985, p. 1.

⁷ Ibid., p. 15.

⁸ All anecdotes taken from the Histories/Organization Notebook, 1915-, property of Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church.

⁹ Thomas Hanchett, Charlotte and Its Neighborhoods, p. 19; Charlotte Observer, February 5, 1980.

¹⁰ History of the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church. Stepping Stones, 1911-1980. p. 3.

 

 

Architectural Sketch

 

Prepared by: Ms. Nora M. Black

The Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church is located in Charlotte’s Elizabeth neighborhood on the northwest side of Hawthorne Lane at the intersection of East Eighth Street. In recent years, the section of Hawthorne Lane in front of the church has become a busy thoroughfare connecting Independence Boulevard with East Seventh Street and the Presbyterian Hospital complex. Due to the large number of people who pass the church each day, Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church is probably one of the most easily recognized churches in Charlotte’s early neighborhoods.

The front-facing gable of the church’s southeast facade faces Hawthorne Lane; one side of the nave parallels the busy street. The distinctive bell tower is located on the southeast facade; the double doors of the main entrance are located in the base of the tower. The northwest facade serves as the connecting side for passageways to additions that are not being considered for designation; mechanical equipment also lines this facade. The cross-gable of the southwest facade faces East Seventh Street. The northeast end of the building has a low gable wing used for offices.

The Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church is a fine example of an early 20th century Gothic Revival building. Following the Civil War, the Gothic Revival style was one of the most popular styles of church architecture in North Carolina. Many denominations supplied official publications on church building to help local congregations emulate the current fashion. At the turn of the century, the Classical style of building began to gain favor. “The Gothic Revival style, however, never lost its hold on church architecture…Urban and rural congregations of every denomination built brick, frame, and stone churches in the Gothic style…”

Louis Asbury, the architect, used the “Akron plan” for the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church. The Akron plan is so named because it first appeared at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio.² The Akron plan is a distortion of the circular plan since the square or rectangular nave has a semicircular arrangement of pews around a point of focus which is the sanctuary and choirs. The preference for this arrangement was not new. Early Christians favored a round church, based on the Roman baths and mausoleums, over the long church which was adapted from Roman courthouses.⁴

The rise of evangelism at the turn of the century brought the older form back to popularity as Bishir points out in the following excerpt:

 

“Although the established plans and styles of religious architecture enjoyed continued vitality, important changes had begun to appear as well. Mainstream Protestant churches adopted a new church plan drawn from their own history and designed to accommodate their worship: the theater or auditorium plan. Mid-nineteenth-century English and American evangelists preaching in cities had often rented theaters to accommodate the throngs they attracted. The arrangement of theaters, with their sloping floors, provided an excellent model for evangelical Protestant churches, for it offered a maximum number of good seats from which to see and hear the preacher. Sanctuaries with sloping floors, curving rows of seats, and aisles radiating out from the pulpit became widely popular in the late nineteenth century as denominational publications presented designs for auditorium or theater-plan churches in large and small sizes…In North Carolina, this new arrangement appeared in many churches.”⁵

Louis Asbury’s design for the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church included a 52’x 76′ auditorium to seat 650 people. Roll-up partitions separated the Sunday School auditorium from the main church. When those partitions were opened, the church seated 1,100 people. The basement of the building had a kitchen, library or club room, a reception hall, and other conveniences. The construction contract was awarded on 12 February 1916 to Mr. J. A. Jones based on a bid of $38,119. That bid did not include heating, plumbing, electrical wiring, windows, seats, fixtures and equipment. The building committee estimated that the church, completed and equipped, would cost $50,000. Not included in that figure is the cost of the lot. Donated by Mr. B. D. Heath, it was valued at $7,500.⁶ Appraisal cards at the Mecklenburg County Tax Office give the estimated replacement cost of this structure as $984,591.

Exterior

The Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church is constructed of red brick laid in running bond with white mortar joints. Brick buttresses with cast stone elements give the structure a sense of weight and rigidity. At the same time, the buttresses add vertical interest. Each buttress has a gabled cast stone top decorated with a recessed trefoil arch. The top sections of the brick buttresses also have recessed panels. These sections resemble niches of the original Gothic churches that held statuary. The gable roof at the top of each buttress reminds one of a house and the Biblical quote that “…in my Father’s house there are many mansions…” A belt course of cast stone encircles the building; cast stone courses also decorate the gable ends. The walls of the gable ends rise to a parapet topped with a cast stone coping. The cross-gabled roofs have a steep slope; however, the front-facing gable hides the roof and keeps it from becoming the dominant element. The original slate roof is laid in a simple, coursed pattern.

Most of the windows in the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church contain the original stained glass. Some windows have cast stone pointed arches with cast stone tracery. Windows with pointed arches have cast stone hood-moulds to throw off rain. A few windows, including most of those on the southwest facade, are double hung wooden sash; each sash contains stained glass. All double hung sash windows have cast stone lintels and sills. The three large stained glass windows on the southeast facade are covered with clear plexiglass to prevent breakage. The plexiglass has a grid support system that attempts to match some of the pattern of the cast stone tracery.

The bell tower dominates the front elevation. The tower rises above the roofline of Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church to end in corbeled brick battlements. The tower buttresses differ from the buttresses of the main structure; they lack the recessed “house” niches at the top (described on page 7). Louvers in the tower are set in cast stone surrounds with pointed arches. Stained glass windows below the louvers also have cast stone surrounds with trefoil arches. The main entry to the church is through the base of the tower. The double doors have a cast stone surround with a center-pointed, compound arch. The wooden doors, painted dark brown, have black wrought iron hinges. The single light fixture over the entry is a simple frosted globe suspended on a curved metal arm. A cast stone panel, recessed into the brick wall between the light fixture and the point of the entry arch, is decorated with foliage carved in high relief. Similar panels are recessed into the wall above the point of the louver arches. Brick bulkheads topped with cast stone copings form balustrades for the twelve granite steps leading to the main entry. An iron pipe railing has been attached to each balustrade.

The Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church has one minor entry on the southwest facade. It is located on the southwest wall of a recessed section of the structure that is opposite the location of the tower. The double doors lead to the northwest vestibule and a passageway to the Education Building. Short towers at each corner of the southwest facade have battlements topped with cast stone copings. The gable end of the southwest facade is quite different from the southeast and northwest facades. Although the wall has three large cast stone arches similar to the other two facades, the arches frame much smaller windows. The size of the windows reflects the fact that there are three floors on the southwest end of the building. Below the belt course, the sills of the double hung wooden sash in the basement are at ground level. A small, narrow chapel running parallel to East Eighth Street has rectangular windows. The windows on the third level, located in the balcony, are small arched, double hung sash windows within the larger arched surrounds. The two center windows in the third level have brick rowlock arches with cast stone keystones. The southwest gable end is a very elegant and well-executed solution to a difficult problem – that of providing ventilation in the era before air conditioning.

Interior

The interior of the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church has not been changed to any great degree since its opening in 1916. Most of the historic fabric is not only intact but visible. The Akron plan, discussed on page 6, gives clear definition to the organization of the church. All sight lines of the auditorium are focused on the center of the northeast wall. The choir is recessed into the northeast wall of the auditorium. In front of the choir, an area for a small orchestra and organ pit is shielded from the sanctuary by a tall wooden screen decorated with trefoil arched panels. The sanctuary, raised above the level of the auditorium floor, is defined by a wooden balustrade. The floor of the nave slopes up from the sanctuary to the southwest wall of the auditorium. The area at the southwest end of the nave, originally used for Sunday School, is now treated as part of the nave. Six groups of curving, cushioned pews remain in their original locations. Five aisles radiate from the sanctuary. The center aisle runs from the sanctuary to the southwest wall. The two side aisles that run from the sanctuary to the vestibules appear to be the most used. A semi-circular balcony provides additional seating. Clearly, this intact version of the Akron plan is serviceable and well liked by the Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church congregation.

Interior appointments are simple but elegant and very well maintained. The beautiful trefoil arched wainscot and woodwork are stained dark brown. That color provides a good contrast for the warm ivory of the textured plaster walls. The floor of the nave is covered with green carpet. Stained glass windows, many of opalescent glass, make the interior dim and shadowy. The stained glass window on the southeast wall depicts John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement in England, standing on his father’s grave while speaking to a small group of people. On the northwest wall, the stained glass window depicts Jesus at the age of twelve with the elders and high priests in the Temple of Jerusalem.

The ceiling of the main section of the nave is one of the church’s finest features. The entire ceiling is paneled with narrow strips of irreplaceable American chestnut. Non-structural ribs delineate a pattern of squares on the flat section of the ceiling. Within those large squares, some smaller squares are rotated at a 45 degree angle. Light fixtures are suspended from chains fastened in the centers of the smaller squares. The elaborate wooden trusses spanning the nave are decorated with St. Andrew’s crosses set in carved and molded squares. The curved sections of the ceiling are also paneled with American chestnut. Paneled vaults emphasize the two large stained glass windows depicting the young Jesus and John Wesley (discussed above). When all the lights of the church are illuminated, one can see that the American chestnut paneling is a rich, glowing honey color with a distinctive grain.

Doors on the southeast and northwest sides of the building’s exterior open to large square vestibules. The vestibule on the southeast corner is contained within the base of the tower. Each vestibule has two sets of double doors opening into the auditorium; each door has a large beveled glass panel over a single wooden panel. Marble thresholds separate the floors of the vestibules and the nave. Doors on the northeast side of each vestibule open to wide aisles that lead directly to the communion rail in front of the sanctuary.

Open stairways on the southeast and northwest walls lead to the balcony. The stairways are located to the southwest side of the vestibules in the portion of the nave that once served as the Sunday School. The balcony has curved rows of wooden fold-up seats with metal stanchions. The wooden balustrade at the front of the balcony is similar to the wainscot used throughout the auditorium. On either side of the balcony, there is a small room with a roll-up partition. Many years ago these two small rooms were used for Sunday School classrooms. Enclosed stairways, located near the balcony stairways, lead from the main floor of the nave to the basement and to exits at basement level.

The southwest end of the main floor contains a narrow, rectangular chapel that runs parallel to East Eighth Street. The sanctuary for this small chapel, located on the northwest end, is separated from the seating area by a wooden communion rail pierced with trefoil arches. Two groups of straight pews, separated by a center aisle, offer a startling contrast to the curved pews in the nave. Two window air conditioning units have been installed; they are located at opposite ends of the chapel. The wainscot in the chapel has a rectangular design. Double swinging doors at each end of the chapel provide access to the nave. Each door has a glass panel in a pointed arch with intersecting tracery over a large wooden panel.

Conclusion

The Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church is an intact example of an Akron plan, Gothic Revival style church from the early years of the 20th century. It played an important role in the settlement of the Elizabeth and Piedmont neighborhoods. As a new suburban church, it offered a place of worship to citizens in the first exodus from Charlotte’s four wards. The appointments, finishes and decorative details exhibit a wide range of superior materials and expert craftsmanship. Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church has a long legacy of providing comfort and nourishment for the souls of its members and others within Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

 

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Notes

¹ Catherine W. Bishir, North Carolina Architecture (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1990), 310-328, 390-395.

² Roger G. Kennedy, American Churches (New York, 1982), 238.

³ The sanctuary is considered to be the raised area around the main altar of a church; at minister delivers the sermon. The nave is the main area for the seating of the congregation. The singers seated in the choir, located behind the sanctuary, are raised Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church, it includes the platform from which the above the floor level of the nave and the sanctuary.

⁴ Kennedy, 237.

⁵ Bishir (reference to Jaeger, “The Auditorium and Akron Plans – Reflections of a Half Century of American Protestantism”), 321-322.

⁶ Bulletin – Hawthorne Lane M. E. Church (Charlotte, N. C., May 1916), Vol. A, No. 1,1-2.

F. O. HAWLEY, JR., HOUSE

This imposing edifice was pushed over by bulldozers on May 19, 1990, to make way for an office building.

This report was written on September 24, 1981

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the F. O. Hawley, Jr., House is located at 923 Elizabeth Avenue, Charlotte, North Carolina.

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

Mrs. Geraldine McPheeters Moore
923 Elizabeth Avenue
Charlotte, North Carolina 28204

Telephone: 704/375-4394

The present occupant of the property is:

Edmor Motor Inn
923 Elizabeth Avenue
Charlotte, North Carolina 28204

Telephone: 704/375-8168

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.

 

 

Click on the map to browse

5. Current Deed Book reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1287 at page 364. The current tax parcel number of this property is 080-092-02.

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

7. A brief architectural sketch of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property by Professor Mary Alice Dixon Hinson.

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

 

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture and/or importance: The Historic Properties Commission judges that the property known as the F. O. Hawley, Jr., House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: (1) the F. O. Hawley, Jr., House is one of the finest local examples of the Neo-Classical Revival style; (2) the F. O. Hawley, Jr., House is the only surviving element of the grand residential streetscape which once characterized the neighborhood; and (3) the initial owner, Mr. F. O. Hawley, Jr., was a prominent leader of the local business community.

b. Integrity of design. setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The commission judges that the attached architectural description by Mary Alice Dixon Hinson demonstrates that the property known as the F. O. Hawley, Jr., House meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply annually 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 Ad Valorem tax appraisal of the entire .520 acre tract is $67,930.00. The Ad Valorem tax appraisal on the improvements if $43,570.00. The total Ad Valorem tax appraisal is $111,500.00. The property is currently zoned B-2.

Date of preparation of this report: September 24, 1981

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill, Director
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
3500 Shamrock Drive
Charlotte, North Carolina 28215

Telephone: 704/332-2726

 

Historical Overview

 

Dr. William H. Huffman
June, 1981

The Neoclassical Revival style house at 923 Elizabeth Avenue in Charlotte, which is now known as the Edmor Motor Inn, was built in 1906 or 1907 by Hector Theodore McKinnon (1845-1915) for his daughter, Elizabeth McKinnon Hawley (1881-1918).¹ Mr. McKinnon was a wealthy cotton merchant and owner of real estate, including the McKinnon Building at the northwest corner of N. Tryon and Fifth Streets.² In his will, H. T. McKinnon left the McKinnon building to the Independence Trust Company and other rents and property to two orphanages in Banner Elk, N.C. in addition to certain bequests to his daughter and son-in-law.³ Elizabeth Hawley, McKinnon’s only child, contested the will on the grounds of her father’s mental incompetence at the time of its devising (six months prior to his death) and undue influence on the part of the Independence Trust. In a well-reported trial from September 12 to 15, 1916, which included many witnesses for both sides, Mrs. Hawley succeeded in breaking the will and thus received all of her father’s estate.⁴ At the time, McKinnon’s estate was valued between $100,000 and $125,000, and the house on Elizabeth Avenue was valued at $25,000.⁵

Elizabeth McKinnon Hawley was married to Francis Oscar Hawley, Jr. (1881-1939) on June 27, 1905.⁶ Her husband was the son of Dr. F. O. Hawley (1846-1915), who was practicing medicine in Polkton, N.C. when F. O. Hawley, Jr. was born. In 1894, the Hawleys moved to Charlotte, where Dr. Hawley lobbied, through written articles, for the establishment of the office of city physician. When the office was set up several years later, Dr. Hawley became assistant city physician, and in 1898, when his boss went off to the Spanish-American War, became the second city physician, a post he held until shortly before his death in 1915.⁷ Two months after his marriage to Elizabeth McKinnon, F. O. Hawley, Jr., who had graduated from the Maryland College of Pharmacy and traveled for the Eli Lily Co., bought out (with T. Croft Woodruff) the Brannon Drug Co. on N. Tryon Street.⁸ Hawley and Woodruff later became Hawley’s Pharmacy, which was located in a ground floor corner of the McKinnon Building.⁹ About the same time as the establishment of the younger Hawley’s drug store, perhaps with his father-in-law’s backing, H. T. McKinnon also bought the lot on Elizabeth Avenue to build a house on for his daughter.¹⁰ Since the deaths of H. T. McKinnon and Dr. F. O. Hawley, Sr. in 1915 made the younger Hawleys quite wealthy, the junior Mr. Hawley retired from active involvement in the drug store, and he and his wife moved from their Elizabeth Avenue home to a suburban one on the Derita Road (now about 24th and Graham Streets), in 1917.¹¹ F. O. Hawley, Jr. was then president of Hawley Laboratories, also located at the Derita Road site, and looked after his and his wife’s real estate holdings.¹²

A year later, in 1918, Elizabeth Hawley was stricken with the deadly flu which raged after World War I, and died within a week at the age of thirty-seven, leaving her husband as her sole heir.¹³ Upon F. O. Hawley, Jr.’s death in 1939, the Elizabeth avenue house, which had been rented to various families since 1917, and was later called “The Clary,” offering furnished rooms, was administered by the executors of Hawley’s large estate.¹⁴ They sold the house to the Charlotte Elks Lodge 392 in 1941, which continued its use as a rooming house until they sold it three years later to Dr. Edgar Dorsett Moore (1897-1976) and his wife, Geraldine McPheeters Moore.¹⁵ Dr. Moore was a dentist, and he used the house as his residence while he built the presently existing dentist offices on Elizabeth Avenue in front of the house.¹⁶ In 1964, Dr. Moore converted the house to the Edmor Motor Inn, and moved his residence to Sunset Drive.¹⁷ Dr. Moore, who died at his home at 1117 Queens Road in 1976 at the age of 79, was born in Globe, N.C., and came to Charlotte in 1931. He devoted much of his time to religious projects; he produced the “Temple of the Air” Bible radio class in Charlotte, and was active in the Gideons International and other religious and professional organizations.¹⁸ The present owner of the Hawley house, Geraldine McPheeters Moore, continues to operate the site as the Edmor Motor Inn with the dental offices at the street level, but the house appears likely to be subject to demolition by a subsequent owner. Its location, association with the turn-of-the-century history of Charlotte and architecture certainly argue for its preservation if at all possible.

 

 

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NOTES

¹ Meck. Co. Will Book R. p. 69, prob. Nov. 18, 1915; Certificate of Death, Bk.3, p.82t

² Charlotte City Directory, 1916, p. 315.

³ Will Book R, p.69.

⁴ Charlotte Observer, September 16, 1916, p.3.

⁵ Ibid.; and Charlotte Observer, September 12, 1916, p. 11.

⁶ Charlotte News, Dec. 15, 1918, p. 20.

⁷ Charlotte News, Sept. 15, 1915, p. 2.

⁸ Charlotte Observer, Sept. 1, 1905, p. 5.

 

⁹ Charlotte City Directory, 1916, p. 315.

¹⁰ Deed Book 200, p. 611, Sept. 1, 1905.

¹¹ Charlotte News, Dec. 15, 1918, p.20.

¹² Charlotte News, Oct. 31, 1939, p.2.

¹³ Charlotte News, Dec. 15, 1918, p.20; Will Book R, p.450.

¹⁴ Will Book Z, p. 486, prob. Nov. 1, 1939; Charlotte City Directories, 1917-1939.

¹⁵ Deed Book 1048, p. 294, July 15, 1941; Deed Book 1118, p. 132, March 17, 1944.

¹⁶ Charlotte City Directory, 1948-9, p. 49, and subsequent years.

¹⁷ Ibid., 1964, pp. 131 and 667.

¹⁸ Charlotte Observer, July 3, 1976, p. 4B.

 

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

 

The Hawley House is a distinguished example of Charlotte’s domestic Neoclassicism. The house stands two-and-a-half stories high on a sharply elevated site overlooking Elizabeth Avenue not far from the center of the city. The house carries a hipped roof covered by slate shingles. A monumental frontispiece projects from the facade. The main body of the house, five bays wide and three deep, is built of cream-colored brick laid in running bond. The brick provides a neutral background for the rich program of applied wooden and stone Neoclassical trim: frontispiece, dentil cornice, and window sills are painted white with dark accents added by masonry window lintels. The main (south) facade is dramatized by a Neoclassical frontispiece projecting from the three center bays of the elevation. The frontispiece consists of two symmetrical, interlocking porticoes: a colossal Corinthian portico enclosing a smaller, two-tiered Ionic portico.

The former consists of four two-story Corinthian columns with two complementary pilasters. These support a boldly projecting pedimented gable. Cream-colored stucco gives the gable face an impasto finish. A quadripartite oculus pierces the gable face; the occults is framed by a round wooden surround bearing four raised keystones. A dentil cornice crisply outlines the pediment. The two-tiered entrance porch stands beneath the colossal portico. Four unfluted Ionic columns and two unfluted Ionic pilasters frame the central entrance and carry a second-story balcony. While the colossal Corinthian portico is clearly visible from the street, the smaller, two-tiered Ionic portico is most apparent only as the central entrance is approached. The monumental scale of the former responds to the distance of the street while the smaller size and formal division of the latter establishes human scale and reflects the internal layering of stories.

The main entrance, approached through the unfluted Ionic portico, is a neo-Palladian unit framed by a pair of fluted Ionic pilasters. A single-leaf door is punctuated by a large oval of beveled plate glass. A rectangular transom containing leaded glass surmounts the door. Within the transom a series of repeating geometric shapes form a semi-circular fanlight. Single-light sidelights flank the door. Each sidelight is outlined by flat-paneled pilasters; the pilasters carry acanthus modillions supporting molded entablatures. Above the entrance is the second-story balcony. The balcony in enclosed by a balustrade with a molded handrail, turned balusters, and four flat-paneled plinths. The two outer plinths are highlighted by bas-relief fleurs-de-lis. The balcony is overlooked by a sash window set beneath an eight-light transom with a pair of twelve-light sidelights.

Fenestration throughout the main body of the house is fairly consistent. Six-over-one and one-over-one sash (some with relatively new glass) are underlined by molded sills and decorative brick aprons. Stone jack arches with double raised keystones crown most of the windows except those within the three bays of the frontispiece. Along the east elevation a second-story round arched window overlooks the driveway. Three rows of headers with stone endblocks and double raised keystone surround this window A shed dormer with dentil cornice pierces the tripped roof along the rear elevation. The east and west elevation of the roof are pierced by large louvered vents with molded hoods and fillet-trimmed ears. Two heavily corbeled brick chimney caps rise at the ridge of the roof. These are enclosed by a rectangular parapet whose turned balusters echo those of the second-story balcony. A small porte cochere protects the driveway entrance along the east elevation. It is balanced by a demihexagonal ground-story bay on the west elevation. Small weatherboarded sheds are attached to the main body of the house along both side elevations. The rear of the house, containing the service wing, is highly asymmetrical. The ground story consists of three shallowly stepped blocks beneath a stepped, set back second story. The second story is faced with cream-colored stucco. A brick chimney pierces the kitchen roof. A single leaf rear entrance is sheltered by a small gable sheathed with ornamental pressed tin.

The focal point of the interior is the large stair hall into which the central entrance opens. The rectangular stair hall functions as both a circulation space and as a living hall. It contains exposed wooden ceiling beams with flat-paneled soffits. A flat-paneled wainscot runs around the room beneath a molded chairrail. The wainscot continues along the wall of a three-run staircase. The stair begins along the southern wall in the southeast corner of the room and then rises front-to-back along the eastern wall. The rectangular wainscot panels become ascending parallelograms as the stair rises. The newel posts are splayed and terminate in dentil caps above geometric cutouts. Slender rectangular insection balusters rise from the closed string.

Beneath the string is a flat-paneled inglenook with a built-in bench and several storage compartments. This alcove is at a right angle to the fireplace which dominates the northern wall of the stair hall. The fireplace has a red tile surround and a Neoclassical mantel. The mantel is built of two fluted Ionic columns supporting ovolo-molded endblocks and a blank frieze. An entablature with four horizontal flat panels and a second set of endblocks runs above the frieze. Most of the extant original doors are single-leaves. Each has five horizontal flat panels and a one-light rectangular transom. A single-run service staircase runs back-to-front along the western wall of the rear service wing. In the conversion from single-family dwelling to quasi-residential motel minor alterations and additions were made to the house. None appear to have had an overly significant impact on either the structural integrity of the building or the aesthetic merit of the street facade. The house and its handsome grounds, including a side garden with picturesque paths and a front lawn with massive roughcast ashlar retaining walls, form a visual oasis in the midst of heavy vehicular traffic. The Hawley House is a graphic reminder of Charlotte’s past residential patterns. The Neoclassical frontispiece is an example of the use of multiple architectural scales in an urban residence.