GRIER-FURR HOUSE

 

This report was written on 25 March 1991

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Grier-Furr House is located at 500 West John Street, Matthews, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

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

Henry and Sandra S. Donaghy
314 West Eighth Street
Matthews, North Carolina 28105

Telephone: (704) 847-5636

Tax Parcel Numbers: 193-251-18

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.

 

 

 

Click on the map to browse5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to Tax Parcel Number 193-251-18 is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 5965 at page 0461.

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 in history, architecture, and for cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Grier-Furr House does possess special significance in terms of Matthews and Mecklenburg County. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the Grier-Furr House was built between 1877 and 1888; 2) Julius S. Grier was a prominent farmer and furnishing merchant in the Matthews area; 3) Henry Baxter Furr, owner of the property from 1917 until his death in l953, was a Matthews entrepreneur of local notoriety; 4) the Grier-Furr House is architecturally significant for exemplifying the vernacular interpretation of Folk Victorian housing with Greek Revival detailing; 5) the largely intact interior of the Grier-Furr House shows the pattern of living in the late 19th century; 6) the Grier-Furr House illustrates an important technological advance for housing – the advance from heating with the seven fireplaces to the use of stoves; and 7) the Grier-Furr House provides a timeless landmark in the changing streetscape of Matthews.

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 Grier-Furr House meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes a designated “historic landmark.” The current appraised value of the improvements is $76,860. The current appraised value of Tax Parcel 193-251-18 (approximately ninety-two feet of frontage by one hundred and seventy feet of depth) is $31,830. The total appraised value of the property is $108,690. The property is zoned R20.

Date of Preparation of this Report: 25 March 1991

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

Telephone: (704) 376-9115

 

 

Historical Overview  

This austere, two story farmhouse is situated on approximately three-quarters of an acre at the intersection of NC 51 and West John Street in Matthews, NC. Local legend says that it was built in the late nineteenth century, perhaps in 1877 or 1878, but there is no extant evidence to confirm this.¹ The earliest deed reference to this property is 1883, which records the purchase of two tracts by W.B. Arrowood from D.C. and Mary Shaw and from the estate of J.V. Houston.² Attempts to place the ownership of this property any further have been inconclusive.³ W.B. Arrowood sold the property to J.S. (Julius S.) Grier in 1901. According to Monie MacLaughlin, who lives across the street from the Grier house, her great grandfather, E.C. (Eli C.) Grier built this house for his son Julius and his daughter-in-law Jennie. E.C. Grier lived in the Providence township and already owned a house similar to the one he built for his son.⁴ Another long-time Matthews resident, Johnnie Thielina, related similar information and believes that the Grier residence in Providence was located near the intersection of Kuykendall Road and Providence Road.⁵

According to public record, E.C. Grier never owned the property in Matthews where he allegedly built a home for his son. E.C. Grier appears in the manuscript census in 1860, 1870, and 1880 in the Providence township. He was a prosperous farmer; before the Civil War, he owned a 330 acre farm worth $4000.00 and eight slaves.⁶ The disruption caused by the Civil War in the region does not appear to have been particularly detrimental to E.C. Grier. By 1870, his farm increased to 450 acres, valued at $10,000.00, which he operated with $500.00 worth of farm machinery. Like other farmers in the Piedmont, his crop emphasis was corn and cotton. He also raised hogs. In addition to his agricultural pursuits, E.C. Grier was also actively engaged in real estate speculation, and he occasionally dealt in slaves before 1860.⁷ Julius was the second of eight children and the eldest of E.C. and Lydia Grier. In the 1880 census agricultural schedule, he is recorded in the Providence township as the owner of a 162 acre farm which produced mostly cotton and corn with the help of nearly year round hired labor.⁸ He appears in the Morning Star township in the 1900 manuscript census and is described as a merchant of dry goods. As a furnishing merchant, J.S. Grier frequently arranged crop liens with some of his customers who could not afford to pay cash for their fertilizer.⁹ In this regard, J.S. Grier was typical for a man in his time and place. In the early twentieth century, Mecklenburg County was largely rural, and the lives of many small farmers were governed by the weather. As a farmer, Grier relied heavily on cotton as his cash crop and used tenant farmers to plant and pick the crop. As a furnishing merchant, he provided dry goods and agricultural equipment for the rural town of Matthews. In addition to this, his store also extended credit for fertilizers and other farm necessities, and served as agents for the distribution of cotton between farmers and textile industry.

J.S. Grier died ca. 1910¹⁰ of causes unknown. His family sold a great deal of farm equipment, livestock, crops, and collected $1375.22 from the sale of cotton collected as rent from tenant farmers in Providence to shore up his assets. Among the disbursements, the estate of J.S. Grier paid $447.95 to be divided among thirty tenant farmers and farm laborers. The property was sold to Henry Baxter Furr in 1917.¹¹ Furr lived there until his death in 1953, and his family kept the property until 1977. Henry Furr earned his living through a variety of enterprises. He was an herbalist, he was an agent for Rawley products, and he was reputed to be a purveyor of bootleg alcohol. A large counter formerly occupied the front hall where Furr displayed and dispensed his herbal concoctions. Within arm’s reach of this counter is a small closet that opens under the front stairs. This closet, which locks with a hook and eye from the inside, was sometimes used to hide illegal alcohol from government inspectors. Someone would sit in the closet with the contraband and lock the door from the inside, which gave the impression that the door was stuck. Furr also traveled around town with a suitcase of Rawley products and managed to call on most residents twice a year.¹² (Rawley products were patent medicines). All of these business ventures allowed Furr to maintain the large house and his five children until he died. The Furrs eventually converted the property into a boarding house.

Some of the Furr children continued to live in the house with their spouses, and after they moved out, the apartments made for the Furr children were occupied by renters. The house could accommodate up to five families; even the front porch was enclosed for boarders. All of the boarders and the remaining Furrs shared one unheated bathroom which presently serves as a laundry room. All seven fireplaces were closed and wood burning stoves were installed in each room where the house was converted.¹³ The wood mantelpieces have holes carved in them to allow for stovepipes. The Furrs planted a magnolia tree on the west side of the house and a mock orange shrub in the front yard. The mock orange shrub, now the size of a small tree, has historically provided entertainment for Matthews youngsters who have enjoyed the pleasures of pelting each other with mock oranges through several generations. The seeds of this tree have scattered over Matthews thanks to the activities of children and squirrels. Traditionally, Matthews churches use magnolia leaves for Christmas decorations and the thorns from mock orange trees to make a crown of thorns for Easter, a practice that is continued to the present day. Two large oaks formerly stood in the back yard. All of the large trees in the backyard were destroyed by Hurricane Hugo (1989). The largest tree was a water oak with an eighteen inch circumference.¹⁴ When this tree fell, it took three other trees with it and it tore off the back porch. During the repair, the current owners discovered an exposed heat duct that has heated the backyard for years. Apparently, the back porch was enclosed at one time, and when it was opened, the heat from this source was never closed.¹⁵ There are no extant outbuildings, although recent owners of the property have discovered foundations for at least two: a barn and a structure that housed an acetylene plant that generated gas for lighting before the house was wired for electricity. The current owners have unearthed a series of brick walks in the back responsible for their construction.¹⁶ The Furr family sold the house in 1977 to James and Kay Cockman.¹⁷ The Cockmans sold the property in 1979 to J. Richard and Jean D. Marshall. J.R. Marshall was the director of the Charlotte Opera.¹⁸ The Marshalls, divorced in 1981, sold the house in 1982 to John and Cheryl Webster.¹⁹ who sold to Jon Ritt in 1986.²⁰ Ritt and his housemate are credited with planting innumerable daffodil bulbs around the house which nearly overpower it in the spring and the current owners are happy to share with the community. The present owners, Henry and Sandra Donaghy, purchased the property in 1989.²¹ Like owners before them, the Donaghys continue the tradition of maintaining and upgrading the premises. They frequently meet former residents or boarders of the house who have interesting anecdotes to relate about their experiences there.

 

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NOTES

¹ Suzanne Gulley, writer for The Matthews News, prepared an essay about the Grier house (September 2, 1981). In this essay, she wrote that the elder residents of the town recalled that E.C. Grier built the house in 1878. E.C. Grier also served in the state legislature from 1862-1865.

² Deeds 60-475, April 23, 1886, and 62-529, May 15, 1888. Register of Deeds, Mecklenburg County Court House.

³ It is possible that part of the property was purchased by Mary Shaw in 1882 from M.E. Crowell in deed 42-525, October 23, 1882, which shows that she bought four acres for $400.00 on the east side of Charlotte on Monroe Road near Matthews. The ambiguity of the deed makes it impossible to know the exact location of this property.

⁴ Interview with Monie MacLaughlin, November 29, 1990.

⁵ Interview with Johnnie Thieling, December 3, 1990.

⁶ 1860 Census Agricultural Schedule 4, North Carolina; 1860 Manuscript Census of Slave Population, North Carolina.

⁷ See Grantor and Grantee Indices 1840-1913, Register of Deeds, Mecklenburg County Court House.

⁸ 1880 Census Agricultural Schedule 2, North Carolina. 75 acres of J.S. Grier’s 120 improved acres were devoted to cotton, 30 to corn and 12 to oats. The remainder produced rye, Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes.

⁹ See the list of crop liens in J.S. Grier’s name in the Grantee Index 1840-1913. Register of Deeds, Mecklenburg County Court House.

¹⁰ This date is an estimate. Grier’s estate was not settled until 1912, but the settlement was based on profits and assets of 1910. His son, E.C. Grier was appointed administrator of the estate in 1910. See Book of Administrators-Executive-Guardians (A-E-G) 2-71; Book of Annual Accounts 14-99. 100; and Book of Final Settlements 5-425, Office of Clerk of Estates, Mecklenburg County Court House.

¹¹ Deed 367-179, January 24, 1917. Register of Deeds, Mecklenburg County Court House.

¹² Interview with current owners. Henry and Sandra Donaghy, November 28, 1990. Essay about the property written by a former owner. Ron Ritt, n.d.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ A former owner of the property, Jon Ritt, believes that this tree was older than the house, and in his essay, he wrote that a county extension agent estimated its age at 150 years.

¹⁵ Interview with henry and Sandra Donaghy.

¹⁶ Interview with Henry and Sandra Donaghy; Essay by Jon Ritt.

¹⁷ Deed 3970-394, June 5, 1977. Register of Deeds, Mecklenburg County Court House.

¹⁸ Deed 4174-351, April 4, 1979; Essay by Jon Ritt.

¹⁹ Deed 4559-167, July 23, 1962. Mecklenburg County Court House.

²⁰ Deed 5965-461, February 15, 1989, Register of Deeds, Mecklenburg County Court House.

 

 

Architectural Sketch  

The Grier-Furr House is located on the east side of West John Street in Matthews, North Carolina. It is located south of the intersection of West John Street with Lois Street and north of the intersection with Ames Street. The front or west facade of the house faces West John Street; the rear or east facade overlooks a long narrow back yard. The house serves as a landmark to the town; most residents of Matthews identify the house as “the big two-story house at the stoplight where Highway 51 turns west.” The Highway 51 bypass (scheduled for completion in the near future) is located approximately one thousand feet north of the Grier-Furr House. Its opening will relieve the house and its occupants of much traffic vibration and noise. Over the years, the Grier-Furr House grew and evolved to meet the needs of the owners; it is now approximately 3,300 square feet. It was constructed to be a single-family house, converted to a boarding house/apartment house, and now serves as a residence and office. The ground plan of the original portion of the house is that of a side-facing T, irregularities in the plan have been formed by additions. The two story elevation is not dominated by the moderately pitched roof. The Grier-Furr House has a compound, gable-front-and-wing shape. A hip-roofed, one story porch began within the L formed by the gable-front-and-wing and wrapped around the east side. The Grier-Furr House was built during the era of the National Folk House in the United States; it is a Folk Victorian house with Greek Revival details.¹ As with many houses of this era, details copied from earlier eras have been used to enliven plain, utilitarian facades; the interpretations and finish of the details used depended an the skill of the builder and the preferences of the owner.

Exterior
The siding is lapped horizontal boards; both siding and trim are painted white. Some of the siding is original; some is siding used to enclose porches of the house when it was remodeled for use as a boarding house about the time of World War II. The most recent addition of new siding occurred following damage caused when an enormous tree fell on the northwest corner of the house during Hurricane Hugo in September 1989. The tree was so large that parts of it extended along the west side of the house and blocked traffic on West John Street. Although a son of the current owners was asleep in a second floor bedroom, he was not injured when the tree crashed through the roof and walls.² The red and gray fiberglass shingle roof has a moderate pitch; the variegated color of the shingles keeps them from dominating the white walls. The Greek Revival detailing is most evident at the roof-wall junction. A wide trim board decorates the triangle formed by each gable. The gables have a wide overhang with elaborate cornice returns; the depth of the overhang provides shadow detail particularly under the cornice returns. The wide eave overhang is boxed and has shingle molding. The cornice has three parts: a simple bed molding; a wide, undecorated frieze board; and a square cut molding to outline the bottom edges and sides of the frieze board. The cornice runs around the house; however, the frieze board is discontinuous across the gable ends. Another small detail speaks of the Greek Revival influence. Each corner board has a small piece of molding between its top and the frieze board to give the illusion of a column capital. This makes the cornerboards appear somewhat like the pilasters that were commonly used on the corners of frame houses in the Greek Revival era. Many of the windows contain the original leaded glass; most are 4/4 double hung sash. The window surrounds are narrow and not elaborate; however, they do have decorative moldings.

The house was originally set on brick piers. The piers have been infilled with modern brick; the entire underpinning has now been painted white. The gable-front portion is two units deep by one unit wide. It has an interior masonry chimney that exits at the center of the ridge. The gable ends have a single window centered on each story with a wooden, louvered vent in the gable. The west or eave elevation has two symmetrical ranks of single windows. The horizontally of the west elevation is broken by a vertical utility chase that runs from the underpinning of the house to the bottom of the eave. The wing portion of the original construction is one unit deep by two units wide. It has an exterior masonry chimney located on the north eave wall. One unit of the width is devoted entirely to a hallway and stair. The other unit of width is one large room with a fireplace. The front (south) elevation of the wing portion is divided into one unit having symmetrical single windows and one unit with a single window over the entrance. Enclosure of the east end of the porch added a one-story unit with paired windows. The main entrance, located on the south elevation of the wing portion, appears to have changed little over the years. It consists of an elaborate Greek Revival wooden enframement surrounding the paired doors, transom, and sidelights. The white enframement has simple decorative moldings. The moldings of the sides of the casing give definition to the ears and knees (the splaying at the top and bottom) of the enframement. The transom is broken into three lights; the divisions of the transom lights are decorated with jig-saw cut brackets that support the entablature of the enframement. The center light is the width of the doors while the lights at either end are the width of the sidelights. The sidelights do not run the full height of the door but end just above the knees of the enframement. Beneath the sidelights are white wooden panels.

A pair of screen doors opens to a pair of narrow four panel doors. The hip-roofed one-story porch on the front elevation has wooden flooring that is painted gray. The ceiling is wide flat boards and has only one modern light fixture installed over the door. The square wooden colons are chamfered; they are not set on bases. The east end of the porch was enclosed to provide a kitchen for an apartment that once existed in the Grier-Furr House. The enclosure has a pair of 6/6 double hung sash on the West John Street elevation; the small room still contains the old kitchen sink. The east elevation displays a confusion of roofs, windows, and doors. Above the first floor, the two-story gable end of the wing portion of the house provides an anchor for the enclosures and additions. The second floor of the east gable end is detailed in the same Greek Revival manner as the south gable end. The enclosed one-story porch that wrapped from the front of the house merges with an early addition. The first floor elevation has two pairs of 6/6 double hung sash at the south end, two pairs of 4/4 double hung sash in the middle, and a 6/6 double hung sash and a five panel wooden door at the north end. Several additions to the north facade of the house make it difficult to discern the exact nature of the rear portion of the original structure. It appears that a one story ell on the north facade at the east comer was two units deep and one unit wide. This wing shared a brick chimney with the T-plan section; all of the detailing of this end suggests that it was original. A shed-roofed porch ran along the west facade of this wing; however, it has been enclosed in recent years. A second floor renovation provided a gable-roofed bathroom constructed in the second story of the L of the rear (north) facade. Weathering of the door surround and flooring of this bathroom suggest that it was probably a porch at one time. Another first floor addition on the northeast corner included a shed-roofed bath room that has been converted to a laundry room. A one story shed roof porch on the northwest comer overlooks the back yard. It was enclosed during the apartment house days of the Grier-Furr House but has been restored as a porch. Windows on the north elevation include 4/4 double hung sash, paired 9/6 double hung sash, and a 6/6 double hung sash.

Interior
The interior has not been gutted and modernized as have many houses of this era. Most rooms have board ceilings and original woodwork. Box locks and porcelain door knobs survive on many of the doors Floors throughout the house are generally of hardwood; the equal width boards are two and one-half inches wide. Repairs to the hardwood floors give evidence of the changing uses of the house. Most walls are plaster; gypsum wallboard was used for repairs of water and hurricane damage. One upstairs room has walls of a pressed hardboard material nailed over the lathe that held the plaster. The original fireplace surrounds are still in place; they are simple arrangements of a mantle supported by unadorned pilasters. Fireplace surrounds have semi-circular cutouts to accommodate stoves; the fireplaces were closed when the stoves were installed. The stoves have been removed, but the fireplaces have not been reopened for use. Electric forced-air heat and air conditioning make the Grier-Furr House comfortable for its current owners. The first floor consists of the original part of the house, porch enclosures, and additions. The gable-front-and-wing section has two rooms in the gable-front portion; a narrow hallway on the east side of the centered fireplaces allowed passage between the two rooms. The north room has a closet an the west side of the fireplace. There is a wide hallway with an open stair in the wing section. There is a closet beneath the stair; it has been reported that the hook on the inside of the closet door was locked by a person inside hiding illegal goods.³

The hallway has a double door on the south wall (the main entrance) and a single door on the north wall (the back door). The east section of the wing portion consists on one large room that served as a living room. The room has a fireplace centered on the north wall and picture molding near the ceiling. An entrance to the enclosed porch was added through a window in this room when the house was divided into apartments. The one-story ell to the rear (north) facade of the wing portion provided a kitchen and dining room. The dining room opens off the north end of the center hallway. The fireplace on the south wall of the dining room shares the chimney of the former living room fireplace. There is a very narrow closet on the east side of the fireplace. A pie closet is built into the space on the west side of the fireplace. Currently, the openings of the pie closet are filled with opal glass; however, the current owner found the tin pieces and plans to reinstall them. The east wall of the dining room has two doors opening to two small rooms that are part of the enclosed porch; the beaded board porch ceiling is still in place. Currently, the two enclosed rooms are used for offices. The dining room opens directly into the modernized kitchen. White cupboards and cabinets cover the walls now. A shed-roofed porch, which has been enclosed to form a bathroom, is on the west facade of the one-story ell. Access to the bathroom is from the kitchen. The laundry room, also accessed from the kitchen, is on the northeast comer of the house. The second floor of the house is largely original and laid out in the T-plan. Each of the three rooms has a fireplace. Closets have been added in two of the rooms. The only upstairs room addition is a bathroom at the north end of the wide hallway. As suggested earlier, the bathroom may have been constructed in an area previously occupied by a second floor porch. The Grier-Furr House is a sturdy example of one the many housing types that make up the Town of Matthews. It continues to fulfill its basic role as a home while taking on the new function of an office.

 

Notes

¹ Virginia & Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York, 1986), 88-90, 93, 308-310, 312.

² Interview with Mrs. Sandra S. Donaghy, one of the current owners of the Grier-Furr House, 21 March 1991.

³ Ibid.

WILLIAM GRIER HOUSE

This report was written on February 1, 1978

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the William Grier House is located on Steele Creek Rd. opposite from its intersection with Shopton Rd. in the southwestern portion of Mecklenburg County.

2. Name address and telephone number of the present owner and occupant of the property:
The present owner of the property is:
Mrs. Agnes S. Byrum
RFD 3
Box 187
Charlotte, NC 28210

Telephone: (704) 588-0434

The present occupant of the property is:

Mrs. Marion Starnes
RFD 4
Box 467
Charlotte, N.C. 28208

Telephone: (704) 588-0673

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 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 3753 at page 974. The Parcel Number of the property is 14111210. This report contains a complete chain of title for the William Grier House.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property:

Among the early Scotch Irish settlers of the Steele Creek Community was James Grier, who died on June 29, 1784, at the age of seventy. In the mid-1740’s Mr. Grier and his wife, Margaret, conceived and gave birth to a son whom they named Thomas. Thomas Grier, who lived until January 29, 1828, married twice. By his first wife, Hannah Alexander, he had four children who attained adulthood. Susannah Grier, daughter of James and Catherine Spratt, was his second wife, by whom Thomas Grier had nine children. Among the sons produced by this union was William M. Grier, born August 20, 1804.¹ It is clear that Thomas Grier was a farmer of considerable prominence in the Steele Creek Community in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Indicative of his economic prowess is the fact that in 1820 he owned twenty-nine slaves, a large number for a Mecklenburg planter of that era.² The Catawba Journal of February 5, 1828, characterized Thomas Grier as a “highly respectable and most valuable citizen.”³ One can logically infer that he possessed the economic means to erect the house which still stands on Steele Creek Rd. Thomas Grier’s Last Will and Testament, dated January 23, 1828, contains a codicil which proves that the structure was being built for William M. Grier at that time. It reads as follows:

 

“It is my will that the frame of a house now on hand for my son William M. Grier be put up and raised on the cite (sic) now chosen by the said William and that he be assisted out of my estate to complete said house and finish it….”⁴

Wllliam M. Grier married twice. His first wife was Minerva W. Grier, daughter of John Hayes of Lincoln County. She died on May 29, 1837, at the age of twenty-seven.⁵ Their only child, Minerva William Susan Grier, died on August 19, 1838.⁶ The second wife of William M. Grier, who was to outlive her husband, was Ferriby C. Grier.⁷ The most notable child of this union was Calvin E. Grier, a soldier in the army of the Confederate States of America who later moved to Charlotte and became one of the “brightest lawyers” in this community.⁸ William M. Grier died on May 30, 1870, having been “afflicted for the last (sic) six months with paralysis.”⁹ Ferriby C. Grier lived until September 27, 1878, when she expired at the age of sixty-nine.¹⁰ In 1867 William M. Grier had sold his homeplace to Margaret Jane Lewis, a daughter of his half-sister, Susan Grier White.¹¹ Included in the inventory of items purchased by Margaret Jane Lewis were “900 pounds of bacon, an old carriage and harness, and seven spitoons.”¹² Mrs. Lewis retained the property until January 12, 1888, when she sold all but a ten acre tract to Robert Franklin Byrum.¹³ Mr. Byrum, born on June 9, 1862, “was a successful farmer and enterprising citizen of the community.” He and his wife, Janie Porter Byrum, had six children, three sons and three daughters. He died on June 1, 1925,¹⁴ having made provisions for the division of his estate whereby his son, Fred K. Byrum, acquired the house.¹⁵ Fred K. Byrum served in the United States Army during World War I and was thereafter associated with the C. W. Upchurch Motor Co., a local Studebaker dealer on W. Trade St. He died of a heart attack on January 29, 1936, at the age of forty-eight.¹⁶ The three children of Fred K. Byrum and his wife, Margaret Rudisill Byrum, retained joint ownership of their father’s estate until May 12, 1969, when they divided the property among themselves and gave ownership of the house to Robert Franklin Byrum,¹⁷ who was an associate of his uncle, W. Lester Byrum, in operating Byrum’s General Store.¹⁸ Robert Franklin Byrum died on February 7, 1973¹⁹ and his widow, Agnes S. Byrum, has owned the house since that time.²⁰ She continues the practice of her husband in operating the structure as rental property.

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Footnotes

¹ Mrs. Robert McDowell, A List of those Buried in Historic Steele Creek Burying Grounds (Charlotte: 1953), pp. 36-37. Hereafter cited as List.

² The United States Census (1820), p. 178.

³ Catawba Journal (February 5, 1828) p.3.

⁴ Mecklenburg County Will Book A, p. 163.

⁵ Charlotte Journal (June 2, 1837) p. 3.

⁶ Charlotte Journal (August 24, 1838) p. 3.

⁷ Daily Charlotte Observer (September 28, 1878) p. 3.

⁸ The Daily News (May 2, 1889) p. 1.

⁹ The Western Democrat (June 7, 1870) p. 3.

¹⁰ Daily Charlotte Observer (September 28, 1878) p. 3.

¹¹ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 7, p. 268.

¹² Mecklenburg County Deed Book 5, p. 170.

¹³ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 57, p. 513.

¹⁴ The Charlotte Observer (June 2, 1925).

¹⁵ Mecklenburg County Will Book U, p. 9.

¹⁶ The Charlotte Observer (January 30, 1936) sec. 1, p. 14.

¹⁷ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3114, p. 35.

¹⁸ Mecklenburg County Will Book 10, p. 16.

¹⁹ The Charlotte Observer (February 9, 1973) p. 2C.

²⁰ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3753, p. 974.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description prepared by Ms. Ruth Little-Stokes, architectural historian.

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

 

a. Historical and cultural significance: The historical and cultural significance of the property known as the William Grier House rests upon three factors. First, the structure formed the focal point of an antebellum plantation in Mecklenburg County. Second, the structure is one of the few Federal style plantation houses which survives in Mecklenburg County. Third, individuals of local prominence have inhabited the structure.

b. Suitability for preservation and restoration: There is reason to believe that the structure might be so structurally unsound as to render its preservation and restoration infeasible. However, every effort should be made to retain the structure. Moreover, existing documentation would provide ample information to guide the preservation and restoration of the structure.

c. Educational value: The William Grier House has educationa1 value because of the historical and cultural significance of the property.

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 presently assumes that all costs associated with renovating and maintaining the structure will be paid by the owner or subsequent owner of the property.

e. Possibilities for adaptive or alternative use of the property: The property, presently zoned for residential use, is not suitable for a commercial adaptive use. The house could be converted into a house museum.

f. Appraised value: The current tax appraisal of the improvements on the property is $630. The current tax appraisal of the 6.02 acres of land is $45,690. The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for a deferral of 50% of the rate upon which 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: As stated earlier, the Commission has no intention of purchasing the fee simple or any lesser included interest in this property. Furthermore, the Commission presently assumes that all costs associated with the property will be paid by the present or subsequent owners of the property.

9. Documentation of why and in why 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 William Grier House does meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. Basic to the Commission’s judgment is its knowledge that the National Register of Historic Places, established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, represents the decision of the Federal Government to expand its recognition of historic properties to include those of local, regional, and State significance. The Commission believes that the investigation of the William Grier House contained herein demonstrates that the property is of local importance. Consequently, the Commission judges the property known as the William Grier House does meet 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: The property known as the William Grier House is historically important to Mecklenburg County for three reasons. First, the structure formed the focal point of an antebellum plantation in Mecklenburg County. Second, the structure is one of the few Federal style plantation houses which survives in Mecklenburg County. Third, individuals of local prominence inhabited the structure.

 

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Chain of Title

1. Deed Book 3753, p.974 (July 22,1974).
Grantor: Carol Byrum Simpson & husband, Danny W. Simpson Patricia Byrum & husband, C. Daryl Byrum
Grantees: Agnes S. Byrum, widow

2. Deed Book 3114, P Re 35 (May 12, 1969)
Grantors: Nancy Jane Byrum Jackson & husband, W. N. Jackson William Albert Byrum & wife, Shirley White Byron
Grantees: Robert Franklin Byrum

3. Will Book U. p. 9 (April 15, 1927).
Devisor: R. F. Byrum
Devisee: John E. Byrum, Fred K. Byrum, W. Lester Byrum, Kate Alice Knox, Irene Youngblood, Frankie Byrum

4. Deed Book 57, page 513 (January 12, 1888)
Grantor: Mrs. M. J. Lewis of Chester Co., SC
Grantee: R. F. P. Byrum

5. Deed Book 7, page 268 (May 11, 1871).
Grantor: Wllliam M. Grier
Grantee: Margaret Jane Lewis

6. Deed Book 5, p. 170 (March 26, 1867).
Grantor: William M. Grier
Grantee: Margaret Jane Lewis

7. Will Book I, p. 225 (March 29, 1850).
Devisor: Susannah Grier
Devisee: Andrew Grier, William M. Grier, Zenas A. Grier, Margaret Jane White

8. Will Book A, p. 161 (February 4, 1825).
Devisor: Thomas Grier
Devisee: James Grier, Thomas L. Grier, Alexander Grier, Andrew Grier, William M. Grier, Zenas Grier

 

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Bibliography

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

Catawba Journal

Charlotte City Directories

Charlotte Journal

Daily Charlotte Observer

Mrs. Robert McDowell, A List of those Buried in Historic Steele Creek Burying Grounds (Charlotte: 1953).

Mecklenburg County Estate Records

Records of the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds Office

Records of the Mecklenburg County Tax Office

The Charlotte Observer

The Western Democrat

United States Census Records

Vital Statistics of Mecklenburg County

Date of Preparation of this Report: February 1, 1978

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

Telephone: (704) 332-2726

 

 

Architectura1 Description

 

Summary of Significance
The William Grier House, a two-story frame house site, faces Steele Creek Rd. on the outskirts of the settlement of Shopton in southern Mecklenburg County. The main brook, three bays wide and two bays deep, was constructed in 1828, and contains ornate woodwork in the mature Federal style. The rear one and one-half story frame wing contains traditional Federal-Greek Revival trim, and was apparently added ca. 1840. The house retains a substantial portion of its original design, although various interior partition walls have been added, the eaves and chimneys of the main block have been reworked, and the present wrap-around front porch is an early twentieth century replacement of the original porch. The William Grier House is an important vestige of early Mecklenburg County, for its finely crafted ornate Federal trim and interesting Flemish bond chimney are a precious remnant of an era when quality was assured by hand craftsmanship. The framework of the house is in a dangerous state of deterioration, and if the house is to be preserved it needs immediate attention.

Detailed Description
The most striking feature of the main facade is its asymmetry. The center front door is located slightly west of center, and the center second story window is located slightly east of center. The east bay windows are much closer to the facade corner than the west bay windows. This inharmonious spacing is probably the result of the pragmatic approach of the builder and the disregard of both builder and owner to then-fashionable standards of asymmetry. The position of the front door equalizes the size of the hall and parlor. The position of the second story window accommodates the attic stair in the west room. The result of this functional approach to openings is comical when viewed with the present-day porch, whose cross-gable entrance is exactly centered. The exterior fabric of the main block consists of replacement lapped siding, small sash windows (nine-over-nine lights on the first story, nine-over-six on the second) with molded surrounds, and small gable end windows which probably originally contained six pane casements and now have replacement sash. The front door is a twentieth century replacement but retains its original four pane transom and molded surround. The rear doorway transom and surround are identical to those at the front of the house, but the original six raised panel door remains at the rear. The additional rear door in the east room has a six flat paneled door and transom, and was probably added during construction of the rear wing. A window in the rear wall of the east room is now closed up, and is another indication that the wing is an addition. The first story of the main facade is covered with hand-planed flush sheathing, indicative of the original presence of a one-story porch.

The gable roof has boxed, molded eaves with large pattern boards. These appear to have been rebuilt, for the gable end fascia board cuts off a corner of the gable end window. Federal houses in this geographic region customarily have flush raking cornices ornamenting the gable ends. The single stepped shoulder exterior end chimneys have stone bases, and are laid in random common bond brick. These are probably late nineteenth century replacements, for Federal chimneys are usually laid in Flemish bond or a regular pattern of common bond. The house rests on a fieldstone pier foundation, infilled at a later date with brick. The only portion of the frame which is visible to the attic construction. This consists of hand-hewn rafters with pegged peaks. Early machine-made square head nails were found in the rafters. The rear wing has lapped aiding, nine-over-six sash with molded surrounds (some in pairs), and four-over-four sash in the rear gable end. The wing was apparently built in a one room wide form, with a single exterior end chimney at the rear, and was enlarged in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century to its present two-room width. At this tine the room line was altered, and additional sash and a small rear brick chimney were added. The original rear chimney is laid in Flemish bond, with a single stopped shoulder. The chimney is one of the most interesting feature of the house, for the handmade brick are unusually large. The interior of the main block was originally a hall-and-parlor plan on both floors. The front entrance originally opened into the west room, the hall. The only alterations to this plan were the addition of partition walls creating narrow center halls on both floors, and the removal of the original stair from the first to second floors. The original stair was probably a corner stair in a rear corner of the west room. Because the ceiling and floor are covered with newer materials, no trace of the stair opening was found. The original interior trim of the main block consists of wainscots, plaster walls, molded surrounds, ornate mantels, and paneled and batten doors. The main parlor contains a large tripartite mantel with delicate, paired fluted colonnettes supporting corner blocks, a deep reeded and molded cornice, and a shelf. The corner blocks and center tablet contain sunbursts, and an unusual beehive ornament adorns the center of the tablet. The fireplace surround is reeded, with sunburst corner blocks. The flat-paneled wainscot and molded chain rail are of mahogany, a very unusual feature. The hall has a similar but less ornate mantel and a flush-sheathed wainscot. On the second floor, the east room has a delicately reeded Federal mantel, while the mantel in the west room has been removed. Both rooms have flush sheathed wainscots and batten doors with unusual tapering ledges (horizontal braces). The rear wing, probably constructed as kitchen and dining room, has been substantially altered on the interior, but retains a late Federal mantel in the southeast room. The only stair from the first to the second floor is located in the wing, adjacent to the main block. The open-string stain rises in two flights, with a landing, and must be original to the wing, for the design of the stair railing is late Federal. The surrounding open space has been considerably whittled down by highway construction, and no original outbuildings are standing on the property.

SURVEY AND RESEARCH REPORT

ON

The Sidney and Ethel Grier House

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Sidney and Ethel Grier House is located at 4647 McKee Road in Charlotte, North Carolina.
2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The present owner of the property is:

Nancy Grier Miller & Florence Simpson Grier

933 Hemlock Dr NE

Lenoir, NC 28645

Telephone: 828-758-7075

3. Representative photographs of the property: This report contains representative photographs of the property.
4. Maps depicting the location of the property: This report contains a map depicting the location of the property.
5. Current deed book reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 02380 on page 382. The tax parcel number of the property is 231-045-03.
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:

Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Sidney and Ethel Grier House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:

1) The Grier family farms were economically and socially integral to the Providence community of southern Mecklenburg County. As large landowners, members of the Grier family were able to produce cotton and other crops as well as to function as creditors for the poor farmers of the community — practices that place the Grier family farms firmly within the agricultural trends prevalent in the post Civil War South as a whole as well as in Mecklenburg County. Also, members of the Grier family established the first building in Mecklenburg County that was exclusively devoted to the spinning of cotton.

2) As part of the Providence Township the Sidney and Ethel Grier House retains the qualities of a rural farmhouse. Such places are becoming increasingly rare in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and serve as valuable reminders of the agricultural history of Mecklenburg County

3) The Sidney and Ethel Grier House is a well-preserved, pyramidal hipped roofed farmhouse of which there are relatively few examples in rural Mecklenburg County.

4) The Sidney and Ethel Grier House features elements of the Craftsman and Queen Anne Styles, illustrating how popular styles could co-exist in the vernacular architecture of early 20^th century Mecklenburg County.

1. 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 Sidney and Ethel Grier House meets this criterion.
2. 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 total appraised value of the improvements is $99,760. The current total appraised value of the lot is $1,022,080. The current total value is $1,121,840. The property is zoned R-3 and O-15 (CD). The Commission is aware that only a two-acre tract will surround the Sidney and Ethel Grier House when the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission buys it.
3. Portion of property recommended for designation: The exterior and interior of the Sidney and Ethel Grier House, the outbuildings that form the farm complex, and a two-acre tract surrounding the house are recommended for historic designation.

Date of preparation of this report: April 2002.

Prepared by: Stewart Gray and Dr. Paula M. Stathakis, assisted by Dr. Dan L. Morrill

Historical Overview

The Sidney and Ethel Grier House was built in 1916 by Sidney Fitzgerald Grier, the youngest son of Julius Solomon Grier (1851-1910) and the grandson of Eli Clinton Grier (1820-1885). The Sidney and Ethel Grier House is intimately bound up with the history of the Grier family, a prominent farming clan in the Providence community and, even more significantly, the founders of the first building in Mecklenburg County devoted exclusively to the spinning of cotton. Founded by Eli Clinton Grier,  the mill was located about half way between Matthews, N.C., and Providence Presbyterian Church in southern Mecklenburg County. It contained 350 spindles and produced bale yarn. It was established in 1874 and operated for approximately eighteen months. The building was demolished in 1899.1 The Sidney and Ethel Grier House is one of the few remaining residences associated with this locally successful agrarian and early industrial family. It therefore stands as a symbol of a rural way of life that once was predominant in what is now a rapidly developing suburban district of southern Mecklenburg County.

The Griers owned and farmed large tracts of land in the Providence community of southern Mecklenburg County both before and after the Civil War. They grew cotton and corn, and raised swine and some dairy cattle. E. C. Grier actively dealt in slaves from 1848-1859, and in land during most of his life. Transactions recorded at the Mecklenburg County Court House show ten slave purchases, and a number of real estate transactions through which he acquired over 875 acres in the Four Mile Creek, Six Mile Creek, and Twelve Mile Creek areas, as well as in Matthews, Clear Creek, and along the Catawba River.2  By 1870, the fifty-year-old father of eight had a personal estate valued at $2000 and real estate worth $10,000.3 

After the Civil War, the Griers employed tenant farm labor and operated as local creditors for small farmers. E. C. Grier owned a 480-acre farm in the Providence community, of which 150 acres were under cultivation.4   As did many of his neighbors, he grew corn, oats, and cotton, sweet and Irish potatoes. He raised swine and a few head of dairy cattle, and raised enough fodder to keep three horses and five mules. Tenant labor was necessary to maintain agricultural operations on this scale, and records show that E. C. Grier paid $2600 in annual wages to his tenants in 1870.5 E. C. Grier’s circumstances were also stable enough for him to enter into crop liens and chattel mortgages, either as an individual creditor, or through various business combinations, such as the E. C. Grier and Robert Grier and Company [active 1856], and E.C. Grier and Sons [active 1880].6 E. C. Grier still ran a prosperous farm in the Providence community in 1880, just five years before his death. On his 560 acre farm, valued at $13,650, 110 acres were cultivated to grow 600 bushels of corn and 68 bales of cotton, as well as 6 bushels of Irish potatoes and 25 bushels of sweet potatoes, and 50 bushels of apples. He kept 2 horses, 4 mules, 1 cow and 4 hogs. He also employed 47 black tenant farm laborers, and paid $965.00 in annual wages.7

Julius Solomon Grier, the eldest son of E. C. Grier, was also intensely active in land acquisition and as a local creditor in the Providence community. There are nearly 50 recorded transactions involving J. S. Grier at the Mecklenburg County Court House; nearly all of them are crop liens. He purchased 50 acres from his parents in 1876 for $2600.8   He bought an additional 98 acres in the Providence community in 1888; and between 1898 and 1903, he purchased over 213 acres at public auctions.9   His resources as a landed farmer with a vested interest in the land impelled J. S. Grier to enter into numerous crop liens contracts with area farmers. These agreements usually specified that he provide money for fertilizer, and other advances, but there were no other conditions in the contracts that required the farmers to grow specific crops. The farmer’s land was offered as security, and it was always stipulated that if the debt were not paid on time, the land would be seized and sold at public auction, sometimes with 8% interest charged on the principal..10

Crop liens became the preferred method of credit for small farmers with little or no capital and only their good name to start a crop. The general trend in the post-bellum South was for poor farmers to draw upon the resources of local merchants and landowners to get a crop in the ground, since many farmers did not live near towns with banks, and may not have been able to get credit there if they did. Interestingly, the public records of Mecklenburg County show an aberration in the pattern of post-bellum rural credit systems. In many Southern rural areas, small farmers seeking loans and entering onto crop lien agreements were generally required to grow cotton or other regionally appropriate cash crops as a condition of the loan. The majority of crop lien agreements for Mecklenburg County, including those held by the Griers, do not show that farmers were obligated to grow cotton, although most of them did. The lien agreements also show that small farmers in Mecklenburg County relied on banks as well as on landowners and merchants for credit.11  None of the crop lien agreements on record for E. C. Grier or by his son J. S. Grier stipulates that cotton cultivation was a requirement for the loan.

Agricultural trends in Mecklenburg County did correspond to regional practices of increasing cotton production at the expense of more diverse crops. Cotton production in Mecklenburg County, for example, increased from 6112 bales in 1860 to 27, 466 bales in 1910. The increased yield per acre in the late nineteenth century certainly demonstrates the effects of improved agricultural techniques, especially the use of fertilizer, which was often itemized in more detailed crop lien agreements. However, the dramatic increases in crop yields corresponded with the steady decline of cotton prices between 1870 and 1880.12   Once small farmers, most of whom would had been independent, subsistence farmers in the ante-bellum period, made the initial commitment to grow cotton and to switch to cash crop agriculture, it was nearly impossible to extricate themselves from creditors, debt, and the caprices of the global cotton market to which they were connected. The subsequent over-production of cotton, biases in lien laws, and the costs of ginning and transportation kept many small farmers cotton rich, but cash poor. The Griers benefited from their position as creditors.

Julius Solomon Grier was a successful farmer. The 1880 Agricultural Census shows him on a 162 acre farm valued at $4000. He paid $1200 for 47 black tenants who labored in the production of 3 tons of hay, 500 bushels of corn, 25 bushels of rye, 25 bushels of Irish potatoes, 75 bushels of sweet potatoes, 20 bushels of apples and 15 bushels of peaches. He devoted 75 acres to cotton, from which he produced 50 bales. His general farm output was more diverse than many Mecklenburg farmers, and is indicative of a prosperous farmer who could afford to devote time and land to crops other than cotton. His cotton yield, approximately 1.5 bales per acre, mirrors the average produced in the Providence community. Extracting more than a bale an acre, especially at a time when pressed bales averaged 450 pounds, from heavily used farm land shows the advantages of fertilizer, which for him was $152 well spent. His farm also supported 2 horses, 3 mules, 3 cows, 3 hogs, and 30 hens and roosters.13

After J.S. Grier’s death in 1910, some of his land passed to his youngest son Sidney, who built the Bungalow-style farmhouse with a pyramidal hipped roof, a full width wrap-around porch, and decorative style elements from both the Queen Anne and Craftsman periods. Sidney continued the Grier tradition of farming on the family land, and was assisted in his later years by his son Michael. After Michael’s untimely death from an automobile accident on August 25, 1940, Sidney’s son Gerald and his wife Florence moved into a smaller house on the property to help with the farm. After Sidney’s death in 1944, Gerald and his family moved into the main house and continued to farm on the property. Gerald Grier continued to use tenant labor to grow corn wheat, oats, barley, and some cotton, but in later years shifted his emphasis to truck farming, growing vegetables, strawberries, cantaloupes, and watermelons. He also raised calves for a nearby dairy farm. The house has been recently vacated and the land around remains undeveloped. Rezoning of the property for a large, multi-family development is pending.

One can fully appreciate the historic significance of the Sidney and Ethel Grier House  only by taking into account its place within the present built environment of the Providence community of southern Mecklenburg County.  The house and its outbuildings are the only extant farm structures once owned by the locally prominent Grier family.  Even more importantly, they are the sole reminder of the immediate  neighborhood’s agricultural heritage.  The closest farm to the east is the Fincher Farm, over one mile away. No farms exist to the immediate west.  The closest significant farmhouse to the west is the James Blakeney House, also over a mile distant.

Fincher Farm

James Blakeney House

Otherwise  the neighborhood is characterized by rapid suburbanization, replete with residential subdivisions, multi-family complexes, strip shopping centers, convenience stores, and service stations.  Admittedly, the preservation of more than two acres with the house would be preferable to the arrangement the Historic Landmarks Commission has been able to work out with the prospective developer.  But the two acres will contain the house and most of the agricultural outbuildings and will provide a glimpse into the rural heritage of the Providence community.

Architectural Description

Built in 1916 by a Mr. Fincher, the Sidney and Ethel Grier House is a well-preserved rural farmhouse.¹⁴ The hipped-roof, one-story, Bungalow form, frame house resembles a large pyramidal cottage. The house is part of a farm complex, typical for Mecklenburg County’s more successful farmers, consisting of numerous small outbuildings as well as a substantial barn. The house sits at the end of a long drive that is bordered on both sides by open fields. It faces north and is situated among hardwood trees that form a small grove around the house. The house is in good condition, and retains a very high degree of integrity in regards to its original design and materials.

By far the most notable architectural feature of the house is its wrap-around engaged porch. The porch is supported by eight Craftsman Style tapered half-posts, sitting on tall brick piers. The posts are crowned with molding, and molded trim also decorates the porch beams. The porch is now screened, but originally it was bounded by a handrail with square pickets.15   Below the level of the wooden porch floor, the brick piers have been infilled with masonry blocks. The front elevation is three bays wide, with the original front door centered between 3/2 double-hung sash windows. These 3/2 windows are also found on the east and west elevations and appear to be a merger of the 3/1 style window that might have been typical on a Craftsman Style Bungalow, with a 2/2 or 1/1 window typical for the Queen Anne Style. The front door contains a single large plate-glass light, stylish for a farmhouse and typical of the Queen Anne Style. The front door’s architrave trim is fluted, with decorative starter blocks and rosettes; this same door trim is used in the interior of the house. Window trim is limited to a decorative drip edge crowning the head trim. Other architectural elements of the front porch include a beaded-board ceiling, decorative crown trim, and molded corner boards.

The east and west sections of the wrap-around porch originally terminated in two additional door openings, set back from the front of the house, giving the house a total width of five bays. On the east side, part of the porch has been enclosed for storage. On the west side the original fenestration is intact. The door here has the same architrave trim found around the front door and features dental trim under a single plate-glass light. In keeping with its less prominent position, the glass in this door is smaller than the glass in the front door.

The principal section of the house is two rooms deep with the porch surrounding the front rooms. The house’s foundation originally consisted of brick piers, which have now been infilled with masonry blocks. The house’s clapboard siding was nailed directly to the studs, without employing any type of sheathing. On the front section of the house, the hipped roof has a very short ridgeline parallel to the front elevation. A generous eave overhang protects the house, which may be partly responsible for the generally good condition of the Grier house’s woodwork. Supporting the overhangs are exposed rafter tails that were cut with a decorative cove and rounded on the ends. The edge of the exposed roof sheathing is capped with copper.

A low but prominent hipped-roof dormer protrudes from the roof, centered over the engaged porch. Wooden louvered vents flank a long rectangular window opening, now filled by a piece of painted plywood. Originally, four small windows, or perhaps a single 4-light sash, sat between the vents, illuminating the attic.16   Two interior chimneys rise near the very short front roof ridge.

Another significant feature of the house is a shallow three sided cut-away bay covered by a small gable, located on the west side of the house adjacent to the west section of the wrap-around porch. The small gable is decorated with curved-cut bargeboards and small brackets. Though subtle, the bay disrupts the generally symmetrical layout of the house, and contrasts with the strictly symmetrical porch and front fenestration.

On the east side of the house, opposite the bay, two 3/2 windows are paired. Just past these windows, and just beyond the bay on the east side, the front section of the house ends. Set back slightly from the east and west elevations, a hipped-roof wing, one room deep, extends from the rear of the house.

Attached to the rear wing is a hipped-roof addition that may incorporate an earlier rear porch. The many windows on this small rear addition are not original to the house. On the west elevation it appears that one of the original and unique 3/2 windows was moved from the rear wing to the rear addition, and replaced with a much smaller window. The house’s owner indicates that this was an early change made to accommodate kitchen cabinets, as the kitchen was up-fitted.

The interior of the house retains a high degree of integrity. The original plaster walls are intact. The many interior doorways retain their decorative trim and horizontal panel doors with original hardware. Generous base and crown trim is still intact. Perhaps the most interesting interior features are the house’s two elaborate mantles. The elegant painted mantles each contain a large mirror panel, and both feature small elegant decorative classical columns.

A front gabled well house sits extremely close to the southwest corner of the rear addition. This very rustic small building may predate the house. Cedar tree trunks were used as posts to support a small porch that protects the wooden well-surround.

Various buildings, such as a chicken house, tools sheds, garages, equipment sheds, a corncrib, and perhaps a cotton house, were built near the rear of the house. A small ca. 1935 side-gabled frame house, covered with German siding, sits just to the west of the Grier House. This small house was built by Sidney Grier for one of his children.17   Set back on the edge of a field behind the Grier House, is a substantial front-gabled early 20^th century barn. The barn features an extremely well ventilated loft. The top two courses of siding under the eaves were spaced far apart, to allow for cooler air to be drawn into the hot hayloft. Hot air could exit out simple vents in the gables, or through a large square cupola.

Significance of the architectural features

The most distinctive architectural feature of the Grier House is the engaged wrap-around front porch. Its size and degree of finish with decorative millwork is indicative of the importance placed on that part of a house before WWII, before the advent of home air conditioning and television. A porch closely integrated into the design of the house is an identifying characteristic of both the Bungalow Form and the Craftsman Style. Other Craftsman/Bungalow elements found on the Grier House include the tapered half-height posts set on tall brick piers, the exposed rafter ends, the 3-light upper sashes, and the low but broad dormer.

The Bungalow form emphasized the horizontal and a general symmetry, unlike the verticality and asymmetrical massing of the Queen Anne Style. And while the Victorians relied on elaborate scroll-sawn woodwork, the Craftsman Style often employed simple, understated, sometimes rustic decoration. According to Catherine Bisher:

“Bungalows suited North Carolina’s needs and habits. They were cheaply and easily built. They ranged in size and elaboration to accommodate all economic levels, and they communicated a message of simplicity, unpretentious coziness, and modernity. Their characteristic broad eaves and deep porch fit the climate…”18

So it is not surprising that the City of Charlotte contains large numbers of bungalows in the Dilworth, Third Ward, and Elizabeth Neighborhoods.19   The Bungalow Form transcended racial and economic divisions, with examples also found as mill houses20  and in the historically blue-collar African American Cherry Neighborhood.21   In the affluent Myers Park Neighborhood, the effects of the Bungalow Form and the Craftsman Style can be seen in the 1915 George Stephens House. Perhaps Charlotte’s best known example is the 1914 Van Landingham Estate or Harwood, designed by Architect C. C. Hook for Susie Harwood and Ralph Van Landingham in the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood.22   Good collections of bungalows can also be found in the small towns of Mecklenburg County. In Cornelius the bungalow is the prominent house type found lining Old Statesville Road as it runs toward Davidson.

In rural Mecklenburg County, however, bungalow farmhouses are not common. Most of the county’s farmhouses were constructed from 1865 to 1900 during the post-Civil War cotton boom and before the Bungalow Form and the Craftsman Style became popular.23   One example of a surviving bungalow farmhouse is the Jesse Washam House, near Huntersville. In 1910 influential designer Gustav Stickly declared that a bungalow should be “a house reduced to its simplest form,” and indeed the builder of the Washam House avoided unnecessary decoration.²⁴  The Washam House, with its wide eaves, exposed rafter tails and tapered porch columns, could be called a “typical” Craftsman bungalow. The Grier House, while sharing all of those architectural elements, is far from a typical bungalow.

As with many vernacular houses, the Grier House is a hybrid. The influence of the Queen Anne Style can be clearly seen in the decorative moldings on the front porch, with the very same trim details, (fluted trim, rosette corner blocks, and decorative starter-blocks,) found on the earlier 1903 Thomas Alexander Farmhouse, located on Sharon Lane in Charlotte, which is itself a hybrid of the Queen Anne and Neo-classical.25  And while the Grier House’s form is bungaloid, the three-window bay located on the west elevation and the slight asymmetry the bay gives the house, are both elements of the Queen Anne Style.

One cannot say why the Grier House is a hybrid. It is possible that the mixing of the Queen Anne and Craftsman Styles was a result of a slow diffusion of popular ideas from urban to rural areas. Perhaps in the countryside, the Victorian aesthetic came late and stayed later, even as popular new house forms such as the bungalow were adapted. Perhaps personal taste or even availability of materials played a part. Regardless, the Grier House provides an important glimpse of how and when these different architectural styles influenced rural buildings in Mecklenburg County.

Endnotes:

1 The first facility in Mecklenburg County devoted exclusively to the spinning of cotton fiber was the Glenroy Cotton Mill.  See Dan L. Morrill, “A Survey Of Cotton Mills In Charlotte And Mecklenburg County For The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, July 1997.  The supporting evidence for the establishment of the Glenroy Cotton mill is found in an article that appeared in the Charlotte Daily Observer on January 16, 1900.  It identifies “G. S.” Grier as a co-founder with his father, E. C. Grier.  This was most likely Julius Solomon Grier. Leaders of Mecklenburg County were eager to see a cotton mill established.  For articles dealing with this subject, see Charlotte Daily Observer (February 21, March 4, April 2, July 16, 26, September 5, October 18, 25, 1874).  For an obituary article on E. C. Grier, see Charlotte Daily Observer (April 9, 1885).  In commenting on the death of E. C. Grier, the newspaper stated that “in his death our county loses a good man.”

2. 2. Slave transactions were recorded in Deed Book 3, pgs: 26, 565. 569, 662, 751, 824, 868; Book 4, pgs: 73,328; Book 8-370. Real Estate transactions were recorded in Deed Book 3, pgs: 584, 754, Book 4-74, Book 6, pgs: 10, 289, 371, 323, 370, Book 28-553, and Book 48, pgs: 554, 555,560, 561. Mecklenburg County Court House.
3. U.S. Census of the Population, 1870. Mecklenburg County. E. C. Grier was the sheriff of Mecklenburg County from 1854 until 1860 and was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives during the Civil War.
4. Nancy Grier Miller, daughter of Gerald and Florence Grier, states that information about the genealogy of the family is found in Dellman O. Hood, The Tunis Hood Family, Its Lineage and Traditions. Portland Oregon: Metropolitan Press, 1960.  John Grier (c.1750-1841), E. C. Grier’s grandfather, was the patriarch of  the Mecklenburg line of the Grier family, and was probably a descendant of James Grier who emigrated to Virginia from Scotland in the early eighteenth century. The 1790 census of Mecklenburg County lists John Grier as a resident of District 18. He owned the Grier Mine in Mecklenburg County.
5. U.S. Census. Agricultural Schedules, 1870. Mecklenburg County.
6. Mecklenburg County Court House.
7. Ibid.
8. Deed Book 14-365. Mecklenburg County Court House.
9. Deeds 60-116; 62-2; 132-109; 156-667; 173-546; 174-614. Mecklenburg County Court House.
10. Deed Book 44 pgs: 29, 31, 32, 33, 26, 39, 43, 118, 119, 160, 161.  J.S. Grier sometimes operated through the auspices of J.S. Grier and Brother, which in April and May of 1885 issued 11 crop liens, and in1891-1892, J.S. Grier operated through J.S. Grier and Company, issuing mortgage deeds and crop liens. According to public record, he conducted most of his credit activities as an individual, and the loans he extended ranged from $40.00 to $700.00.
11. Carolyn Frances Hoffman, The Development of Town and Country: Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, 1850-1880. Ph. D. Dissertation, 1988, pp. 155-161.
12. ibid., p. 159. In Mecklenburg County in 1871, cotton sold for 21.5 cents per pound, but by 1880, local cotton buyers paid 11 cents per pound.
13. U.S. Census. Agricultural Schedules, 1880. Mecklenburg County
14. Interview with Nancy Grier Miller, 3-28-02.
15. ibid
16. ibid
17. ibid
18. Catherine Bishir, North Carolina Architecture, University of North Carolina Press, 1990, p. 426.
19. Dr. Thomas W. Hanchett, “Charlotte Architecture: Design Through Time,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Landmarks Commission.

20 .ibid.

21. Christina Wright and Dr. Dan Morrill, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Tours, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Preservation Fund, 1994, p. 14.
22. ibid, p.18.
23. Emily Ramsey and Lara Ramsey, “Survey and Research Report on the Jesse and Mary K. Washam Farm,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, 2002.  For a comprehensive overview of rural historic places in Mecklenburg County, see Sherry J. Joines and Dr. Dan L. Morrill, “Historic Rural Resources in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina,” an unpublished manuscript prepared in 1998 for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.
24. John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chamber, Jr. and Nancy B. Schwartz, What Style is it? A Guide to American Architecture, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1983, p. 76.
25. Mary Beth Gatza, “Survey and Research Report on the Thomas Alexander House,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, 1997.

THE E. B. GRESHAM HOUSE

 

This report was written on December 7, 1983

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the E. B. Gresham House is located at 724 Edgehill Road, 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. Kwan Pang Lau and wife Myra C.
724 Edgehill Road
Charlotte, N. C. 28207

Telephone: (704) 377-9263

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 3952 at page 515. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is: 155-042-08.

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

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description of the property prepared by Miss Lisa A. Stamper.

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 cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the E. B. Gresham House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the E. B. Gresham House, built in 1924-25 by restaurateur E. B. Gresham and probably designed by Louis Asbury, noted Charlotte architect, is a distinctive example of the Bungalow style of architecture and contributes significantly to the architectural variety of Myers Park; 2) the E. B. Gresham House exhibits an interesting and rare effort in Charlotte-Mecklenburg to integrate country cottage features into a bungalow; and 3) the E. B. Gresham House has experienced minimal alterations over the years.

b. Integrity of design setting workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission contends that the attached architectural description by Miss Lisa A. Stamper demonstrates that the E. B. Gresham House meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes “historic property.” The current appraised value of the .494 acres of land is $22,000. The current appraised value of the improvements is $147,190. The total current appraised value is $169,190. The property is zoned R12.

Date of Preparation of this Report: December 7, 1983

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill, Director
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
1225 South Caldwell Street, Box D
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203

Telephone: 704/376-9115

 

 

Historical Overview

 

Dr. William H. Huffman
August, 1983

The E. B. Gresham house on Edgehill Road in Myers Park is unquestionably one of the more unusual houses of its style in Charlotte. Built by Edwin Beverly Gresham (1878-1968) and his wife, Nettle Dowd Gresham (1880-1945), in 1924-5, its setting overlooking Edgehill Park reflects a comfortable style of suburban living of the 1920’s, and the unique architectural features of its stonework and imitation thatched roof suggest owners who wished to combine solidity in a contemporary home with a taste for the out-of-the-ordinary. E. B. Gresham, who was a Virginia native, married Nettle Dowd, the daughter of Capt. J. C. and Henrietta Rives Dowd of Charlotte, on October 17, 1899, when he was twenty-two and she nineteen.¹ By the early 1920’s, E. B. Gresham, a graduate of Wake Forest, had become a department manager for the J. B. Ivey Company. The couple, with their son E. B. Gresham, Jr., who was studying for a career in law, lived on East Boulevard in Dilworth until about 1924, when they temporarily took up residence at 611 Hermitage Road in Myers Park.² The latter address, at the corner of Hermitage and Ardsley Roads and one short block south of Edgehill, had previously been the home of John H. Cutter, a prominent real estate investor-developer and cotton broker.³

Myers Park, one of Charlotte’s early streetcar suburbs, was originally developed by businessman George Stephens, whose father-in-law, John Springs Myers, provided his 1200-acre farm for the Stephens Company project. From 1912, when the streetcar line was opened down Providence and Queens Roads to Queens College, through the Teens and Twenties, a number of homes were built in Myers Park, which was laid out by landscape architects John Nolen and Earl S. Draper.⁴ Some of these homes, such as the H. M. Wade house (1928-31) at 530 Hermitage Road and the Duke mansion just down the street, are among the grandest ever built in Charlotte, but around nearby Edgehill Park, the homes are those of middle class professionals, managers and small business owners of the time.⁵ Next door to the Greshams on Hermitage lived Adolph C. Thies, the brother of Oscar J. Thies, who was the president of the Thies-Smith Realty Company and a real estate developer-investor.⁶ Perhaps it was the Greshams’ neighbor who put them in touch with Thies-Smith, for in July, 1924, the company took out a building permit to construct a seven-room house for them on Edgehill Road.⁷ The estimated cost of the dwelling, $15,000, was unusually high for a one-story house of the time, but, considering its many special features which required both non-standard materials and the skilled craftsmanship to shape and fit the stone and roofwork, it is understandable. The Greshams had purchased the half-acre lot on May 7, 1924 for $6,500, and six days later Mr. Gresham applied for a permit for a water connection.⁸

The property had originally been sold by the Stephens Company to Mary A. Allen, the wife of Paul H. Allen, for $1500 in 1912, but had not been built on. In January, 1924, M. G. and Myrtle Knox bought the tract for $6000, but sold it the next month to J. J. and Nancy Akers for the same price. Less than three months later, it was owned by the Greshams.⁹ Although the delay of two months between the purchase of the land and the taking out of a building permit is not altogether unusual, it may help shed some light on the possible identity of the architect. When Thies-Smith was chosen as the builder of the house and applied for a building permit, no architect was listed on the application. A checkmark appears in the space provided for that information, which suggests that one had not yet been chosen. Thies-Smith used several Charlotte architects for the houses they built, including Louis Asbury, William Peeps, Fred Bonfoey and Franklin Gordon.¹⁰ While it has not been possible to determine the architect with complete certainty, there is an entry in Louis Asbury’s job book for March, 1925 which notes that he designed a bungalow for Thies-Smith.¹¹ Of the over twelve hundred structures, great and small, designed by Louis Asbury in his nearly fifty-year career in Charlotte, only nine are listed as bungalows, and two of those were for Thies-Smith.¹² Thus it was unusual for him to design that style of house, but he would have been a good choice if one wanted something unique.

The son of Charlotte home builder S. J. and Martha Moody Asbury, Louis (1877-1975) graduated from Trinity College (now Duke University) in 1900, and then studied architecture at MIT. When he returned, he became the first Charlotte native to be a professionally-trained architect. Among the important designs in Charlotte to come from his office are the J. P. Carr house (1909), the old County Court House (1928), the First National Bank Building (1915), the Law Building (1926), Myers Park Methodist Church (1928), the old Eferds Department Store (1922), the Garibaldi and Bruns store (1909), and the residences of Charles Moody (1913), J. B. Ivey (1914), O. J. Thies (1921) and many others. Altogether, Asbury executed twenty-two commissions for Thies-Smith between 1917 and 1928.¹³ Clearly, he was an architect of great versatility and skill.

The Gresham house incorporates some distinct design features which make it one-of-a-kind in the neighborhood. The exterior walls and porch columns are eighteen inches thick and made from granite cut to fit on the site. Facing the house, one sees the large, open front porch offset to the right, and on the left is the gracefully curved front corner of the living room, which has a continuous span of leaded glass windows hand-crafted to fit the rounded space. For added strength, 4 x 10 inch sill (wall) girders were employed in the construction.¹⁴ In addition to the handsome marble mantlepiece in the living room, the other striking feature of the house is the shape of the roof, for which special framing techniques had to be used to achieve the rounded look of a thatched roof. About the time the house was being built in 1925, E. B. Gresham went into business for himself and opened a cafe on Statesville Avenue.¹⁵ Four years later, in November, 1929, the Greshams sold the stone bungalow to George B. and Lily Wray Cabaniss,¹⁶ and moved to Greensboro, where Mr. Gresham again went into the restaurant business. Nettle and E. B. Gresham remained in Greensboro, she passing away there in 1945 and he in 1968 at the age of 90.¹⁷ George Cabaniss (1866-1937) and his wife Lily (d. 1940), who had a women’s clothing business on West Trade Street and lived on Hawthorne Lane, never lived in the house, but rented it to various tenants from 1929 to 1937.¹⁸

In the latter year, the Cabanisses gave the house to their daughter Martha (1909-1977) on March 25, which was the day of her wedding to Ernest F. Young, Jr. (1904-1975). Ernest Young, who was head of the insurance firm he co-founded, Davis and Young, Inc., and Martha lived in the house and raised their two sons, Ernest and Barnett, there for forty-some years until they passed away. About twenty five years ago, they added on a large panelled room with bath to the rear of the house.¹⁹ In the mid-seventies, Kwan Pang Lau, a native of mainland China and then Taiwan after the communist takeover in 1949 and now an engineer for Duke Power Co., used to ride his bicycle by the stone bungalow on Edgehill, but could not see it because of the overgrowth of shrubbery. On one occasion, he stopped to see a friend who had bought and was refurbishing the house next door, and for the first time he saw that it was a stone house with unusual design. Thus when he saw it advertised for sale in 1977 following the death of Martha Young, he eagerly rushed to put down a deposit to buy the house he had admired earlier. The present owners, Kwan Pang Lau and his wife, Myra Clontz Lau, a native Carolinian, have spent many hours carefully reconditioning the house to restore and preserve its main features while modernizing where necessary, including landscaping. Thus will a sturdy house of unusual design be kept as part of Charlotte’s architectural heritage, a house which stems from and reflects the solidity of the growth and prosperity of the Twenties and thereby became a landmark of Myers Park.²⁰

 

 

---

NOTES

¹ Mecklenburg County Record of Marriages, 1899.

² Charlotte City Directories, 1922-24; Greensboro Daily News, Aug. 16, 1968, p. 4D.

³ Interview with John H. Cutter III, 15 Feb. 1983.

⁴ “The New South Neighborhoods: Myers Park,” Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission, May, 1981.

⁵ Charlotte City Directory, 1923/4, p. 1048.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Building Permit No. 5323, 3 July 1924.

⁸ Deed Book 533, p. 532, 7 May 1924.

⁹ Deed Book 409, p. 40, 25 June 1919; Deed Book 525, p. 220, 29 Jan. 1924; Deed Book 518, p. 599, 12 Feb. 1924.

¹⁰ Interview with Frank Thies, Charlotte, N.C., 2 August 1983.

¹¹ Louis Asbury Papers #4237, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Job no. 605, 26 March 1925.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Ibid.; information on file at Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission.

¹⁴ See note 7.

¹⁵ Charlotte City Directory, 1925, p. 422.

¹⁶ Deed Book 760, p. 173, 12 Nov. 1929.

¹⁷ Greensboro Daily News, Aug. 16, 1968, p. 4D; Charlotte News, Oct. 17, 1945, p. 3A.

¹⁸ Charlotte City Directories, 1929-37.

¹⁹ Deed Book 912, p. 184, 25 March 1937; interview with Ernest F. Young, Jr., Charlotte, N.C. 5 August 1983.

²⁰ Interview with Kwan Pang Lau and Myra Clontz Lau, Charlotte, N.C. 30 July 1983.

 

 

Architectural Description

 

By Lisa Stamper

Overlooking the serene Edgehill Park in the prestigious Myers Park neighborhood, the E.B. Gresham House is a very unique stone home in an area characterized by large, formal Tudor Revival residences. Not only is the home’s Bungalow Style unusual to the area, but it is also a unique variation of the style itself. Built in 1924-25, possibly by a prominent architect in the area. Louis Asbury (see Dr. William Huffman’s historical sketch), the E.B. Gresham House is today very much like its original interior and exterior condition. This charming home is one-story high, with a half-basement and full attic. A covered front porch is located on its southeastern corner. A rear, one-story rectangular clapboard addition with a flat roof has been built on the northeastern corner of the house. The addition is not obviously visible from the street and changes little of the historic character of the dwelling. The interior plan is almost unaltered from the original.

The original portion of the house contains nine rooms: one kitchen, two bedrooms with connecting baths, and one master bedroom with bath. One foyer, the dining room, and the sunroom all are located at the front of the home. The other rooms are located on either side of a central hall which leads from the living room to the rear addition. The only alterations have been the removal of a wall between the kitchen of the master bath, and the creation of the kitchen, the remolding of the master bath, and the creation of the foyer beside the kitchen. Also, an addition was connected to the rear of the house which extended the hall and added a den with bath. A simple wooden central stair is located to the eastern front side of the central hall. The stair leads up to the attic and down to the basement. The railing is simply constructed with only slight decoration of straight lines.

The interior seems delicate compared to the massiveness of the exterior. Almost all original doors and their fixtures are intact along with original doors and original light fixtures. A unique lighting fixture of this building is that the closets have individual light fixtures which automatically turn on the closet light when one opens the door. Most of the original simple molding is present well as the wainscoting, except one in one bedroom which was painted after a fire gutted it. The living room contains a delicate light and dark colored marble mantle. Many of the original bathroom fixtures are still used. The kitchen still contains original cabinets in what was once the breakfast room. Wooden floors are still intact. The attic is made of pine flooring, ceiling and paneled walls. The structure of the roof is hidden behind the simple pine wood paneling. A cedar closet was most probably used to store clothing, etc. The door to the closet contained five horizontal panels. A small trap door with a simple wooden ladder allows one to climb onto the roof. The half-basement shows that the foundation is made of brick. It has a concrete floor. Several brick walls create small spaces which might have been used as servants’ rooms or storage of some sort. An original toilet and large concrete on metal legs double-sink which was used by the servants have not been removed from the basement. An arched opening leads to the stairs that rise to the exterior. Originally, the E.B. Gresham House was heated by a coal burning boiler located in the basement. It was removed when a central air unit was installed. The radiator in the kitchen is still intact, but the others were removed. Most of their decorative metal coverings are stored in the basement.

This Bungalow Style home was meant to look like an informal, quaint, cottage that one might stumble across in the European countryside. This theme is expressed through the overall irregular shape of the building, which is very “organic” looking. The roof-line is the dominant feature that creates the organic, natural appearance. It expresses this theme both in its shape and materials. Moreover, it shows uninhibited creativity of the architect and excellent craftsmanship of the builder. The roof contains an attic and covers the whole of the original dwelling, including the front porch. The middle of the roof is flat with an irregular shape which corresponds with the plan, but this is not apparent from street level. The roof curves in a convex manner down from its flat part over the wide eaves, hiding the gutters. Not only does the roof curve in a somewhat vertical direction, but it also curves horizontally to conform to the irregular shape of the building. Also, the wide eaves of the front facade allow warming sunlight into the interior through the leaded glass windows in the winter, while shading the windows from the high, hot sun during the summer months. In the center of the front of the roof, four adjacent windows were created to allow light into the attic. Each window has six panes of glass. A curved, wooden framed opening in the roof surrounds and decorates these windows. On the southwestern part of the roof, an enclosed granite chimney breaks through the organic roofline. The chimney is rectangular and tapered to be smaller at the top than at the bottom.

The roof shape was created by placing convex curved pieces of wood on top of 4″ x 10″ beams radiating diagonally from the corners this structure forming irregular, horizontal bands which emphasized the natural curves. The cedar was painted a dark green color, probably to simulate moss. This gave the home the romantic ambiance of a “moss covered stone” European dwelling. Today, black tarred shingles cover the cedar shingles. It is not certain how many layers of roofing material lay in between: maybe one or two. Even though the newer covering changes the color and texture of the original roof, it does not alter the shape. The Bungalow Style building is characterized by the use of natural materials. In this case, granite was used to construct the main portion of the house. The granite, probably from a quarry in Winnsboro, S.C., was cut on the site into massive, irregular-shaped eighteen inch thick blocks. The front facade seems to be composed of three sections: the covered irregular shaped porch to the southeast, the curved middle section, and the rectangular southwest corner. Sandstone steps lead up to either side of the quarry tiled porch floor form the driveway and the front walk. Three massive granite piers, squarish and tapered like the chimney, support the attic and roof above the porch. Decorative but simple woodwork with brackets embellish the porch’s roofline.

Also, simple wooden balustrade around the perimeter of the porch is complementary to the design but is not original. Two doors lead from the porch to the interior. A double-door allows one to enter into the dining room and a single door leads one into a window. The porch and southwest portion of the house is connected by a curved wall. This wall contains seven rectangular leaded glass windows which open vertically by a brass interior crank on the curve of the wall, but they all appear to be of the same dimensions. The rectangular southwestern section contains a double door which enters into a small studio/sunroom. Steps lead from the ground level to a small platform in front of the door. The roof provides a connecting element for these three different sections of facade which is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The western facade contains four wooden framed windows, and one metal framed window. The wooden framed windows are original. The are double-sashed windows which have six-over-one lights. The other has one-over-one light. The eastern facade has five windows with one-over-one lights. Although these windows have metal frames and are newer, the are patterned after the original wooden framed windows at the rear. Two of the adjacent windows are smaller than the others because they let light in above the sink in the kitchen. Near the rear, a couple of steps lead up to a door which enters into a foyer beside the kitchen. An original set of metal benches connected by a round arched trellis sits outside the doorway. To the north of this door is a set of stairs which lead down to the half-basement. Presently the opening to these stairs is covered with plywood boards. The rear of the house is halfway covered by a one-story mid-1950’s addition. The northeast half has two-double-sashed one-over-one light windows. One window is original and the other has been replaced to match.

Although the building has had a few alterations over the years, the surrounding site has had many. The back portion of the property is now fenced. The driveway used to run from the road, by the eastern side of the home, and around to the back where a two-story, two-car garage was located. According to the present owners, the garage had apartments in its second-story, possible for servants. The rear portion of the drive has been altered, but almost all of the foundation plantings are original. The bushes in front of the curved part of the front facade have been removed along with the bushes which lined the front wall. The E.B. Gresham House is still in its original location, in basically its original condition, and in the surroundings for which it was designed. It is an excellent example of how an older building can be comfortably adapted to modern living without destroying its historic significance. It is a very unique and well-thought out product of the mid-1920’s and 1930’s innovative architectural thought. Charlotte cannot afford to lose nor ignore this home because of these beneficial traits. This dwelling’s excellent construction, its unique qualities, and its rare form add a refreshing contrast to the formal atmosphere of its Myers Park neighborhood.

Dr. Robert H. Greene House S&R