Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission

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Grand Theater

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Grand Theater

  1. Name and location of the property:  The property known as the Grand Theater is located at 333 Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte, North Carolina.  UTM Coordinates:  17 512994E 3900175N

 

  1. Name, address, and telephone number of the current owner of the property:

 

The current owner of the property is:

 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission

2100 Randolph Road

Charlotte, NC 28207

 

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

 

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

 

 

  1. Current deed book reference to the property:  The most recent deed to the property is found in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 10228, page 458.  The tax parcel number for the property is 069-011-16.  The property is zoned B-1.

 

  1. A brief historical sketch of the property:  This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Emily Ramsey and Lara Ramsey.

 

  1. A brief architectural description of the property:  This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Emily Ramsey and Lara Ramsey.

 

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

 

  1. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance.  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission judges that the Grand Theater has special significance in terms of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:
  2. The Grand Theater is the only movie theater surviving in Mecklenburg County that served African Americans exclusively during the period of racial segregation known as the Jim Crow era.
  3. The Grand Theater is a tangible reminder of the system of segregation enforced throughout the South during the first half of the twentieth century.
  4. The Grand Theater is an integral part of Biddleville, Charlotte’s oldest surviving black neighborhood and home to Johnson C. Smith University, Mecklenburg County’s only black college.
  5. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association.  The Commission contends that the architectural description prepared by Emily Ramsey and Lara Ramsey demonstrates that the Grand Theater meets this criterion.

 

  1. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal:  The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an immediate deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes a designated “local historic landmark.”  The current appraised value of the Grand Theater is $90,970.  The current appraised value of the property’s 0.133 acres of land is $10,440.

 

Date of Preparation of this Report:

 

February 12, 2002

 

Prepared By:

 

Emily Ramsey and Lara Ramsey

2436 N. Albany Ave., Apt. 1

Chicago, IL 60647

 

Statement of Significance

The Grand Theater

333 Beatties Ford Road

Charlotte, NC 28216

Summary

 

The Grand Theater, located at 333 Beatties Ford Road, is a property that possesses local historic significance as a tangible reminder of the system of racial segregation that divided white and black in the South from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, and as an integral part of the Biddleville community, Charlotte’s oldest black neighborhood and the home of Johnson C. Smith University.  During the first half of the twentieth century, African Americans throughout the South labored, ate, slept and worshipped under the watchful eye of Jim Crow.  The failure of Reconstruction in the 1870s had opened the door for white southerners to form a rigid, legalized system of segregation that would remain in place in many Southern states until the late 1960s. Black residents of Mecklenburg County had, by the early 1920s, been largely disfranchised, relegated to second class citizenship, and separated, physically and psychologically, from the county’s white population by a rapidly increasing bulk of state and local discriminatory and segregation laws and regulations, coupled with the countless unwritten codes prescribing separation of the races in almost every possible circumstance.  The construction of separate movie theaters for blacks and whites began in Charlotte in the early 1920s and continued until the early 1960s.  The Grand Theater, which opened in 1937 and served only African American moviegoers until its closing in 1967, is a prime example of the way in which Jim Crow laws shaped the city’s built environment during the first half of the twentieth century.

Even as Jim Crow laws continually narrowed the avenues of opportunity for African Americans in the South, African Americans in Charlotte nevertheless managed to build and cultivate thriving, diverse and closely-knit communities centered around black-owned-and-operated businesses, schools, and churches.  The oldest of these all-black communities, Biddleville, located at the five-pointed intersection of West Trade Street, West Fifth Street, Rozelles Ferry Road, and Beatties Ford Road, was also one of the area’s most prestigious African American enclaves because of its association with Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University), Mecklenburg County’s only institute of higher learning for African American students.  As one of the only sources of public entertainment open to African Americans in Biddleville during the Jim Crow era and as a tangible reminder of the self-sufficiency of Charlotte’s early African American communities, the Grand Theater remains an integral part of the Biddleville neighborhood.

Architecturally, the Grand Theater is significant as the only movie theaters surviving in Mecklenburg County that served African Americans exclusively during the Jim Crow era.  Of the five black movie theaters built in Charlotte between 1920 and 1960, the Grand Theater is the only physical reminder of the limited entertainment options open to African Americans during segregation. Although the building functioned primarily as a movie house between 1937 and 1967, the structure known as the Grand Theater also housed small front businesses (most often a barber shop or hair salon) and upstairs apartment spaces, which helped to keep the building economically viable when movie sales were slow.

Historical Context and Background Statement

Life for African Americans in Charlotte and throughout the South during the first half of the twentieth century was largely shaped and severely circumscribed by a rigid system of racial segregation known as “Jim Crow.”  Although Emancipation had come to black slaves in 1865, the promises of the Reconstruction era – true political, social, and economic equality for all African Americans – failed to materialize during the post war period.  The last decades of the nineteenth century, following the withdrawal of federal troops from the South in 1877, proved particularly disheartening for African Americans, as the hopes of Reconstruction gave way to an increasingly hostile, restrictive, and racially segregated environment.  With its landmark decision in the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson case, the Supreme Court officially sanctioned and substantiated the Southern principle that “legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts” and that “separate but equal” facilities would be sufficient to ensure adequate civil rights for black citizens.1

With the federal government no longer a hindrance, Southern states, including North Carolina, moved quickly to construct a system of segregation that would minimize contact between white and black, and set up strict rules of conduct for any instances where contact might occur.  Jim Crow laws prescribing racial segregation in housing, on buses and trains, in restaurants, stores, hospitals, theaters, public restrooms and waiting areas, were adopted throughout the South in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.  North Carolina passed its first Jim Crow law, requiring segregation in passenger trains, in 1899; by the early 1920s, the state had passed Jim Crow laws requiring separate libraries and textbooks for blacks and whites, laws setting up segregated militias, and a law requiring segregated waiting areas in bus and train stations.2

In Charlotte, New South leaders and pillars of the white community, sure that the efforts of the liberal and racially diverse Populist Party would lead to the destruction of the community that they had created and which they continued to control, had worked tirelessly in the 1890s to strip African Americans of their civil rights (including the right to vote), while creating rifts between African Americans and poor whites within the Populist Party.3  This “two-pronged attack” was particularly successful, and by 1907, when voter turnout dropped dramatically all over the South, New South leaders like D. A. Tompkins, Edward Dilworth Latta, and their “affluent cohorts” had effectively begun the Jim Crow system of segregation in Charlotte.4

Jim Crow laws not only dictated how African Americans could act, what they could and could not do, in the public sphere; they also worked to shape the built environment of African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century.  As historian Thomas Hanchett explains, “by the early 1920s” most Charlotteans  “resided in a patch-work pattern of self-contained neighborhoods, each distinct in its developer-devised street system and each largely homogeneous in its racial and economic makeup.”5  Most African Americans resided in Brooklyn (First and Second Ward), Third Ward, Fourth Ward, or in a series of small communities, including Cherry, Greenville, Irwinville, and Biddleville, that formed a ring of villages around the city.6   Although Biddleville, the oldest of Charlotte’s black neighborhoods, was already a thriving small village by the time Jim Crow laws began forming segregated communities within the city, it became a haven for Charlotte’s African American elite during the age of Jim Crow.  As the home of Johnson C. Smith University, the only institution of higher learning for African Americans in Mecklenburg County, Biddleville attracted not only students, professors, and alumni, but also a large number of middle class families “who wanted to raise their children in an intellectual atmosphere.”7  Like most African Americans in Charlotte, members of the Biddleville neighborhood reacted to the constraints and limitations of segregation by turning inward and focusing on their own community.  As local historian Wanda Hendricks explains:

Despite the attempts to suppress their struggle for equality, black Charlotteans were proud of their southern and American heritage.  Many refused to join the great wave of black migrants seeking better economic opportunity in northern cities.  Instead, they defied the systematic usurpation of their civil rights by creating and maintaining a separate existence socially, culturally, and often economically. Black neighborhoods became the social, economic and political centers for African American Charlotteans.8

 

In the late 1920s, the recently renamed Johnson C. Smith University and the surrounding Biddleville area experienced a period of unprecedented growth.   In 1928, Samuel M. Pharr opened a small two-story brick commercial building on the corner of Beatties Ford Road and Mill Road, just steps from the JCS campus in the heart of Biddleville.  The building contained space for retail in the front, with two small storefronts, and a theater space in the rear on the first floor.  The second floor was reserved for apartments.  The Pharr building, as it was initially known, housed a succession of unsuccessful tenants in its first years.  In 1929, the Charlotte City Directory listed the Pearl Theater and two lunch counter establishments in the building; by the next year, the theater was gone (a victim, perhaps, of the plummeting economy in the wake of the Great Depression) and the storefront was occupied by Johnston’s Café.9  In 1935, Samuel Pharr filed for bankruptcy and his building at 333 Beatties Ford Road was sold at auction to T. C. Wilson for $9,000.10

Wilson fared better than Pharr with the building.  In 1937, the Grand Theater opened on the ground level of the building, with Morris Nuger as general manager.  The movie theater was an instant success, thanks in large part to its close proximity to the thriving university.  “Most of our audience were students from Johnson C. Smith,” recalled Eloise Taylor, who worked as a ticket seller at the Grand. “They always came to the late shows and other specials.”11  As one of the larger black movie theaters in the area (reportedly showing to audiences as large as 500 people), the Grand theater attracted crowds to almost every show, with movies running from one o’clock in the afternoon to nine o’clock at night, seven days a week.  Unlike the Lincoln Theater in Brooklyn, the Grand showed “A-rating movies” such as Gone With the Wind, which Taylor remembered as being particularly popular among audiences at the Grand.  On Saturday, the theater showed mainly westerns.12

The success of the Grand Theater reflected the increasingly insular and self-sufficient nature of African American communities during Jim Crow. In the early years of Jim Crow, segregation in movie theaters did not usually extend to separate facilities for white and black; more often, movie theaters simply designated certain sections of their seating as being for “whites only” and others (most often the less desirable rear or balcony seating) for “colored” patrons.   By the 1920s and 1930s, however, many black communities in and around Charlotte had constructed movie theaters that catered exclusively to African American moviegoers.  Although these theaters were, on the whole, much more modest than theaters that served both races, and despite the fact that many, like the Lincoln Theater in Brooklyn (the first of the black theaters in Charlotte, which opened in 1930), showed “B” movies rather than the latest releases, Charlo0tte’s black movie theaters were wildly popular.  Movie theaters like the Grand Theater, along with the Lincoln and the Savoy (on South McDowell), were neighborhood establishments, convenient  places where African Americans could gather (sitting wherever they pleased) without being scrutinized or intimidated by white moviegoers. “It was important,” Hortense McKnight, who worked at the Lincoln Theater, remembered.   “[The movie theater] was the one place where mostly everyone would go and enjoy themselves.  There wasn’t a lot of other places we could go. It was the major form of entertainment that people looked forward to daily and on weekends.”13

The Grand Theater remained open throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, when the civil rights movement was in the process of dismantling the Jim Crow system of segregation in the South.  However, with newer and larger movie theaters now open to the Grand’s African American audiences, attendance declined in the 1960s.  Finally, in 1967, the Grand Theater, which had been a center of entertainment for Biddleville, closed its doors.  In the years following, the building housed several barber shops, beauty parlors, and a convenience store.  In the 1970s, the building was leased for a brief period by Johnson C. Smith University and used as a makeshift dormitory.14  The building, now known as “United Plaza,” currently houses a beauty supply store and a hair salon, and the upstairs apartments are still in use.

Architectural Significance and Context Statement

Architecturally, the Grand Theater is significant as the only movie theater remaining in Charlotte that catered exclusively to African Americans during the Jim Crow era, and as an integral part of the historically African American corridor along Beatties Ford Road.  The majority of the city’s black theaters were located in center city neighborhoods like Brooklyn.  During the 1960s, when Charlotte began its widespread plan for urban renewal, theaters like the Lincoln at 408 East 2nd Street and the Savoy Theater on South McDowell fell to the wrecking ball, along with hundreds of African American houses, churches, and businesses.  Because of its association with Johnson C. Smith University, and because of its location outside of Charlotte’s center city district, Biddleville escaped the destructive effects of urban renewal.  Today, area around Beatties Ford Road is one of the best places to see significant African American structures – not only Johnson C. Smith, but also the Excelsior Club, Mount Carmel Baptist Church (on nearby Campus Street) and the George E. Davis House (also on Campus Street) remain as reminders of the rich cultural heritage of the area.  In addition, Beatties Ford Road connects a large conglomeration of small African American communities, including Biddleville, Five-Points, McCrorey Heights, Wesley Heights, and others.  The Grand Theater’s prominent position on Beatties Ford Road makes it an integral part of this African American corridor.

The Grand Theater, a two-story, flat-roofed brick commercial building three bays wide by eight bays deep, is located on a sloping rectangular lot on the corner of Beatties Ford Road and Mill Road in the Biddleville neighborhood in north Charlotte.  The east-facing façade and the north elevation of the building are covered in a multi-colored face brick in running bond, while the south and rear elevations (secondary elevations) are  white brick, also in running bond.  The façade features original 6-over-1 windows on the second floor, but the storefront windows and the doors at the primary entrance have been replaced.  The original arched  doorway opening has been partially bricked in, and modern glass and metal doors have been installed. The metal cornice separating the first and second floors is original, and the Grand’s original marquee remains, although it is in an extremely deteriorated condition.  Five of the eight window openings on the north elevation have been replaced.  Despite these changes, the Grand Theater remains a highly significant property in view of the fact that it is the only African American movie theater remaining in Charlotte, and because of its place within the history of the Biddleville neighborhood.

 

1 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: 1974), 69-71.

2 Ibid, Thomas Hanchett, Sorting Out the New South City: Race, Class and Urban Development in Charlotte, 1875-1975 (Chapel Hill, 1998) 116-121.  Stephen Smith, Kate Ellis, and Sasha Aslanian, “Remembering Jim Crow,” (www.americanradioworks.org).

3 Hanchett, Sorting Out the New South City.

4 “A Review of Thomas W. Hanchett, Sorting Out the New South City: Race, Class, and Urban Development in Charlotte 1875-1975,” (www.cmhpf.org).

5 Hanchett, Sorting Out the New South City.

6 Thomas Hanchett, “Biddleville Five-Points,” essay for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission (www.cmhpf.org).

7 Ibid.

8 An African American Album, the Black Experience in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, 1992).

9 Charlotte City Directories, 1929-1932.

10 Mecklenburg County Deeds dated  January 7, 1935 listed in Deed Books 711, p. 296; 853, p. 290; and 860, p.213, located in the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds Office.

11 “Gone Today, Black Theatres Were the One Time ‘Place to Be,’” Charlotte Post, June 5, 1986 (clipping found in the Vertical Files of the Robinson Spangler North Carolina Room of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library).

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.  Charlotte City Directories, 1969-1980

Old Good Samaritan Hospital

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OLD GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL

This report was written on March 6, 1985

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Old Good Samaritan Hospital is located at 411 W. Hill Street in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2. Name, address, and telephone number of the present owner of the property:
The present owner is:
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority
Box 2554
Charlotte, NC 28234

Telephone: (704) 331-2141

The occupant is:
The Magnolias Rest Home
801 S. Graham St.
Charlotte, NC 28202

Telephone: (704) 331-3281

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

4. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 2257, Page 323. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is 073-135-07.

5. 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

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

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property by Lisa A. Stamper, edited and revised by Dr. Dan L. Morrill.

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 Old Good Samaritan Hospital does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the Old Good Samaritan Hospital is believed to be the first privately-funded, independent hospital in North Carolina to have been built exclusively for the treatment of blacks; 2) opening in 1891, Good Samaritan Hospital resulted from the great talents, skills, and energy of Jane Renwick Smedberg Wilkes (1827-1913), a leader in philanthropic activities in this community for more than fifty years; and 3) the Old Good Samaritan Hospital is the only surviving remnant of a once-flourishing black neighborhood in Third Ward.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission contends that the attached architectural description by Lisa A. Stamper demonstrates that portions of the Old Good Samaritan Hospital meet 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 2.535 acres of land is $110,410. The current appraised value of the improvements is $2,693,070. The total appraised value of the property is $2,803,480. The property is exempt from the payment of Ad Valorem taxes because of current use. The property is zoned I3.

Date of Preparation of this Report: March 6, 1985

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

Telephone: (704) 376-9115

 

 

Historical Overview

 

Dr. William H. Huffman & Thomas W. Hanchett

Hidden behind well-grown trees and shrubs, and dwarfed by later and more modern additions, the original Good Samaritan Hospital building still stands proudly in the middle of West Hill Street between Mint and Graham in Charlotte’s Third Ward. Indeed, the facility enjoys a historical uniqueness that seems to have been lost in modern debates on what to do with the site: it is believed to be the first private, independent hospital in North Carolina to have been built exclusively for the treatment of blacks.1

The hospital’s origins are rooted in the philosophy of the Episcopal Church and the determined efforts of a remarkable St. Peter’s parishioner, Jane Renwick Smedberg Wilkes (1827-1913). The daughter of Swedish industrialist Charles Gustav Smedberg and Isabella Renwick, Mrs. Wilkes was born and educated in New York City, where she often enjoyed the company of her first cousin and schoolmate, John Wilkes (1827-1908). He was the son of U. S. Navy Admiral Charles Wilkes, who, in 1833, established the U. S. Naval Observatory and in 1838 undertook the first expedition for the United States in the South Pacific and Antarctica. The charts he made on this expedition were still used in World War II by U. S. forces. Following in his father’s footsteps, John Wilkes entered the U. S. Naval Academy, and graduated number one in his class of 1847. After service at sea in the Gulf of Mexico and the Far East, Wilkes returned to the United States in 1852. At the time, Commodore Perry specifically requested him to be a part of an upcoming expedition, but he declined. In 1853, Wilkes came to Charlotte while on leave from the Navy to look into business possibilities. Since the area seemed just what he was looking for, the following year he married his cousin Jane, resigned his commission, and the newly-married couple took up permanent residence in the Queen City.

In Charlotte, Mr. Wilkes owned (with William R. Myers) the Mecklenburg Flour Mills (1858) and founded the Mecklenburg Iron Works in 1859. During the Civil War, the flour mill fed many Confederate troops, and the foundry was taken over by the Confederate Navy as a repair facility and supplier of shells and machinery. Following the war, Captain Wilkes secured a charter for the First National Bank, and served as its first president from 1865 to 1869.2

Although the Wilkes had nine children of their own, Jane Wilkes devoted much of her considerable energy to helping others, particularly through work in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. The church has as an ideal to provide both spiritual any physical healing, and Mrs. Wilkes and her contemporaries had seen the need for a church-connected hospital through their nursing work for the Confederate wounded during the war. Thus, at the suggestion of the rector of St. Peter’s Church, Reverend Benjamin Bronson, St. Peter’s Hospital started in rented quarters on East Seventh Street as the first civilian hospital in North Carolina. A girl’s club in the church, the “Busy Bees,” under the leadership of Miss Hattie Moore, who also ran a school for girls, raised $170 in 1877 for the purchase of a lot at 6th and Poplar upon which a new hospital could be built. At this point the church’s Ladies’ Aid Society took charge, of which Mrs. Wilkes was secretary and treasurer. Through her fund-raising efforts among her friends here and in New York, the original four-room hospital was completed in 1878 and was made of clay dug at the Thompson Orphanage property.3

But far from congratulating herself on this accomplishment, Mrs. Wilkes was just getting started. While serving alternately as president, secretary or treasurer of the board of managers of the hospital and always being a dominating presence, she continued her fund-raising efforts which resulted in major expansion of St. Peter’s in 1898 and 1907.4 In 1882, at the instigation of Reverend Joseph Blount Cheshire, then rector of St. Peter’s Church and subsequently Bishop of the North Carolina Diocese, a mission chapel, St. Michael and All Angels Church, was started to serve the black population of the city, and for the purpose a lot was purchased by the Diocese at the northeast corner of Mint and Hill Streets in Third Ward.5 The indefatigable Jane Wilkes lost no time in beginning to raise money for a companion hospital in the area for the same constituency.

Five years later, in 1887, sufficient money had been raised so that Reverend Cheshire bought a lot for the new hospital on the south side of Hill Street between Mint and Graham for $700.00.6 The lot, which fronted one hundred feet on Hill in the middle of the block and went back one hundred feet, was only just to the west of the St. Michael’s Chapel. The following year, on December 18, 1888, the cornerstone was laid for the Good Samaritan Hospital with great ceremony. A procession left St. Michael’s at 3:00 in the afternoon, led by the black Masonic Fraternity, then came members of the clergy, both black and white, followed by a number of interested citizens and dignitaries. The Masons laid the cornerstone with traditional rites, followed by a service by Reverend E. A. Osborne and Reverend Cheshire of St. Peter’s, and concluding with speeches by Dr. Mattoon, president of Biddle Institute (now Johnson C. Smith University), and the black clergymen Reverend Wyche and Reverend Tyler. Looking on were Mayor McDowell, Captain John and Jane Wilkes, Miss Hattie Moore and many others.7

Construction of the facility proceeded slowly due to available funds, but nearly three years after it was begun, Good Samaritan was finally ready for use. On September 23, 1891 the building was dedicated with proper ceremony, which included another procession from St. Michael’s. A newspaper article at the time described it thus:

 

This building was erected at considerable cost exclusively for the use of colored people. The funds with which it was erected were raised by continuous appeals through the Episcopal church papers, and by private subscriptions. It is one of the most conveniently arranged buildings that could be built for this purpose, and every room is well ventilated. On the upper and lower floors are hot and cold baths, and the rooms are provided with iron cots with springs.8

Good Samaritan’s founding gave Charlotte the distinction of having the first privately-funded, independent hospital built exclusively for blacks in North Carolina. This advance came in a period when Charlotte was not the state’s largest city, as it is today, but rather was in third place behind Wilmington and Raleigh.9 The state’s two other “Negro institutions” were the government-run North Carolina State Hospital at Goldsboro (1880), and Leonard Hospital, built as a teaching facility at Shaw University in Raleigh (1882).10 A 1929 survey by the American Medical Association indicates that Good Samaritan was not only a landmark in North Carolina, but one of the oldest black hospitals then in operation in the entire United States. Outside North Carolina only the Georgia Infirmary in Savannah (1832), Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. (1865), Central Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia(1870), and Prince George’s House of Reformation in Cheltham, Maryland (1872) predated the Charlotte facility.11

Governance of the hospital was vested in a board of managers, all women of the church: Mrs. John Wilkes, Mrs. T. S. Clarkson, Mrs. Julia Fox, Mrs. Annie Lardner, Mrs. W. E. Holt, and Mrs. R. Lockwood Jones. Total cost of the hospital was $4,400.12 At first the hospital had few patients because of rumors which had gone around about fearful things that went on inside, in addition to the pervasive notion among many people of the day that a hospital was a place one went to die. Eventually the fears were overcome, however, and the hospital did a thriving business, supported mostly by church and citizen donations.13

In 1925, a major addition was built immediately behind the original building which more than doubled the facility’s capacity. In the 1930’s additional property was acquired, and in 1937 another wing was added, making it at the time a 100-bed hospital with the latest equipment, with 22 nurses and with patients from most of the doctors of the city. By the early 1950’s, however, the facilities and staffing were not able to keep pace with the years, and a small church found it increasingly difficult to support a modern hospital, although through the years money had come from the Duke Endowment and the Julius Rosenwald fund for expansions. Just as St. Peter’s hospital was closed when Memorial opened in 1940, in 1959 the Memorial staff agreed to take over Good Samaritan, and in June, 1961, the site was formally passed to the ownership of the city.14 Just prior to that, a bond issue of $800,000 had been passed for expansion and improvement of the hospital, but the project mushroomed to $1.4 million before completion.15 The new addition is the one facing Graham Street. Despite all the money spent on the facility, when its name was changed to Charlotte Community Hospital, debate still raged on about whether to continue using it as a general hospital until 1982, when it was closed. It is now used as the Magnolias Rest Home.

The renovations for the Magnolias included the original hospital building, now difficult to recognize because the old front entrance was bricked up, which was a unique and noble experiment in community health care in the late nineteenth century, and one Charlotte can truly be proud of. The building is, without question, truly worthy of historical status.

 

NOTES

1 Charlotte News, June 25, 1936; newspaper article by Mrs. J. A. Yarbrough, 1939; both on file at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library. For many years Charlotte writers have mistakenly indicated that Good Samaritan was the first black hospital in the South. This misapprehension may possibly be traced to a pamphlet by Dr. Mary V. Glenton, Story of a Hospital, 2nd ed. (Hartford, Conn.: Church Missions Publishing Co., 1937), pp. 18-19, which detailed several projects undertaken by the Episcopal Church in the South. The section on Good Samaritan was titled “Our Oldest Negro Hospital.”

2 Charlotte Evening Chronicle, July 6, 1908, p. 1 January 20, 1913, p. 1.

3 Charlotte News, January 20, 1913, p. 1 1978, p. 14A.

4 Ibid.; Charlotte News; Charlotte Observer, April 15,

5 Interview with Judge Francis Clarkson, Charlotte, N.C., April 13, 1983.

6 Deed Book 66, p. 495, April 6, 1887.

7 Charlotte Evening Chronicle, December 19, 1888, p. 3.

8 Ibid., September 24, 1891, p. 4.

9 United States Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census: 1940, Population Volume I, p. 772.

10 University of North Carolina Newsletter, March 25, 1931. Journal of the American Medical Association, March 30, 1929, pp. 1096-1098. Linda Harris Edmisten, Raleigh Preservation Planner, telephone interview with Thomas W. Hanchett, February, 1985.

11 Journal of the American Medical Association, March 30, 1929, pp. 1096-1098.

12 Article by Yarbrough, note 1.

13 Ibid.

14 Charlotte Observer, October 25, 1959, p. 1B; Deed Book 2257, p. 323, June 27, 1961.

15 Ibid., July 27, 1964, p. 1B.

 

 

Architectural Description

 

Lisa A. Stamper

The first privately funded, independent hospital in North Carolina, which was built exclusively for the treatment of black people, the Good Samaritan Hospital, was dedicated on September 23, 1891. It was built in Charlotte’s Third Ward neighborhood, on West Hill Street between what is now South Graham and Mint Streets. The original Richardsonian Romanesque style building’s cornerstone was laid on December 18, 1888. This building still stands, despite many additions and remodelings, as a physical tribute to the city’s concern for all members of its community.

It was not easy for Charlotte’s Episcopal Church to establish this unique and historic hospital. Because of financial difficulties and public ignorance, the Good Samaritan had a slow beginning. Within twelve years after the dedication, the hospital had grown enough to merit adding twelve rooms to the back of the original structure. By 1925, another building was constructed to the rear of the hospital. Later an obstetrics wing was constructed along West Hill Street in 1937. Ownership of the hospital was accepted by the city in 1961, since management of such a large facility was becoming too large a job for the church community. In 1963 a new addition facing South Graham Street was built. At this time, the Good Samaritan’s name was changed to the Charlotte Community Hospital. These buildings were recently renovated to accommodate a rest home called the Magnolias.

The original Good Samaritan Hospital was basically a rectangular two story brick building set just down the street from neighborhood stores and Saint Michael’s Church. Its quaint picket fence, two story bay window, recessed rectangular side, and broad tripped roof with two interior chimneys must have been intended to blend with the surrounding residential architecture. The building was twelve thin bays in width and four bays in depth. All windows, except those of the two and one-half story entrance had six-over-six lights plus rough stone sills. The first story windows were all transomed and topped with simple stone lintels. The 1891 entrance was three bays wide. The first story had a large, round arched doorway, the second story contained three thin, round arched windows, and the attic story had three short rectangular windows.

From photographs and drawings in the Good Samaritan Hospital’s annual reports, it appears as if an addition was built on to the back of the original building between 1902 and 1909. According to a May, 1964, article (located in the Good Samaritan file in the Carolina Room of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library), the Journal of the National Medical Association reported that this addition added twelve rooms to the small hospital. It also appears to have been built in the same style as the original structure.

In 1925 a three story brick addition was built behind the original building, to which the addition was connected by a hallway. Simpler but similar in design to the original, this addition, which was the same width as the original hospital and eight bays in length, greatly increased the hospital’s capacity. The eight bay side, which faces S. Mint Street, has windows with eight-over-one lights, except two smaller windows near the center, which only have six-over-one lights. The end of this addition has had many opening alterations, but it appears as if most if not all windows had eight-over-one lights. A brick belt course separated the second and third stories.

A two story obstetrics wing was built facing W. Hill Street in 1937. This addition deviated in design from the others. Although it was made of brick, the window headings were of brick with contrasting concrete keystones. The overall effect was more delicate.

In 1963, another addition was built facing South Graham Street. It too, was constructed with brick, but was obviously influenced by the International style. Small windows, vertical features, and lack of ornamentation are typical design features of institutional buildings built about this time.

Presently, the Good Samaritan Hospital and all its additions are standing, although some have been altered. The 1891 building and early 1900s addition appear to have had a brick veneer placed over the original brick work. This could have been done in 1937 when the obstetrics wing was built, since the veneer covers the stone lintels and sills, and replaces them with brick work of the same style as the 1937 addition. The original entrance has been completely bricked over. The 1937 wing is presently hidden by a decorative concrete screen, erected in 1963, probably an attempt to visually integrate all the building facades along West Hill Street.

Last year’s interior renovation of the Good Samaritan Hospital included the original building as well as all later additions, except the 1925 addition. This addition is not presently used and has not been significantly altered. Still intact are tiled operating rooms, plumbing, dumbwaiters and elevators, which were probably installed during the “complete modernization” of the facility in 1937 (see the Journal of the National Medical Association, May 1964).

The renovated interiors are uniform in design. So much so, that while walking down the hallway, through one building to another, one is not aware of when one structure ends and the other begins. Almost all early decorative elements have been removed to create this uniformity; however, a few early features remain. Window shapes and sizes change from one building to the next, with those of the original building being much more pleasant and interesting. The room now used as an entertainment room by the residents still has exposed brick walls. In a few areas in the original building, evidence of arched openings still exist. Also, the original elevators are present, though not presently in use. Most importantly, the chapel in the early 1900s addition contains magnificent stain-glassed windows and elegant furniture, such as communion table and pews.

It appears as if some early landscaping still exists in front and to the southeast of the 1891 building. By studying photographs and drawings of the hospital from early annual reports, it appears that landscaping was implemented over several years. The picket fence is gone, and a chain-link fence encloses the garden along South Mint Street and to the west of the facility. All the original residences and businesses are gone from the area, and newer businesses have built uninteresting boxes for offices in the area. Directly across West Hill Street a monthly parking lot sits in front of the old hospital.

The Good Samaritan Hospital buildings are the last of the early structures standing in this area of Charlotte’s Third Ward. The hospital’s historic significance is obvious, and its physical presence represents the persistence of Charlotte’s community to improve the quality of life for all its members.

Moore-Golden House

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MOORE-GOLDEN HOUSE

 

This report was written on December 5, 1984

1. Name and location of the property: The property knows as the Moore-Golden House is located at 1701 East Eighth Street in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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

Anita Stewart Brown
1701 E. 8th Street
Charlotte, NC 28204

Telephone: (704) 376-3388

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

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

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3561, page 545. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is 127-012-01.

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

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description of the property prepared by 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 Moore-Golden House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the Moore-Golden House, erected in Elizabeth Heights in 1910, is a rare local example of the English Cottage style of architecture, 2) Norman A. Cocke, a high official of the Southern Power Company, eventually becoming president, resided in the Moore-Golden House from 1912 until 1915, and 3) the Moore-Golden House was the home of Harry Golden, internationally-known author, journalist, and humorist, from 1973 until his death in 1981 and is the only home still standing in Charlotte in which Mr. Golden resided.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission contends that the attached architectural description by Lisa A. Stamper demonstrates that the Moore-Golden 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 .184 acres of land is $7,000. The current appraised value of the improvements is $34,570. The total appraised value of the property is $41,570. The property is zoned R6MF.

Date of preparation of this report: December 5, 1984

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

Telephone: (704) 376-9115

 

 

Historical Overview

 

Dorothy T. Frye

The yellow stucco English Cottage style home at 1701 East Eighth Street in Charlotte was built in 1910 by the Charlotte Realty Company and sold that year to Dr. Baxter S. Moore, a local physician and surgeon. His wife, Caroline Brevard Moore, was the daughter of Robert J. Brevard who served several terms as Mayor of Charlotte. The house was built on a lot that was originally purchased in 1907 from the developers, the Highland Park Company, by John A. McRae, Charlotte City Attorney. It was one of two lots running northwest to southeast, fronting together on Kingston Avenue which later became Hawthorne Lane. He sold it to Carolina Realty Company in 1909, after which these lots, in combination with adjacent ones, were subdivided into lots running northeast to southwest and front on East Eighth Street. The house was built lengthwise on the 65′ x 123′ lot with its entrance facing Eighth Street.

From 1910 to 1919 the title of the property remained in the names of members of the Baxter Moore family.6 However, after living in the house for one year, Dr. Moore and his wife moved to Fulton County, Georgia and rented the house to tenants.

In 1912 Norman A. Cocke and his wife, Mary S. Cocke, rented the home and remained there until 1915 when they moved to Myers Park. A young attorney who had come to Charlotte to work for the Southern Power Company (predecessor to Duke Power Company), Norman Cocke was already well established in the business community at this time; he was secretary of the Charlotte Electric Company, the Charlotte Power Company, and Piedmont Traction Company as well as vice-president of Industrial Development Corporation. He was eventually to become president of Duke Power and Chairman of the Board of Duke University. Lake Norman is named for him.10

In 1915, the Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church was organized and its present building was completed the following year. Located across the street from the church, the house at 1701 was rented as a parsonage for its first two ministers, Rev. Robert D. Sherrill and Dr. T. F. Marr, Rev. Sherrill and his wife, Eliza, made it their home until 1918, and Dr. and Mrs. Marr lived there for the following year. Dr. Marr later became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Duke University and of the Childrens’ Home in Winston-Salem.

In 1919, the house was sold to Delanie C. Mitchell, and from then until 1953 it remained in her family although the title was held by various individuals. Except for a short time during the early 1940s, its tenants were all members of that family. The Mitchell family represented the rapid changes taking place in the Elizabeth Heights neighborhood as more middle-class families moved in to replace wealthy residents attracted to Myers Park. Charles A. Mitchell, the husband of the owner, was a clerk with American Express Railway Company. Their son, Charles A. Mitchell, Jr., was a telegraph operator.

The house was sold in 1953 to Deville A. Hansen, a signalman with Southern Railway, and his wife, Alma W. Hansen. Mrs. Hansen died in 1968 and in 1971 the property was purchased by Ellison F. Edwards, a local physician, who used it as income property until 1973 when he sold it to Mrs. Anita Stewart Brown. 8

Harry Golden, who became internationally known as an author, journalist and humorist after his book “Only in America” became a best-seller in 1958, had lived in the Elizabeth neighborhood since 1952. When his home on Elizabeth Avenue was slated for demolition in 1973 to make way for a parking lot for Central Piedmont Community College, Mrs. Anita Brown suggested that he consider moving to the house she had purchased at 1701 East Eighth Street. A close personal friend of Mr. Golden’s for many years, Mrs. Brown was aware of his fondness for the Elizabeth neighborhood and of his need for space and privacy. Although he had already purchased a house on Kenilworth Avenue, he decided to accept the offer. He moved into the house in July 1973 and lived there until his death in October 1981.19

After Harry Golden died, Mrs. Brown moved into the house in order to protect it from vandals. Since that time, she has conscientiously tried to keep the house as it was when he was living there. Except for his personal papers, which have been donated to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, all of Mr. Golden’s belongings, including furnishings, books, numerous framed photographs, scrapbooks, and memorabilia, remain as they were then. Many of these items are related to his personal association with such well-known persons as John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Carl Sandburg, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Edward R. Murrow. Mrs. Brown also managed to salvage several items from Harry Golden’s house on Elizabeth Avenue when it was demolished, including the double front doors, a mantlepiece, and a stain-glass window. She has had these added to the house on Eighth Avenue in a functional and innovative way by making them part of the renovations enclosing the porch which faces both sides of the corner of Eighth Street and Hawthorne Lane.20

 

NOTES

1 Charlotte Water Dept. Records for 1701 East Eighth state that a water permit was applied for on May 10, 1910 by Hackney Bros. Plumbing, and a tap was installed the following day. Carolina Realty Co. was listed as “landlord.”

2 Mecklenburg County Deed Book 269, p. 41; Charlotte City Directories, 1907-1910.

3 Obituary of Mary Stoney Brevard, The Charlotte Observer, September 13, 1923, p. 7

4 Deed Book 224, p 250; Charlotte City Directories, 1907-1910.

5 Deed Book 224, p. 250, July 2, 1907; Deed Book 256, p. 221, November 24, 1909; Deed Book 269, p. 41, October 19, 1910.

6 Deed Book 269, p. 41, October 19, 1910; Deed Book 316, p. 290, July 13, 1913; Deed Book 365, p. 381, January 4, 1917.

7 When Baxter S. Moore transferred title of the house to his wife’s name in 1913, both were listed as residents of Fulton County, Georgia. Deed Book 316, p. 290.

8 Charlotte City Directories, 1912-1915.

9 Ibid.

10 The Charlotte News November 4, 1974, p. 11; The Charlotte Observer, November 6, 1974, p. 18.

11 The Charlotte Observer, April 17, 1942.

12 Charlotte City Directories, 1916-1918.

13 The Charlotte Observer, December 11, 1940, p. 16.

14 Deed Book 398, p. 130, February 11, 1919; Deed Book 561, p. 541, November 5, 1923; Deed Book 641, p. 147, October 29, 1926; Deed Book 1301, p. 346, March 24, 1948.

15 Charlotte City Directories, 1920-1952.

16 Deed Book 1590, p. 209, February 11, 1953.

17 Mecklenburg County Death Certificates, 1968, No. 1206.

18 Deed Book 3287, p. 360, April 19, 1971; Deed Book 3561, p. 545, April 24, 1973.

19 Anita S. Brown, personal interview by Dorothy Frye, July 9, 1983.

20 Ibid.

 

 

The Cocke-Golden House
ADDENDA

Notes

1. In August 1910, the house was apparently sold to Frank H. Lampkin and his wife but was later recoveyed to the Carolina Realty Company, and resold in October 1910. to Baxter S. Moore.

2. At the time John A. McRae purchased the lots in Highland Park in 1907, he had served one term in the North Carolina House of Representatives (1905). In 1915, the year he became State Senator, he was one of the founders of the Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church in Highland Park. (see The Charlotte Observer, February 24, 1962, page 1-B).

 

 

Architectural Description

 

Lisa A. Stamper

The English Cottage Style bungalow, the Moore-Golden House, is a prime example of the period Revival style residences which swept the nation during the early twentieth-century. Built in 1910 by the Charlotte Realty Company, it sits on top of a small hill at the corner of East Eighth Street and Hawthorne Lane. Dr. Baxter S. Moore, a local physician and surgeon, was the first tenant of the home. Its most famous tenant; however, was an international author, journalist, and humorist named Harry Golden.

Built of wood, stucco, and brick, the one and one-half story Moore-Golden House reflects popular building trends of the early-1900s. Its gabled roof’s bold, wide eaves appear to be supported by simple wooden brackets. This roof shape, combined with a wooden string course which visually separates the first story from the upper level, creates a horizontal appearance to the building. Its two chimneys are unobtrusive, with one located between the side porch and the main body of the house, and the other located on the north side exterior. Rectangular wooden framed windows are either double-hung or casement, and vary in size. They all have one diamond-paned light over a single one or are completely diamond-paned, depending on size and type. The diamond panes are common in Tudor styled residences, and add a lot of English flavor to the design.

The front facade(south side) faces East Eighth Street, and except for an enclosed first story porch sensitive to the total design, seems to have been unaltered over the years. The upper level contains a centered group of four double-hung windows. On either side of this grouping is a smaller window.

A L-shaped porch is located on the first level or the south and west sides of the home. This porch was once open, but now is enclosed and used as a sunroom. Wooden framed windows, which can be easily removed without aesthetic or structural damage, were placed between the stucco piers. A double front door which was saved from Golden’s previous home on Elizabeth Avenue has been used to enclose the porch on the south side, and is the front door of this home. The beveled glass transom does not fit above the door in its present position; therefore, was placed at the interior corner of the porch.

The western side of the building faces Hawthorne Lane. To the left of the porch are two casement windows. The upper level mainly consists of a wide, gabled dormer containing two groupings of two double-hung windows.

The back facade(northern side) has a first story porch which has been enclosed with glass. There is a small window in the stucco of the porch. To its left exists a double-hung window, while to the right exists two casement windows. The upper level has three evenly spaced double-hung windows.

The eastern facade is a little more complicated than the others, since the upper level gabled dormer reaches down into the first story area. Small, decorative brackets appear to support the dormer. It contains a rectilinear variation on the Palladian window. The windows in this grouping, as well as the four located on the first story, are of the same Tudor design as the others, of course.

This typical Revival style residence has many porches, sunrooms, windows, and doors. These features are used to blur the distinction between interior and exterior spaces. There are fewer rooms than earlier plans; however, the rooms are larger and arranged to separate life’s different activities. The plan of the Moore-Golden House fits this mold. Its simple finishes of white plaster walls accented by wide, simple oak woodwork complementing the exterior architectural style.

Entering from the front porch into the living room, the parlor, staircase, and a small hallway from which one reaches the kitchen is to the right. The formal dining room is placed behind the living room. Paneled sliding doors can be used to shut off the living room from the dining room and parlor. In the dining room, a left-hand door leads to the breakfast room, which has a glass-paned door connecting it to the L-shaped porch. A doorway to the right of the dining room leads to the kitchen. The butler’s pantry is located between the two. The dining room also has a door in its back right corner which leads to the back porch, which had a servants’ toilet. A modern shower was later added for Golden’s convenience. The other section of the porch creates a transition between the backyard and the kitchen.

The Palladian-like window floods the staircase with light. At the top of the staircase is a large open landing allowing access to three bedrooms, a full bath, and storage closets. The middle bedroom has a partial interior wall, whose sole purpose appears to be support of the fireplace, which has a hearth and mantel on both sides of this wall.

The interior of the Moore-Golden House has been well kept over the years. The only apparent changes have been the enclosing of the porches, a partition placed on the back porch, and movement of kitchen cabinets, new floor finishes in the kitchen and on the porches. Central heating was installed; however, original radiators are still in place. The woodwork and paneled doors had been painted, but the owner, Anita Brown, has refinished most of the woodwork and doors, and plans to complete the job. Brown had saved a beveled glass transom, a stained glass window, a mantle, a Newell post, and the front double-doors from Golden’s Elizabeth Avenue home before it was demolished. This home was of the same period as the Moore-Golden House, and these pieces have been or will be tastefully incorporated into the design of Brown’s home.

All of Golden’s belongings, furnishings, photographs, even his first typewriter used in Charlotte are presently located within the Moore-Golden House, the exception being his personal papers which have been given to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Brown has made few changes in Golden’s placement of his belongings, but where she did move them she kept detailed records of their original locations. Her only major addition to Golden’s decor has been beautiful antique furnishings which compliment the interior design of the house.

The Moore-Golden House is situated in the Elizabeth neighborhood on a street filled with quaint bungalow styled residences. A few trees and bushes in the front yard and the front walk appear to be part of the original landscape design. The rest of the land surrounding the house has been landscaped since 1973.

The Moore-Golden house is not only a well preserved example of period revival style in the mid-l900s, but it also is a memorial and tribute to an internationally known author, who chose Charlotte as his home. Presently, its only alterations have been minor and can be easily changed. Almost all of Harry Golden’s belongings remain within the house. Now is the time for recognition of the home’s historical worth to the community, before significant changes occur.

Goff House

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The Goff House

This report was written on May 25, 1995

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Goff House is located at 1116 Queens Road in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2. Name, address, and telephone number of the present owner of the property:
The owner of the property is:
Sam and Suzanne Sloan
1116 Queens Road
Charlotte, North Carolina 28207
(704) 375-7198

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 two maps depicting the location of the property.

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 4750 on page 343. The tax parcel number of the property is #153-042-22.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Mary Beth Gatza.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description of the property prepared by Mary Beth Gatza.

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

 

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

  • 1) The Goff House represents a fine example of early-twentieth century Colonial revival architecture in one of Charlotte’s earliest and most desirable suburbs. The house contains many characteristic components of the style. 
  • 2) Jeremiah Goff could afford to build his house in a manner not always available to the average middle class American. The well-developed design, fine details, quality materials and accomplished workmanship all bear testament to the high caliber of this building. 
  • 3) The Goff House was built for a prominent manufacturer and businessman, and was his home for the last sixteen years of his life. It makes a statement about his image and standing in the community, and reveals the standard of living available to a well-to-do businessman in early-twentieth century Charlotte. 
  • 4) Mr. Goff’s decision to do business, and then to settle in Charlotte is representative of a larger trend spurred by the early-twentieth century cotton prosperity in Piedmont North Carolina. The Goff House is a tangible reminder of this settlement/development pattern.b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission contends that the physical description by Mary Beth Gatza which is included in this report demonstrates that the Goff 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 total appraised value of the improvements is $ 216,110. The current total appraised value of the lot is $250,000. The current total value is $ 466,110. The property is zoned R-3.

Date of Preparation of this Report: 25 May 1995.

Prepared by: Mary Beth Gatza
428 North Laurel Avenue, #7
Charlotte, North Carolina 28204

(704) 331-9660

 

 

Historical Overview

 

The early decades of the twentieth century were prosperous times in the Queen City. Cotton was king, and Charlotte was a hub for the trading, processing, and transporting of this valuable commodity. The geographic and economic climate undoubtedly lured businessmen from throughout the country into the area. One such person was Jeremiah Goff.

Jeremiah Goff (1858-1931) came to Charlotte from his native Rhode Island in 1900 at age 42. He was born in Warren, Rhode Island in 1858, the son Of Gesemiah (?) and Sarah Ingraham Goff (both native to Rhode Island). 1 During the first decade of the century, Goff, then a bachelor, lived in various uptown hotels, including the Buford Hotel, Central Hotel and the Hotel Selwyn. During this time, he functioned as Vice-President of the Charlotte Supply Company, a company that sold general mill supplies. In 1909, Goff went off on his own and established the Piedmont Sundries Company, of which he was President for the remainder of his life. 2

Goff appeared to be an experienced and influential entrepreneur before he arrived in Charlotte. His obituary mentions that he had been the President of the New Bedford Shuttle Company (New Bedford, Massachusetts), the President of the Standard Ring Traveler Company (New Bedford, Massachusetts) and the Director of the Industrial Trust Company (Providence, Rhode Island). In addition, Goff owned stock in Charlotte’s Chadwick-Hoskins Company. 3 Goff Street, near the Chadwick-Hoskins Mill, is probably named after him.

Miss Johnsie Dickson (1885-1979) became Jeremiah Goff’s wife in 1908 at age 23. She was born in Georgia, but apparently was living in Charlotte when they married. She lived to age 93 and was active in many organizations during her life. Her obituary lists memberships in the Colonial Dames, Daughters of the American Revolution, Charlotte Debutante Club, Charlotte Country Club, Athena Book Club, Charlotte Music Club, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and the Daughters of the King. In addition, she served in the Motor Corps during World War I. 4

Jeremiah and Johnsie Goff resided in various places during the early years of their marriage. The City Directories show them residing at the Selwyn Hotel, the Blandwood Apartments, and 15 N. Poplar Street between 1908 and 1915. After 1915, they moved permanently to this house on Queens Road. 5 Interestingly, 1915 is the year that Queens Road was first paved. 6

The Goffs were 27 years apart in age and had no children. As far as can be discerned, they resided in this house alone until Jeremiah ‘s death in 1931. Mrs. Goff remained in the house until she was in her 90s. She moved to the Wesley Nursing home in 1978, at which time the house was sold. 7

North Carolina National Bank (now NationsBank) handled the transaction of the property in February of 1978, in their capacity as executor for the estate of Jeremiah Goff. The property was transferred to Francis Joseph Beatty, Jr, who sold it two months later to C. Jennings and Linda Snider. The Sniders conveyed the property the next day to Edward Donald and Elizabeth Laney Smith (as Laney-Smith, Inc.). 8

It is doubtful that Beatty or the Sniders ever resided in the house, but the Smiths lived there for five years. During their tenure, the Smiths undertook some alterations. They repainted the exterior, added showers into the bathrooms, and turned the sewing room into a bathroom. Mr. Smith died in May of 1983, and Miss Smith sold the house to the current owners in November of that year. 9

Notes

1 Charlotte Observer, April 22, 1931; Sally Hentz, “Historic Preservation Report on 1116 Queens Road,” (class paper, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 1992), p. 2.

2 Charlotte City Directories, 1902-1909.

3 Charlotte Observer, April 22, 1931.

4 Charlotte Observer, April 22, 1931; Charlotte Observer, 19 October 1979.

5 Charlotte City Directories, 1908-1915.

6 Thomas W. Hanchett and Mary Norton Kratt, Legacy: The Myers Park Story (Charlotte: Myers Park Foundation, 1986), p. 85.

7 Charlotte City Directories, 1978-79; Hentz, p. 3.

8 Hentz, pp.3-4; Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Deed Book 4034, pp. 808-10; Deed Book 4046, p. 690; Deed Book 4046, pp. 758-59.

9 Hentz, p. 4.

 

 

Architectural Description

 

Introduction

In 1915, the Colonial Revival style was the height of fashion in Charlotte and throughout much of the country. That Jeremiah Goff built his house in desirable Myers Park and chose this sophisticated style makes a statement about his standing in the community. The image portrayed by this fine home reflects tradition, fidelity, solidity, and prosperity–all attractive qualities in a successful businessman.

Main House

Surrounded by deciduous trees, the Goff House stands 2-1/2 stories tall and is of frame construction with weatherboard siding. The facade is symmetrical, five bays wide with a center entry and gabled portico. The pediment is supported by grouped Tuscan columns and features a modillioned cornice. The entry consists of a six-panel door surrounded by partial sidelights and a curved fanlight. Above the portico, a Palladian window lights the center bay of the second floor.

The house has a side-gabled asphalt-shingled roof which is pierced by three gabled dormers in the front. On the rear elevation, there is a single oversized dormer which holds a pair of small, fixed-sash windows. In addition, a tripped roof extends out from the main roof, shielding a rear sleeping porch.

The second floor sleeping porch is cantilevered (having no visible means of support) out from the rear elevation on the south side. It is ventilated on three sides by 10 twelve-over-one sliding sash windows. The south two bays in the rear (which contain the kitchen) extend out beyond the plane of the elevation, forming an ell which supports only a portion of the sleeping porch above. A small screened porch shields the center entry on the first story, and a tripartite window with a curved fanlight is found on the second story. Multi-paned sash windows complete the other bays of the rear elevation.

Two enclosed sun porches extend out from either side elevation. Both are completely enclosed on three sides by multi-paned fixed-sash windows. The raking cornices of the side elevations are punctuated by simple curved modillions, and the gable ends are pierced by quarter-round windows.

On the interior, a wide vestibule greets the visitor as he enters through the front door. The space is illuminated by the sidelights and fanlight surrounding the front door, and also by sidelights flanking the hall door. All four sidelights and the fanlight feature beveled glass. The raised-panel interior hall door is identical to the exterior front door.

The center hallway is dominated by a dog-legged staircase with open stringers, a shaped handrail and square-section balusters. The starting step has a circle end–that is, it is rounded on the outer edge and projects out further than the other steps. The balusters continue down the stairs and around the edge of the circle step, supporting the handrail, which ends in a volute (spiral) pattern at the newel post. Upstairs, the landing newels are square with shaped caps. The landing is illuminated by a tripartite, multi-paned window topped by a fanlight.

Wide framed doorways separate the hall on the first floor from both the living and dining rooms. Fluted columns have been added (not original to the house) within the openings to create colonnades, a feature not unusual in houses built in the early twentieth century. A small bathroom opens up off the rear of the hallway.

Original woodwork remains throughout the house. The hall and both the living and dining rooms are encircled by a dentilled cornice. The living room mantelpiece is original and features a row of dentils just beneath the shelf, which is supported by fluted pilasters. Cabinetry in the pantry remains that features sliding doors–solid single-panel doors on the bottom and glazed doors on top of the unit. Another set of cabinets in the pantry appears to be a later addition.

On the second floor, there is a center hall, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a sleeping porch. A small room at the top of the stairs is said to have originally been a sewing room, but was converted into a bathroom by previous owners. This room features a Palladian window that overlooks Queens Road. The master bedroom is the largest and has a fireplace, two closets and a bathroom with original fixtures. On the other side of the hallway, there is a smaller bedroom (in the front) and a den (in the rear). There is a bathroom off the den, which also retains original fixtures–only the stall shower was added. Off of the den, the sleeping porch overlooks the back yard, and has multi-paned sash windows on three sides.

Outbuildings and Landscaping

An original hipped-roof frame garage stands at the rear corner of the lot. It was built for two cars and features fanlight-type windows in each half of the double garage door. The building itself includes a room at the back, with a separate, recessed entry and a small chimney flue.

Deciduous trees and shrubs ring the property, leaving the front lawn open to Queens Road. A paved driveway runs along the south side of the lot, leading back to the garage and a gravel parking area. Herringbone brick paths lead from the front door through the yard to Queen’s Road and also along the side of the house to the driveway. A similar path circles the back yard, delineating the gardens.

Cultivated gardens circle the back yard and feature various flowering plants, including spring bulbs, Wisteria, and Azalea. A natural wood pergola marks the entrance to the garden. The predominant structure, however, is a latticework shelter with a shingled hip roof. A stone and concrete birdbath stands in the shade at the north side of the house, and is said to be original.

Integrity

As far as can be discerned, little or no original material has been removed from the Goff House since the date of construction. Items added by current or previous owners include the columns in the first floor doorways, cabinetry in the pantry, cornerbeads above the living room fireplace, and the shower in the second floor bathroom. The second floor guest bathroom has been added the kitchen has been modernized. The house, grounds and outbuilding are in excellent condition.

Summary

In close-to-original condition, the Goff House represents a fine example of early-twentieth century Colonial Revival architecture in one of Charlotte’s earliest and most-desirable suburbs. It reveals a style and standard of living available to a well-to-do businessman during the 1910s.

The house stands as a good illustration of the Colonial Revival style. It contains many characteristic components of the style, especially the symmetrical facade with center entry, side-gabled roof with dormers, end chimney, and center hall plan. Additionally, the Classically-inspired portico, Palladian window, glazed front door surround, quarter-round gable end windows all speak the Colonial Revival language.

Jeremiah Goff could afford to build his house in a manner not always available to the average middle class American. Some finer details in the house include the beveled glass, Palladian window, and interior woodwork. That quality materials and workmanship were used remains evident today, and bears testament to the high caliber of this building.