(“Lynnwood” or “White Oaks”)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This report was written on January 5, 1977

1. Name and location of the Property: The property known as Lynnwood or James B. Duke House (sometimes White Oaks) is located at 400 Hermitage Rd. in Charlotte, NC

2. Name, address, and telephone number of the Present owner and occupant of the property:
The present owner and occupant of the property is:
Estate of Henry A. Lineberger & Wife Clayton
400 Hermitage Rd.
Charlotte, N.C. 28207

Telephone: 372-2000

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

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

 

 

 

Click on the map to browse5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent reference to this property is found in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1918 at page 545. The Parcel Number of the Property is 15504310.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property:
On November 28, 1911, Mr. Z. V. Taylor, an official of the Southern Utilities Co., joined with his wife, Irving Scales Taylor, in purchasing a lot in the prestigious suburb known as Myers Park, which was then being developed to the southeast of Charlotte, N.C. In July 1914 Mr. and Mrs. Taylor borrowed $15,000 from the American Trust Co. for purposes of erecting a house on the lot which they had purchased three years earlier. Having enlarged the yard by acquiring additional property in January 1915, the Taylors occupied the structure as their residence later that year. In January 1917 Mr. and Mrs. Taylor acquired another parcel of property which adjoined their original holdings in Myers Park.

On March 8, 1919, James Buchanan Duke (1856-1925), noted industrialist and philanthropist, purchased the Taylor property “with the buildings and improvements thereon located.” Indeed, Mr. Duke assembled twelve parcels of property to form an estate in excess of 15 acres. Between 1919 and 1922 he transformed the already-substantial house which the Taylors had built into a majestic mansion of 45 rooms and 12 baths. This was the only house which Mr. Duke owned in North Carolina during the years of his greatest power and influence. He called it Lynnwood. Mr. Duke owned a house (Rough Point) in Newport, R. I., a townhouse on 5th Ave. in New York City, and maintained his legal residence on a 2600 acre estate in Somerset County, New Jersey.

Apparently, two considerations were uppermost in causing Mr. Duke to purchase the property in Charlotte. First, business activities compelled Mr. Duke to spend extended periods of time in the city. Second, he wanted to expose his one and only child, Doris Duke, to the ins and outs of Southern life.

In 1904 James B. Duke met Dr. W. Gill Wylie, a physician in New York City, who had joined with his brother in 1899 in launching the Catawba Power Co. of Fort Mill, S.C., the first hydroelectric production venture on the Catawba River. Mr. Duke suggested that he form a partnership with the Wylie Brothers so that capital for expansion could be committed to the enterprise. The financially-beleagured Wylie Bros. readily accepted, thereby assuring the establishment of the Southern Power Co. Causing Mr. Duke to enter this field was his belief that the economy of North Carolina would achieve its potential only if sufficient power were available to sustain a textile manufacturing component. The early history of the Southern Power Co. proved that Mr. Duke was correct. The harnessing of the Catawba River allowed the textile industry to prosper in the Piedmont.

That Mr. Duke took considerable delight in his accomplishment seems certain. It is not unreasonable to assume that Mr. Duke regarded Lynnwood as a symbol of his success in the hydro-electrical business. In any case, the most memorable feature of the estate was an enormous fountain, which according to some sources propelled water to a height of 150 feet. A favorite weekend excursion for Charlotteans was to park nearby and watch the huge column of water spray into the air. Ben Dixon MacNeill, staff writer for the Raleigh News and Observer, once commented that Mr. Duke took “spontaneous pride” in 3 things — his Rolls Royce, his daughter, and his fountain in Charlotte.

In 1907 James B. Duke, his first marriage having ended in divorce, married Nanaline Holt Inman of Macon, Georgia, widow of Dr. William P. Inman. In 1912 Mr. Duke’s only child, Doris, was born to this union. Mr. Duke wanted his daughter to experience the region in which he had spent his boyhood and young adulthood. Consequently, he acquired and developed Lynnwood so that he could bring his family to Charlotte for extended visits, especially in the winter. Mrs. Duke, however, found Charlotte less than exciting and would usually return to New Jersey long before her husband and daughter. Doris attended private school while in Charlotte and sometimes entertained her classmates at Lynnwood.

The most significant event in Lynnwood’s history occurred in December 1924. A series of meetings in the sun room in the west wing of the house culminated in the establishment of the Duke Endowment, a philanthropic enterprise of enormous importance to the people of North Carolina and South Carolina.

James Buchanan Duke died at his home in Somerville, N.J., on Oct. 10, 1925, In accordance with his will, Mrs. Duke came into possession of Lynnwood. On July 13, 1926, she sold the property to Mr. C. C. Coddington, who operated an automobile dealership in Charlotte. The conveyance also included “all of the furniture and other personal property now contained in the residence… (excepting the marked silver, marked table linen and marked sheets) also the motors, equipment and other contents of the pump house.” A small portion of the land was sold separately. Mr. M. L. Cannon and Wife, O. B. Cannon, acquired the property from the Coddington Estate on February 16, 1929. On December 27, 1949, Mr. and Mrs. Cannon gave one-half interest in the house and 4.148 acres of land (present boundaries of property) to Myers Park Presbyterian Church. On January 6, 1950, they gave the remaining one-half interest in the property to Myers Park Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon continued to reside in the house. On April 29, 1957, Henry A. Lineberger & Wife, Clayton, purchased the house and 4.148 acres of land from Myers Park Presbyterian Church. The house suffered fire damage in the late 1960’s. However, the house is now in excellent repair. The remainder of the estate, including the location of the huge fountain, has bean divided and sold as individual lots.

 

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

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

 

a. Historical and cultural significance: Lynnwood is historically and culturally significant for two reasons. First, it is architecturally unique within the residential fabric of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Second, it has strong associative ties with an individual and events of national historic significance.

b. Suitability for preservation and restoration: The structure is in good repair and certainly can be preserved in its current configuration.

c. Educational value: Unquestionably, Lynnwood has enormous educational value, primarily because of its association with the life of James Buchanan Duke.

d. Cost of acquisition, restoration, maintenance or repair: At present the Commission has no intention of purchasing this property. It assumes that all costs associated with renovating and maintaining the structure will be paid by the owner or subsequent owners of the property.

e. Possibilities for adaptive or alternative use of the property: The property could be adapted to a variety of uses.

f. Appraised value: The current tax appraisal value of the structure is $169,740. The current tax appraisal value of the land is $110,000, The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for a deferral of 50% of the rate upon which the Ad Valorem taxes are calculated.

g. The administrative and financial responsibility of any person or organization willing to underwrite all or a portion of such costs: As indicated earlier, at present the Commission has no intention of purchasing this property. Furthermore, the Commission assumes that all costs associated with the structure will be met by whatever party now owns or will subsequently own the property.

9. Documentation of why and in what ways the property meets the criteria established for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places: The Commission judges that the property known as Lynnwood 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 expanded the Federal Government’s recognition of historic properties to include properties of local and state historic significance Because of its association with the life of James B. Duke, Lynnwood has local, state, and national historic significance and is therefore eligible for inclusion in 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 Lynnwood is historically significant to Charlotte for two reasons. First, it is architecturally important as an unrivaled example of opulent residential architecture in the Colonial Revival Style, Second, it has strong associative ties with James Buchanan Duke, a man of preeminent local and regional significance.

 

 

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Chain Of Title For Lynnwood

1. Book 283 Page 339 (November 10, 1911)
Grantor: The Stephens Co.
Grantee: Z. V. Taylor & Wife, Irving Scales Taylor

2. Book 286, Page 652 (November 10, 1911)
Grantor: Z. V. Taylor & Wife, Irving Scales Taylor
Grantee: American Trust Co.

3. Book 336, Page 84 (July 1, 1914)
Grantor: Z. V. Taylor & Wife, Irving Scales Taylor
Grantee: American Trust Co.

4. Book 402, Page 85 (March 8, 1919)
Grantor: Z. V. Taylor & Wife, Irving Scales Taylor
Grantee: James B. Duke

5. Book 628, Page 230 (July 1, 1926)
Grantor: Nanaline H. Duke (widow)
Grantee: C. C. Coddington

6. Book 628, Page 220 (July 13, 1926)
Grantor: R. S. Hutchinson, Commissioner
Grantee: C.C. Coddington

7. Book 731, Page 468 (February 16, 1929)
Grantor: Union National Bank, Trustee under the will of C. C. Coddington
Grantee: M. L. Cannon & Wife, O. B. Cannon

8. Book 1413, Page 339 (December 27, 1949)
Grantor: M. L. Cannon & Wife, O. B. Cannon
Grantee: Trustees of Myers Park Presbyterian Church

9. Book 1415, Page 97 (January 6, 1950)
Grantor: M. L. Cannon & Wife, 0. B. Cannon
Grantee: Trustees of Myers Park Presbyterian Church

10. Book 1905, Page 109 (February 26, 1957)
Grantor: O. B. Cannon (Widow) of M. L. Cannon
Grantee: Trustees of Myers Park Presbyterian Church

11. Book 1918, Page 545 (April 29, 1957)
Grantor: Trustees of Myers Park Presbyterian Church
Grantee: Henry A. Lineberger & Wife, Clayton Sullivan Lineberger

 

 

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Bibliography

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

“The Richest Man Who Ever Lived In Charlotte,” Charlotte Magazine January/February 1974) pp. 28-30, 39-42.

Charlotte News (April 14, 1962).

Charlotte News (December 12, 1974). Estate Records of Mecklenburg County.

C. H. Hamlin, Ninety Bits Of North Carolina Biography (1946), pp. 118-120.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds Office.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Tax Office.

The Charlotte Observer (October 24, 1925).

The Charlotte Observer (July 5, 1936).

The Charlotte Observer (April 26, 1937).

The Charlotte Observer (April 4, 1957).

The Charlotte Observer (August 22, 1971).

John K. Winkler, Tobacco Tycoon, The Story of James Buchanan Duke (1942), p. 285.

Date of Preparation of this report: January 5, 1977

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

Telephone: 332-2726

 

 

Architectural Description  

Having seen the burgeoning residential neighborhoods on Trade and Tryon Streets during the Victorian age in Charlotte, in the late 1900’s developers began looking to the country for room to build. Soon after the turn of the century local government became interested in better roads and began acquiring tools and skills for building new and better streets, which in turn encouraged suburban residential development. With the availability of new ‘macadam’ road surfacing, problems with periodic mud seas became less common. Interestingly, the city and county adopted the technique of paving only half of a new road bed with this new hard surface and retaining a hard clay bed on the other half, the clay being less jolting on vehicles and easier on horses’ hooves. The macadam side being thus saved from wear was used primarily in the winter.

So, when the new residential section was opened in “Myers Park” there were adequate roads to the area. Southeast of Charlotte on State Highway 16, this new area was carefully designed to provide unspoiled country home sites. On the brow of a hill, in this new neighborhood, not far from the recently laid Queens Road trolley line and facing south along Highway 16, (the road to Providence Church) Zebulon V. Taylor bought sixteen acres for a new house. Soon after 1910 Taylor commissioned two local architects, Hook and Rogers, to design his new home. It could be accurately assumed that the designers were asked to follow the most up-to-date architectural mode, a style which hearkened back to the earliest days of the republic.

After nearly three quarters of a century of searching every period of the past and every corner of the globe for models, at the beginning of this century architects found only one principal source of inspiration remaining untouched – America’s own colonial past. From leading architects of the early twentieth century came new work in the Neo-Adamesque and Neo-Colonial modes. This Georgian Revival architecture was the style which influenced the design of the Taylor house. As one of the earliest houses in Charlotte done in the Colonial Revival style, the Taylor place demonstrated a sensitive development of this emerging architecture. Zebulon Taylor was a well-to-do official in the growing Charlotte Electric Company, and the details of the house demonstrate his affluence.

The original facade remains intact facing east toward Highway 16, now Providence Road. Originally six bays wide, the front has five light casement windows uniformly spaced across the second floor. Centered on the first floor is a wide twelve panel entrance door with a five light transom. There are fixed four light side windows. Flanking this Georgian door are delicate, fluted Doric pilasters supporting a heavy entablature with a wide denticular molded cornice. Above this,an arched pediment also has dentil molding in the archivolt. Sheltering this entrance is a wide portico roof which rests on four plain rounded Doric columns at the outside edge. Surrounding the flat roof is a carefully detailed railing with a balustrade of angular picket and rail patterns reminiscent of colonial decoration. Placed symmetrically at each side of the entrance portico are twin door openings in which each door is glazed with ten lights. Above each opening is a five light transom. Simple molded frames surround the openings, and beside the doors are full length blinds with solid top panels and fixed louvers in the lower halves. The second floor windows are also fitted with similar louvered blinds.

Rising from a low brick rowlock course at ground level, the exterior walls are square edge white clapboard through two stories to a wide molded frieze above the second floor windows. Resting on a broad bed mold the moderate overhang features a crown mold eave which conceals built-in gutters. Roof surfaces are covered with uniformly spaced square edge slate tile and rise on a steep slope to a continuous ridge running side to side to the gable peaks. Spaced equally on the roof are three gabled dormers. Trimmed with simple Doric pilasters at the sides and elaborate molded cornices, the dormers have six light casement windows with arched fan lights above . The placement of massive brick chimneys at each gabled end is consistent with the colonial symmetry of the original house.

The Taylor family lived in this fine two story classical house until 1919, when it was purchased by James B. Duke. With obvious admiration and respect for the architecture of the house, Duke launched a building program which within a two year period transformed what had been a fine house of substantial proportions to a classical mansion of heroic proportions.

Retaining the original two story rectangular house as one wing at the east, Duke’s architects built an identical two story wing some distance to the west and joined the wings with an ornate two story connector, which included an elaborate pedimented entrance. Other modifications were two level porch wings at the gabled ends of the original house and matching wings on the new west section.

Facing to the north, the main entrance is centered between soaring gabled wings with studied symmetry. Doubled entrance doors rising some eight feet and each glazed with ten rectangular lights occur in an arched order frame. Over the doors is an arched transom with fan lights. Flanking the doors are delicate Doric pilasters supporting a wide entablature with a broken pediment above.

The entrance facade presents a wide center section of three equally spaced bays. On the first floor the center doors are flanked at each side by matching doors cased with molded arched frames and again with matching fan light transoms. On the second floor three windows form a triple bay facade, each bay with twin six light casement sash. This three bay section is further defined by pilasters rising two stories between the windows and doors and paired at each side of the main entrance. These pilasters reflect Roman Doric precedent consistent with other ornamentation on the exterior.

At each side of the center section the gable wings extend to surround the entrance patio. Four massive round Doric columns rise two stories to a wide molded frieze at the front of each wing and create three bays on each floor.

At the second floor in each wing there are skillfully executed wood railings. The angular pattern of the posts and rails in these balustrades reflect strong Georgian influences, and closely resemble elements found in the work of Thomas Jefferson.

The porches created by these wings are variously open or enclosed and create expansive outside areas for adjoining interior rooms, areas used for dining, for lounging, or on the second floor for sleeping, and reflect the obvious need for fresh cool air in the days before mechanical air conditioning. The house design placed great emphasis on this condition with its “H” shape plan and the astonishing total of eight such porch areas, occurring in each instance in the legs of the “H”.

At the western facade there are seven casement windows spaced equally across the second floor with five lights in each leaf. At each window are louvered blinds similar to those on the east side. On the first floor there are three double doors with ten lights in each leaf, and each door with a five light transom. These doors are cased with simple molded frames which duplicate those in the original east facade. Other details on the western facade including dormers and chimneys are similar to those of the original Taylor house.

On the south facade the wide center section joins lofty Doric columned porch wings which reflect the north side detailing. Centered in the connecting section is an arched entrance frame with double doors flanked by side lights having horizontal architraves. This Palladian element is not repeated elsewhere in the house. The south facade is three bays wide and includes equally spaced casement windows flanked by louvered blinds on the second floor. First floor double doors are all arched and with fan light transoms.

The interior of the house as developed by James Duke is said to contain 52 rooms. As one tours the vast array of corridors and halls along whose molded and paneled walls parade rows of single and double elaborately detailed doors, this number seems most appropriate. From an expansive cellar where one may view such sixty year old equipment as a block ice storage room, a massive scrolled door, security vault door, original laundry equipment and numerous carriage parking spaces to the elegant family quarters on two floors above and staff quarters on the third floor, the house obviously includes every conceivable facility for gracious living in the twenties.

With delicate finishes on all surfaces, the ground floor exhibits extremely fine detailing. Floors at the wide entrance colonial vestibule and along the lofty gallery which runs the length of the interior are black and white marble squares laid in a diamond pattern. Plaster walls have elaborate wide chair rails on all walls. At the outside and inside corners of connecting spaces fluted Doric pilasters define the wall surfaces in delicate proportion. Walls above the chair rails have repeated Georgian molded panels. Often these panels provide spaces for hanging treasured paintings. In several important rooms the oak parquetry flooring is patterned to duplicate the arrangement of brick pavers on various exterior terraces.

The main gallery is rigidly symmetrical from the entrance foyer to the high double doors at each end. To the west along this corridor one moves through double doors into a massive parlor, again with highly elaborate plaster Neo-Georgian molded panels, pilasters and cornices. At the opposite end of the gallery there are matching high doubled doors centered in the corridor and installed here for visual symmetry only – the doors are false. Along the south wall of the gallery are three pairs of ten light doors opening to an outside brick patio overlooking one of the three large Duke fountains. Adjacent to the westerly parlor a broad stair rises in two runs to the second floor corridor. Detailed in typical colonial fashion, the stair features fine scrolled brackets at each tread and includes a fine molded iron balustrade with brass finials. At the east end of the gallery is an enclosed service stair rising from the cellar to the garret. At the top level this stair is floored by natural light from an original skylight in the roof. The four massive chimneys are placed in the end wings in such a manner to serve the sun rooms, parlor, dining room, master bedroom and the several smaller sitting rooms and a study. In these rooms is a variety of classical mantels, several with strong Georgian influence. In the dining room and parlor are delicately detailed Adamesque units. Marble is used for fireplace surrounds and hearths in a number of instances. Bath room fixtures are examples of early ceramic castings, and include elaborate brass fixtures of rare design. Lighting in many instances reflect early colonial candle or oil fixtures. In the dining room is a particularly fine huge crystal chandelier.

The landscaping work done under James Duke’s commission included three large fountain pools, that on the north is centered in a round garden inside a circular entrance drive. Another was located in the south garden on an axis with the main entrance and north pool. Then to the west in an expansive landscaped green of generous acreage, Duke built a spectacular spout which lofted Catawba river water 150 feet above astonished Charlotteans.

This extraordinary house occupies a unique place in the architectural history of Charlotte, and quite likely in North Carolina. The faithful discipline of the colonial detailing exhibited throughout the structure presents to the community one of the finest examples of an evolving style which had a lasting influence on twentieth century architecture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This report was written on Dec. 7, 1983

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Earle Sumner Draper House is located at 1621 Queens 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. James R. Boatwright and wife, Lorne
1848 Cavendish Court
Charlotte, N. C. 28211

Telephone: (704) 364-7399

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 browse5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 4727 at page 881. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is: 153-074-04.

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 and Mr. Thomas W. Hanchett.

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 Earle Sumner Draper House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the Earle Sumner Draper House, erected in 1923 and designed by Franklin Gordon, noted Charlotte architect, is one of the finer local examples of the Tudor Revival style of architecture; 2) Earle Sumner Draper, the original owner, occupies a position of great importance in the fields of landscape architecture and urban planning; and 3) the Earle Sumner Draper House is one of the older houses on the section of Queens Road between Queens College and Providence Road.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission contends that the attached architectural description by Miss Lisa A. Stamper and Mr. Thomas W. Hanchett demonstrates that the Earle Sumner Draper 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 .782 acres of land is $29,000. The current appraised value of the improvements is $168,260. The total current appraised value is $197,260. 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 S. Caldwell Street, Box D
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203

Telephone: 704/376-9115

 

 

 

Historical Overview  

Dr. William H. Huffman
March, 1983

A major reason why Charlotte’s suburbs, beginning with the first two made possible by the extension of the streetcar lines, Dilworth and Myers Park, are laid out in curved patterns instead of squares as in the city center, is that Edward Dilworth Latta and George Stephens hired the city planning firms (which became nationally prominent) of the Olmsted Brothers and John Nolen (1869- ) to lay out some of their respective developments. In 1905, Nolen, a graduate of the Wharton School and Harvard, who maintained an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, designed the city’s Independence Park, and for the next two years planned the landscape for some private residences in town. Four years after he was called back by George Stephens to lay out Myers Park in 1911, Nolen hired a young graduate of Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts), Earle Sumner Draper, to supervise the field work.

It was an excellent opportunity indeed for the bright and talented young man, who arrived by train in his newly adopted city in October, 1915. One of the services offered to purchasers of building lots in Myers Park was a landscape design by Earle Draper, and on one day per month, he supervised the construction of the new town of Kingsport, Tennessee. In 1917, just two years after coming to the city, Draper, with his mentor’s approval, hung out his own shingle and went into business for himself.

For the next sixteen years, Draper’s firm (which was possibly the first resident firm of a professionally trained landscape architect in the Southeast) participated in the boom times of the late Teens and Twenties throughout the South. At one time, there were branch offices in Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and New York which employed between twenty and thirty people, and the Draper firm, one of the five largest in the United States, designed over a hundred suburbs, including parts of Myers Park and Eastover in Charlotte, as well as many parks, private grounds, cemeteries and college campuses, including some of Davidson and Winthrop Colleges. Another very important part of Draper’s work was mill village design, of which he executed about one hundred and fifty villages or village extensions, perhaps the greatest number of any firm in the country. ¹

In 1918, a year after he started his own business, Draper purchased a lot on Queens Road in Myers Park, but it wasn’t until five years later, in 1923, that he finally erected a house in the neighborhood that brought him to Charlotte and which provided him with a show place for prospective planning clients. ² To design his new manse, he hired Charlotte architect Franklin Gordon (1870-1930), one of the senior architects of the city. ³ A Maine native, Gordon came to Charlotte in 1905 to supervise construction of the Selwyn Hotel, and from about 1909 to 1917, was in partnership with L. L. (Leonard Legrand) Hunter (1881-1925) in the city. In addition to designing Mercy Hospital, Gordon was known for his architectural work on some of the city’s finest residences, including the E. C. Marshall mansion at Hermitage and Ardsley, and others on Queens Road. ⁴

It is possible that the Tudor style for the house was selected because of Mr. Draper’s contacts with English planners and garden designers, some of whom he met in his travels overseas. The choice of architecture in turn would be a factor in hiring Gordon to do the design, since he had a special affinity for that style. ⁵ The Clement Construction Company, a Charlotte concern which also built Duke University’s gothic stone buildings, completed the structure in about eight months, at a cost of between $40,000 and $45,000, and the landscape design, naturally enough, was executed by the owner. Even the windows were true to the style, requiring 4,400 small, diamond-shaped leaded panes of glass, and the family crest of carved stone was prominently installed in the chimney face. Behind the house was a garage and a stable (with a pony and a horse), and an oval rose garden. ⁶

When E. S. Draper, his wife Norma, and their three boys (another boy and a girl were added to the family in the next few years) moved into the handsome, angled Tudor house, it was located on a broad boulevard with the streetcar line running in either direction down the middle. The line ended just three blocks south, at Queens College, three miles from its beginning at the Square. At the time, there were only a few other houses on that section of Queens Road, and the area in back was still wooded parts of John Myers’ former plantation not yet developed by his son-in-law, George Stephens. ⁷

For nine years, the Drapers enjoyed a typical upper-middle-class life of the time, employing a cook (for whom they built on a small apartment with bath downstairs behind the kitchen), a maid and a chauffeur-handyman, as well as gardening help. The children, who played in the large attic on rainy days (and got into much mischief there, according to E. S. Draper, Jr.) attended school in Elizabeth, arriving and departing in the chauffeur-driven family car, until 1928, when Myers Park Elementary opened to serve that area. They all enjoyed the flower gardens immediately in the back and side of the house, as well as the small pool in the back with a marble fountain, a cherub holding a goose, in the middle, which the Drapers had purchased on a trip to Italy in 1922. ⁸

In 1932, when the Great Depression was inflicting a heavy economic toll on the nation, E. S. Draper’s firm was still in business, although considerably diminished. On a business trip to Washington that year, he was called to a meeting with Dr. Arthur Morgan, the new chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

When the two men met at the Washington Hotel, Draper was offered the job of Director of Town Planning and Housing for TVA, based on his reputation as a new-town planner, and he asked for time to think over the proposal. On returning to Charlotte, he saw that his firm still had plenty of work remaining, and he considered that the position he had been offered “was probably the greatest opportunity that would ever be afforded in this country in the field of town planning and regional planning.” ⁹

Thus he left his planning business to be supervised by an assistant, Harold Burdsley, and accepted the assignment with the idea that he would return to Charlotte after a few years, and the spacious house on Queens Road was rented out. The TVA work turned out to be the exceptional opportunity for Draper that he thought it would, and he was able to make his influence felt in strictly controlling land use, developing shoreline recreation along the reservoirs, and creating the new town of Norris, Tennessee. Draper’s plan of returning to Charlotte never materialized, however, because new opportunities continued to beckon. When the TVA work was winding down by 1940, he was offered a position with the recently formed Federal Housing Administration, which wanted him to be involved in new town development. With the onset of the war, however, those plans had to be shelved for the duration, and, instead of civilian dwellings, Draper took on the important task of war housing throughout the country.

Near the end of the war in 1945, President Truman named him temporarily to be the head of FHA as Acting Commissioner. When hostilities finally ceased later that year, Draper remained in Washington as a consultant, and twenty years later, in 1965, retired to Vero Beach, Florida, some fifty years after coming to Charlotte to launch his career. ¹⁰

While pursuing his career in federal service, Earle Draper held on to the Tudor house on Queens Road for twelve years, during which time it was let to a series of tenants and came to have the reputation among the children of the area of being haunted. Thus when Thomas F. Kerr (1885-1962), who had his own real estate and property management firm, and his wife Bleeka purchased the Draper house in 1944, the youngest of their two daughters, Jane (Mrs. Hal R. Williams of Columbia, S. C.) had grave misgivings, since she was one of the neighborhood children who wouldn’t even Trick-or-Treat there on Halloween. To give the place a less somber look and change its image in the mind of their daughter (the oldest daughter Nancy, was a student at Finch College, N.Y.), the Kerrs rehabilitated the house and lightened many of its colors, which included the painted landscape on canvas covering the entryway. Despite their pleadings, Mr. Kerr wouldn’t buy a horse for the girls to put in the old Draper stable, but he did convert it into a cozy playroom for them with a fireplace at one end.

The Draper house is still a fine piece of Tudor architecture from another time in Charlotte. It is at once a credit to Franklin Gordon’s skills as an architect and his knowledge of that style, as well as a reflection of an up-and-coming city where professionals like Earle Draper could launch a successful career which led to national recognition. It is also intimately a part of an upper-middle-class style of life in Charlotte of the Twenties, with its new streetcar suburbs laid out by a new breed of town planners and landscape architects. The Tudor house on Queens Road is, without question, a classic example which represents a particular time and place in Charlotte’s history.

 

 

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NOTES

¹ Tom Hanchett, “Charlotte’s Neighborhood Planning Tradition,” unpublished paper, 1983, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission.

² Deed Book 392, p.54, 2 May 1918.

³ Interview with E. S. Draper, Jr., Charlotte, N.C. 10 March 1983.

⁴ Charlotte Observer, September 25, 1930, p.10.

⁵ Interview with E. S. Draper, Jr.

⁶ Ellen Scarborough, “The Story of the Draper House” ASID Designer House (Charlotte, 1981), p.8.

⁷ Interview with E. S. Draper, Jr.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Charles W. Crawford, Memphis State University Oral History Research Office Project, 30 December 1969, p.3.

¹⁰ Hanchett, pp.13-15.

¹¹ Deed Book 1132, p.587, 27 July 1944.

¹² Interview with Thomas Kerr Freeman, Charlotte, N.C., 10 March 1983; Scarborough, p.16.

 

 

Architectural Description  

by Lisa Stamper and Tom Hanchett

The Earle Sumner Draper residence on Queens Road in Charlotte’s Myers Park suburb is among Charlotte’s finest examples of Tudor Revival architecture. Draper, perhaps the leading planner and landscape architect in the Southeast during the first half of the twentieth century, chose Charlotte architect Franklin Gordon to design his residence, which was completed in 1923. Today the exterior of the Draper house remains in excellent original condition, though the interior was remodeled in the Colonial style in the 1940s.

The Draper house is a three-dimensional play of materials and shapes formed into an asymmetrical but balanced design. In massing, a two-story main block faces the boulevard, with an angled service wing projecting to the rear off the northeast side of the structure. A variety of building materials gives the house a horizontal, three layered look, with a different material dominating each level. The first story is brick, the second story wooden “half-timbering” with stucco infill, and the high-pitched roof is covered with black slate.

Windows and doors fill the facades of the house, carefully subordinate to the overall composition, yet providing a wealth of light to the interior, unusual for the Tudor Style. Window groupings vary in shape and pattern as one moves around the structure. Those on the first floor feature Tudor arches or rectangular label-moldings executed in limestone by John Morton and Company, the region’s premier stonemasons in the period. Upstairs windows are set into the half-timbering without further surrounds. All windows are casement type, with wooden frames and rectangular or diamond-shaped lights.

Two elements give the asymmetrical front facade a vertical balance. A gabled, full-height entrance bay projects from the front of the house. A heavy, six-paneled wooden front door with diagonal-pane sidelights is contained under a stone Tudor arch in the first story of the bay. At the second story, half-timbering with diagonally-set brick infill instead of stucco provides visual emphasis. A tall, half timbered gable with bracketed bargeboards and a small, diamond-paned casement window crowns the bay. The second vertical element is the massive double-shouldered chimney. Made of brick with stone shoulders and a carved stone “family crest,” it projects an air of domesticity, promising the visitor a merry hearth within.

Both gable-ends of the main block of the house have smaller projecting gable-within-gable roofs. The north one covers a first floor porch topped by an enclosed sleeping porch, The slate floor of the open first level is a few steps above the ground, and is visible through three large tudor-arched openings. The south projection covers a first-story sunroom and second story sleeping porch. The sunroom opens onto an outdoor garden enclosed by a brick wall, which leads one toward the rear yard.

At the back of the house, the main wing and the angled service wing shelter an outdoor living area. An ornate brick and carved stone balustrade encloses a raised terrace. A tudor-arched brick porch covers a small part of the terrace where the two wings meet. Thick brick posts topped by lamps indicate openings in the terrace balustrade that lead the visitor out into the back yard. A low fountain and pool surrounded by shrubbery provide a focus for the terrace. Landscaping has undoubtedly changed much with the passage of time, but slate pathways still define the old gardens that Draper laid out, and the trees he planted still shade the lawns.

A former stable is located at the end of the asphalt driveway that snakes around the north side of the service wing. The stable is a one-story rectangular structure with a high hipped roof. A rectangular double-hung window with eight-over-one lights is located on its southwest side. The clapboard sheathed structure was converted to a playroom in the 1940s and an addition was made at the rear, using similar materials, with a brick chimney.

Returning to the house, one quickly realizes that it is but one room deep in most places in order to provide the maximum natural light to the interior. Entering through the front door, the visitor arrives in a spacious foyer. To the right is the “great hall,” a combined living and dining room, with the sunroom at its end. Originally the hearth in this space boasted a massive oak Tudor mantle. This mantle was relegated to the attic in the 1940s, where it remains to this day, and was replaced by a delicate Federal style mantle in keeping with the new owner’s Colonial Revival tastes. The foyer holds the grand stair leading to the bedrooms on the second floor. Its Tudor balustrade has been replaced with a spindly Colonial one. Bedrooms for adults occupied the second floor of the main block of the house, Earle Sumner Draper, Jr., remembers, while the Draper sons slept and played in the rooms on the second floor of the service wing. The first story of the service wing holds the large kitchen and a small servants’ bedroom in a one-story extension at the end.

The Colonializing of the interior in the 1940s was skillfully done, and it is difficult to pick out what was changed. The stair balustrades and delicate wood and black marble mantles date from that time, and probably the dentil cornices in some of the rooms do also. Draper remembers that the huge windows that dominate the “great hall” originally had leaded diamond panes, but now have square wooden ones. The noteworthy hand-painted wallpaper in the foyer also dates from the forties.

The house was used as Charlotte’s annual American Society of Interior Designers “Designer House” in 1981, and received more superficial alterations. The current owners, Jim and Lorne Boatwright are now stripping and staining the first-story wood floors and painting all the rooms. They plan to replace much of the plumbing, necessitating destruction of tile bathroom floors, and will remove all bath fixtures and radiators. Second-floor bathrooms will be enlarged, and a second story bedroom wall will be removed to create a larger space which will then connect to a bath. In the service wing, a wall will be demolished to expand the kitchen and all cabinets and fixtures will be discarded. New central heating and air conditioning will be added to the house, along with an alarm system.

Both historically and architecturally, the Earle Sumner Draper House occupies an important place in Charlotte. It is the grandest residence on the section of Queens Road stretching from Providence Road to Queens College. For sixty years it has been a notable part of the Myers Park neighborhood, said to be the finest suburb south of Baltimore in its early days, a development widely emulated throughout the Southeast. Today Myers Park remains one of the city’s most fashionable neighborhoods, but Queens Road with its picturesque grassy median is now a major thoroughfare. Charlotte’s zoning board is under constant pressure to allow high-density multifamily redevelopment in the area, and has recently given in to demands in other parts of Myers Park. Because of its outstanding and well preserved Tudor Revival exterior, because of its important place in the streetscape of Myers Park, and because of its association with the Southeast’s most active early planner, the Earle Sumner Draper House merits protection as an historic property.

 This report was written on December 5, 1979.

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the John Douglas House is located on Christie Lane in the Steele Creek Community or southwestern portion of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner and occupant of the Property:
The present owners of the property are:
James Marshall Stallings & wife, Nancy B. Stallings
RFD 4
Christie Lane
Charlotte, N.C. 28208

Telephone: 588-0136

The present occupants of the property are:
James Marshall Stallings, Nancy B. Stallings, Amy Elizabeth Stallings (daughter)
RFD 4
Christie Lane
Charlotte, N.C. 28208

Telephone: 588-0316

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 browse5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The current deed to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3125, Page 265. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is 14104219.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property:
The house was built ca. 1867 for John Douglas (1809-1879) , minister of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church and Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church from July 6, 1867 until his death on October 8. 1879. ¹ A native of Chester, SC, Douglas was a graduate of South Carolina College and the Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC. Ordained on April 30, 1836, by the Bethel Presbytery he served initially as minister of a congregation in Chester for approximately twelve years. In the late 1840’s, he transferred to the Charleston Presbytery, where he headed the James Island Presbyterian Church. ²

The evidence suggests that John Douglas was a refined and erudite individual. He and his wife, Frances G. Douglas (1800-1984), traveled extensively in Europe before the Civil War. ³ He possessed a library of approximately 1300 volumes, which he bequeathed to the Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC. ⁴ He was the author of the first history of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church, published in 1872. ⁵ Douglas was a Trustee of Davidson College and, even more significantly, served as the moderator of the Synod of North Carolina when it met in Second Presbyterian Church in Charlotte in 1877. ⁶ John Douglas preached his first sermon at Steele Creek Presbyterian Church on November 19, 1865, more than a year and a half before he was officially installed as pastor. ⁷ During the Civil War he had been a missionary among Confederate troops who had been stationed along the coast from Charleston to Savannah. ⁸ When he came to Mecklenburg County, the congregations at Steele Creek and Pleasant Hill were plagued with factionalism and internal bickering. Local tradition holds that Douglas was mindful of this fact when he decided to purchase land and erect his home immediately behind Steele Creek Presbyterian. ⁹ Undoubtedly, he was successful in bringing the people back together. One writer contends that his ministry “well nigh attained unto perfection.” ¹⁰ The Charlotte Observer described Douglas as a “greatly beloved pastor. ” The Charlotte Democrat echoed these sentiments, stating that he was “much beloved by his Church people and by all who knew him.” ¹² Every Sunday Douglas conducted two services, the first at Steele Creek and the second at Pleasant Hill some eight miles away by horseback. ¹³

John Douglas had no children. Susannah Baker, an orphan whom Rev. and Mrs. Douglas had taken in as a child, lived in the house as a servant. She died shortly after the death of John Douglas. ¹⁴ Mrs. Douglas expired on April 2, 1884, and was buried beside her husband in the cemetery at Steele Creek Presbyterian Church. ¹⁵ Thereafter, the property was inherited by James P. Walker and Fannie Walker , children of John Douglas’s nephew, William A. Walker. The new owners resided in Chester SC, and, consequently, rented the John Douglas House to tenants. ¹⁶ They sold the property in December 1921. ¹⁷ The house passed through several hands until September 27, 1950, when Sterling J. Foster, Jr., and his wife, Alma K. Foster purchased the property and established their residence there. ¹⁸ After the death of her husband, the former Mrs. Foster married William Staiger. Again the John Douglas House became rental property. In the mid-1960’s James Marshall Stallings and his wife, Nancy Brigmon Stallings, lived there. ¹⁹ On September 3. 1969, Mr. and Mrs. Stallings purchased the John Douglas House, where they continue to maintain their residence. ²⁰

 

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Notes

¹ Rev. John Douglas. The History Of Steele Creek Church (Presbyterian Publishing House, 1872). p. 73. Mrs. Robert McDowell, A List of those Buried in Historic Steele Creek Burying Grounds, p. 30. Hereafter cited as McDowell.

² The History of of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church (Craftsman Printing and Publishing House, Charlotte, N.C., 1978), pp. 65-70. Hereafter cited as Steele Creek History.

³ McDowell, p. 30. Charlotte Observer (October 9, 1879), p. 3 Steele Creek History, p. 70. Mecklenburg County Will Book K, p. 387. Mecklenburg County Will Book L. p. 72. Mecklenburg County Orders and Decrees Book 19, p. 517.

⁴ Mecklenburg County Will Book K, P. 387. Mecklenburg County Orders and Decrees Book 19, p. 517.

⁵ see Rev. John Douglas, The History of Steele Creek Church (Presbyterian Publishing House, 1872). A second edition was published in 1901, see The History Of Steele Creek Church, Mecklenburg County, N.C. (Observer Printing and Publishing House Charlotte, N.C., 1901).

⁶ Steele Creek History, pp. 65-70.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ James Island Presbyterian Church was destroyed at the outset of the Civil War.

⁹ Ibid., p. 69.

¹⁰ Rufus A. Grier., “Historical Sketch: Steele Creek Presbyterian Church” p. 4.

¹¹ Charlotte Observer (October 9, 1879), p. 3.

¹² Charlotte Democrat (October 10, 1879), p. 3.

¹³ Steele Creek History . p. 70. Steele Creek Presbyterian Church is one of the oldest Presbyterian congregations in Mecklenburg County. It called its first pastor in 1766. Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church was established on June 4, 1837.

¹⁴ Mecklenburg County Will Book K, p. 387. Mecklenburg County Orders and Decrees Book 199 p. 517. Susannah Baker died on October 6, 1880, at the age of fifty (McDowell, p. 32.).

¹⁵McDowell, p. 30.

¹⁶ Mecklenburg County Will Book L p. 72. Mecklenburg County Orders and Decrees Book 19, p. 517.

¹⁷ Mecklenburg County Orders and Decrees Book 19, p. 517. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 458, p. 553.

¹⁸ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 462, p. 53. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 838, p. 540. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 888, p. 41. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 886, p. 148. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1129, p. 152. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1190, p. 459. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1322, p. 187. Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1464, p. 87.

¹⁹ Interview of Nancy Brigmon Stallings by Dr. Dan L. Morrill (Nov. 8, 1979).

²⁰ Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3125 p. 265.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description of the property prepared by Laura A. W. Phillips, 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. Special significance in terms of its hi history, architecture and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the John Douglas House does possess special historic significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) it is one of the few elements of the mid-nineteenth century historic built environment which survives in the Steele Creek or southwestern portion of Mecklenburg County, 2) the house possesses architectural significance as one of the finer examples of a vernacular Greek Revival style farmhouse which survives in Mecklenburg County, and 3) the initial owner Rev. John Douglas was an individual of local and regional importance in the Presbyterian Church.

b. Integrity of design, setting workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission judges that the architectural description included herein demonstrates that the property known as the John Douglas House meets this criterion. It is important to note that the house exhibits characteristics frequently found in mid-nineteenth dwellings in tidewater South Carolina a region with which Rev. Douglas was intimately acquainted.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply annually for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes “historic property.” The current tax appraisal on the 5.03 acres of land is $9,050. The current tax appraisal on the improvements is $14,750. The most recent tax bill on the property was $211.57. The property is zoned R12.

 

 

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Bibliography

The Charlotte Democrat.

The Charlotte News.

The Charlotte Observer.

Rev. John Douglas. The History of Steele Creek Church (Presbyterian Publishing House 1872).

Rev. John Douglas, The History Of Steele Creek Church, Mecklenburg County, N.C. (Observer Print and Publishing House, Charlotte , N.C., 1901).

Rufus A. Grier, “Historical Sketch Steele Creek Presbyterian Church.” (a brochure in the vertical files of the Carolina Room of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library).

Mrs. Robert McDowell. A List of those Buried in Historic Steele Creek Burying Grounds.

Dr. Dan L. Morrill Interview of Nancy Brignon Stallings (November 8, 1979).

Records of the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court’s Office.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds Office.

Records of the Mecklenburg County Tax Office.

Date of preparation of this Report: December 5, 1979.

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill, Director
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
3500 Shamrock Dr.
Charlotte, N.C. 28215

Telephone: (704) 332-2726

 

 

Architectural Description  

The John Douglas House is located on Christie Lane in the Steele Creek Community of Mecklenburg County. Although at one end of the long lane leading to the house there is a large subdivision of houses, the Douglas House itself is set on a rise in the land in the center of fields and wooded areas so that it retains its rural atmosphere.

The Douglas House is a simple, one and a half story frame cottage in the late Greek Revival style. It is three bays wide and two bays deep and has a one-story ell on the left rear. There is a one-bay wide entrance porch on the front (south side) and screened porches across the rear of the house and along the inside (east side) of the ell. The house is covered with weatherboarding, except for the small area of the front porch, which is covered with flush boarding. The corners of the house are accented by plain vertical stiles. The gable roof is of medium pitch and the cornice is boxed. Two interior brick chimneys with corbelled caps are symmetrically placed within the main body of the house, while an exterior, single stepped shoulder brick chimney is positioned at the rear of the ell. Most windows, including those in the gable ends, are 9/9 sash, while others are 6/6. The batten shutters appear to be replacements. The house is set on a brick pier foundation, the interstices of which have now been in-filled with brick.

Five steps with ironwork balustrade of recent vintage lead to the front entrance porch, which covers only slightly more area than the doorway itself. The porch is covered by a hipped roof which is supported by plain wood Doric posts at each corner. Plain balustrades connect these posts to the front wall of the house. Resting directly on the posts is a rather crude, though vaguely classical, tripartite architrave formed by weatherboarding. The double leaf front door has octagonal panels in the upper halves and is surrounded by sidelights and transom.

The screened porches on the rear of the house appear to have been built at two different times. The porch along the east side of the ell has a hipped roof, while the one along the rear of the main body of the house has a shed roof and may date from a later period. Both porches have a plain Doric post at each corner and both have a solid wood balustrade. However, the two are joined in a rather awkward manner.

The interior of the Douglas House displays a center hall plan with two rooms on either side and auxiliary rooms in the rear ell. The upstairs half story contains one room on either side of the stair landing.

The stairway to the second floor is located at the rear of the wide center hall. In order to fit the available space, it runs seven risers from the front, then turns on a straight landing and returns on a fourteen-riser run to the center of the story above. The balustrade is somewhat unusual, in that it combines rather Victorian bulbous (though not especially heavy) newel posts with a delicate rounded handrail reminiscent of the Federal period. The balusters are plain and square in section.

Four-panel doors open from the center hall to the rooms on either side. On the right side are the dining room and kitchen with back-to-back fireplaces. On the left side are the parlor and sitting room, again with back-to-back fireplaces. The mantels in the downstairs rooms, except for in the kitchen, are transitional between the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The molding on door and window surrounds and baseboards is all very simple. Paneled aprons below the 9/9 windows add a decorative element. The walls in the four major rooms of the house are plastered, and picture molding is positioned about one foot down from the ceiling. The floors are composed of floor boards approximately five inches in width.

The ell on the left rear of the house is made up of a short hall with bathroom and closet on either side and a rear bedroom. The walls of this bedroom are covered with flush boarding rather than plaster.

In the upstairs half story, the walls and ceilings of the two bedrooms are also covered with flush boarding. To accommodate the available space, the upper front and back walls of these rooms slant inward to meet the ceiling. The large 9/9 sash windows in the gable ends run almost floor to ceiling in the loft rooms, providing an unexpected amount of light. As in the downstairs rooms, the doors leading to each room have four flat panels. The interior chimneys pass through the center of these rooms, breaking up the space. Here there are no fireplaces, and instead, the chimneys are covered with plaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This report was written on Nov. 3, 1981.

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Reverend George H. Detwiler House is located at 801 Sunnyside Avenue, Charlotte, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner and occupant of the property:
The present occupants and owners of the property are:
George C. Stevens and Kenneth E. Davis
801 Sunnyside Avenue
Charlotte, North Carolina 28204

Telephone: 704/376-5028

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

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

5. Current Deed Book reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 4369 at page 737. The current tax parcel number of the property is 080-212-02.

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

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

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

 

a. Special Significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Historic Properties Commission judges that the property known as the Reverend George H. Detwiler House does possess historical significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: (1) the house, erected c. 1903, is the oldest house on Sunnyside Avenue, the best-preserved street in Piedmont Park, one of Charlotte’s earliest streetcar suburbs. (2) the House is the finest local example of an extant one-and-one-half story Queen Anne style brick home. (3) Reverend George H. Detwiler, the original owner, was a Methodist minister of local and regional significance.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association: The Commission judges that the architectural description included herein demonstrates that the property known as the Reverend George H. Detwiler House meets this criterion.

c. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply annually for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes “historic property”. The current Ad Valorem tax appraisal of the entire .347 acre tract is $5,290.00. The current Ad Valorem tax appraisal on the improvements is $21,780.00. The total Ad Valorem tax appraisal is $27,070.00.

Date of preparation of this report: November 3, 1981

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

Telephone: 704/332-2726

 

 

Historical Overview  

Dr. William H. Huffman
August, 1981

On March 2, 1903, Mattie E. Detwiler (1853-1920), the wife of the Reverend Doctor George H. Detwiler, purchased a lot on Sunnyside avenue in Piedmont Park for $850.00. ¹ Piedmont Park was a new suburb east of Charlotte which was made possible by a streetcar line which ran out Central Avenue from 7th, McDowell, and Trade Streets.

Rev. Detwiler was born at Findlay, Ohio, August 31, 1853, but was raised in Mercer County, Illinois. Following his education in that state, he taught school in Illinois and Iowa. In 1877, the young man married Mattie Griffin of Iowa, and in that same year entered the ministry there , where he served several charges for the following nine years. He studied for a year at the Garrett Biblical Institute in 1886, then became an evangelist in Iowa and neighboring states for about seven years. In 1894, he was placed in charge of a school for mountain children in Hendersonville, N.C., where he served for three years. After 1897, Rev. Detwiler began to rise rapidly in church ranks, and was appointed to a series of positions. ² In that year he was assigned to the Rutherfordton circuit, then a year later posted to Gastonia, where he remained until 1902, when the church called on him to pastor the Trinity Methodist Church in Charlotte. ³ Trinity Methodist Church was organized in 1895 and built in 1898 at the southeast corner of S. Tryon and 2nd Streets. ⁴ It merged with the Tryon Street Methodist Church in 1927, which eventually became the present First United Methodist Church on N. Tryon. ⁵

The house on Sunnyside Avenue in Piedmont Park was probably commissioned to be built by the Piedmont Realty Co. in March, 1903, several months after the Detwilers were assigned to Charlotte. The purchase of that date suggests a lot without a house yet built on it. A former resident of the house, Katherine McLeskey, understood that Mrs. Detwiler designed the house, and a former owner, Virginia Casey, reports old-time neighbors saying that the minister’s wife carefully supervised all the materials and construction of the dwelling, which was the first to be erected on Sunnyside Avenue. ⁶ Considering that the Detwilers were brought from distant places for burial in Charlotte, and that two of their four daughters had settled in Gastonia, it seems probable that Mrs. Detwiler built her “dream house” as an investment or for retirement, or both, since it would have been obvious to them that they would be transferred a number of times in the future. ⁷

After two years at Trinity, Rev. Detwiler was made the presiding elder of the Salisbury District, where he only served one year before transfer to Greensboro as pastor of the West Market Street Church, a post he held for four years. About 1908, the popular minister was again posted to Charlotte for a year, this time to the Tryon Street Church. Following this assignment, he was sent to Asheville for a year, then sent on to Nashville in 1910 to the West End Church, which was an important post because of its service to the students of Vanderbilt University. While serving in Nashville, Rev. Detwiler’s health broke, and he retired to Asheville in early 1914 with the hope of recovering, but he died there July 5, 1914. ⁸

Dr. Detwiler’s popularity was proven by the several hundred people who attended his funeral at the Tryon Street Church in Charlotte on July 8th. Delegations came from Gastonia, Greensboro and Asheville, and four locally prominent ministers gave laudatory orations which were quoted at length in the local newspapers. The deceased pastor was regarded as exceptionally gifted with the use of words, and was “regarded by all denominations as one of the ablest and most influential preachers of the city.” ⁹ In 1907, the Detwilers sold the house to Mr. John Elmer Dye for the price of $3500.00. ¹⁰ Mr. Dye was a traveling salesman who was born in Boone County, Indiana. ¹¹ The residence provided the home in which the two children of the family, Robert M. and Hanna May Dye, grew up. The Dyes had a piano in the living room for the use of their son, who apparently showed considerable talent on the instrument. The mother of one of his friends, Hal Kemp, would not let her boy practice his horn at home, and the group that gathered as a consequence in the Dye living room for practice became the nucleus of the Hal Kemp Orchestra, a well-known name of the Big Band era. ¹²

After twenty-two years at the Sunnyside address, the Dyes sold the house to Dr. Joseph Hamilton McLeskey in 1929. ¹³ They waited until the next year to move (to Glen Falls, NY), in order to allow Hanna Dye to finish high school in Charlotte. Dr. McLeskey practiced medicine from an office on N. Caldwell Street, and it was he who built the still-standing double garage in the back of the property to accommodate his necessary automobile. Dr. McLeskey’s daughter recalls that she and her friends used to ride the streetcar on Central Avenue and remark about the unusual house visible down on Sunnyside, and one day her father came in to supper and announced that he had just bought that very house. The McLeskeys were South Carolina natives, and retired there to Clemson after the doctor quit active medical practice, but they raised their two children, Katherine and Joseph Hamilton, Jr., in Charlotte. ¹⁵ In 1941, the McLeskeys moved to Hermitage Road and rented the house to Carson D. Stout, who was a superintendent at the Carolina Bedding Co. in Charlotte. ¹⁶ a year later, Dwight Lyman Casey and his wife, Virginia Lea Cathey Casey, bought the property, but did not move in until 1943. ¹⁷ The Caseys also lived in the house for over twenty years, and it was the home in which they raised their four children. In 1966, the Caseys leased the house to the Carolina Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association, who did extensive interior modernizing to use it as their office. ¹⁸ In 1972, the property was sold to Advanced Lighting Products, Inc., but the Caseys repurchased it in 1978 as a result of a defaulted deed of trust. ¹⁹ After Mr. Casey’s death in 1978, Mrs. Casey sold the site to Michael M. Normile, who is a contractor specializing in restoring houses for resale. ²⁰ Mr. Normile in turn sold the house, after exterior restoration, to the present owner, George C. Stevenson, who has taken great interest in restoring the house to its original condition. ²¹

 

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NOTES

¹ Deed Book 173, p. 526, 2 March 1903.

² Encyclopedia of World Methodism (United Methodist Publishing House, 1974), I, 671.

³ Charlotte Observer, July 6, 1914, p. 1.

⁴ Information supplied by the Church archivist, Mrs. George Scranton of Charlotte; Charlotte City Directory, 1903, p. 28.

⁵ Ibid., also information given by Mr. Owen McClure, Historian of Trinity Methodist Church, Charlotte.

⁶ Interview with Katherine McLeskey, Clemson, SC, 9 August 1981; Interview with Virginia Casey, Charlotte, N.C., same date.

⁷ Rev. Detwiler died in Asheville; see below; Mrs. Detwiler died in Morganton: Charlotte News, Nov. 26, 1920, p. 3; both are interred at Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte.

⁸ Charlotte News, July 6, 1914, p. 1.

⁹ Ibid., July 8, 1914, p. 2; Encyclopedia of World Methodism, cited above.

¹⁰ Deed Book 222, p. 672, 25 May 1907.

¹¹ Delayed Certificate of Birth Registration, Vol. 2, p. 310.

¹² See Note 6.

¹³ Deed Book 735, p. 172, 5 Feb. 1929.

¹⁴ Interview with Mary Maffitt by Kathy Fox, 22 Jan. 1981.

¹⁵ Interview with Katherine McLeskey, cited above.

¹⁶ Charlotte City Directory, 1941, p. 485.

¹⁷ Deed Book 109, p. 491, 14 Aug. 1942; Charlotte City Directory, 1942, p. 758.

¹⁸ Interview with Virginia Casey by Kathy Fox, 20 Jan. 1981.

¹⁹ Deed Book 3400, p. 70, 2 March 1972; Deed Book 4053, p. 165, 28 Feb. 1978.

²⁰ Deed Book 4072, p. 966, 16 June 1978.

²¹ Deed Book 4369, p. 737, 11 Nov. 1980.

 

 

Architectural Description  

The Detwiler House, built about 1903, is a one-and-a-half story Queen Anne structure that displays the asymmetrical massing and textural contrasts typical of the genre. The house stands on a lot measuring 100 feet by 150 feet and anchors the northeastern corner of the intersection of Sunnyside Avenue and Piedmont Street in Piedmont Park. Although the neighborhood is bisected by Central Avenue and bordered by Independence Boulevard, of the city’s most congested traffic arteries, it still retains many small houses; the Detwiler, with its strategic corner site, picturesque elevations, and two detached dependencies, acts as an architectural stabilizer and focus for the surrounding residential fabric.

The house is built of brick laid in running bond. It stands one-a-half stories high on a brick basement trimmed with a three course water table. The body of the house is capped by a broadly splayed hipped roof. Two interior end chimneys, one hipped dormer, centrally located on the main (south) facade, and a polygonal corner pierce the roof. The rectangular lot is sharply elevated above the sidewalks that edge the southern and western perimeters of the yard. A run of five concrete steps leads from the main (south) to a symmetrically-curved pavement. This pavement fronts a steep run of seven wooden stairs that rise to the central entrance bay of the generous wrap-around porch. The porch engulfs the principal story for almost the full length of the south and west elevations. In plan, the porch consists of a pentagonal bay that sweeps along the southwestern corner of the house, protecting while dramatizing a rounded corner bay projecting from the body of the house. The corner bay serves as base of the one-and-a-half story polygonal corner tower.

The porch is supported by a foundation of brick piers connected by wooden lattices. A slightly pent roof shelters the porch. Its boldly overhanging eaves are broken by a central gablet positioned to indicate the entrance. A simple rakeboard outlines the gablet and its face is sheathed with share shingles. The center of the face carries a rectangular louvered vent.

Ten unfluted wooden columns, paired at the porch entrance bay, hold up a simple two-part entablature running beneath the porch roof eaves. Beneath a plain abacus the necking of each column is heavily encircled by astragals whose profiles complement the horizontal beaded molding dividing the entablature in two. A wooden balustrade runs between the columns. The balustrade is built of a plain molded handrail above turned balusters that rest on a rectangular-in-section footrail. The porch floor is covered with thin ceiling and the ceiling is covered with thin beaded ceiling.

The main entrance contains a single-leaf door, glazed above the lock-rail, and divided into two horizontal raised-panels along the lower register. Two sidelights above raised, lead aprons flank the door. A three-light transom set with translucent glass runs across the top of the entrance. A segmental arch, built of three courses of rowlock bricks, surmounts the entire composition.

East of the entrance the porch is stepped back to meet a demihexagonal bay carry full length one-over-one sash. These windows are set in plain board surrounds framed by rectilinear raised and flat panels trimmed with bead and ovolo molding. West of the entrance the rounded corner bay is pierced by two one-over-one sash windows. Each is framed by plain board surrounds placed beneath segmental arches built of rowlock bricks, echoing the motives of the central entrance. Above the body of the bay the polygonal corner is lit by five translucent glass plates set in attic level walls covered with shake shingles. The tower is crowned by a large conical cap articulated by rounded ribs. It is splayed at the base and crowned at the apex by a spiky metal finial. The tower, embedded in the sweeping first story bay, dramatizes the potential for double facades offered by the elevated corner site.

The eastern elevation includes a rectilinear projection, one bay wide and two deep. This contains two one-over-one sash windows above flat-paneled aprons and one single-leaf door facing south. a small shed roof shelters this side entrance.

The rear of the house has been expanded in a manner compatible with the original structure. The rear elevation is six bays long and has three rectilinear set backs. To the northeast a one story gabled wing extends two bays wide and three deep.

Rear fenestration generally repeats the patterns established in the front and side elevations: one over one sash alternate with single plate glass windows. Both varieties are capped by a double course of rowlocks arranged in a segmental arch.

The interior of the house is unpretentious. Rooms are organized around the stem of a center hall trimmed with a plain board, flush-laid baseboard. Single-leaf doors carry five raised-panels arranged in horizontal tiers. The surrounds have simple cyma recta profiles and support cornices composed largely of fillet moldings above a modest blank frieze.

The southwestern front room contains a tripartite mantel ornamented with garlands along the sides. A floral festoon trims the raised-panel central block of the frieze. A simple molding underlines this panel. A built-in cabinet flanks the mantel. The cabinet is glazed with full-length glass doors. The southwestern front room contains a built-in bookshelf with a decorative wooden trim along the top shelf.

Northwest of the center hall is the kitchen. It is decorated with an ovolo and beaded picture molding. Two built-in corner cabinets carry raised-panel doors. A third built-in corner cabinet carries raised-panel doors. A third built-in cabinet has frosted glass double doors above raised-panel wooden doors.

The interior of the house has been cosmetically remodeled, although the original features appear to be largely intact. Rear additions have been made, paneling has been applied to the walls, and the ceilings were lowered about 1955. The attic and cellar remain unfinished. The cellar contains a furnace.

To the rear of the house stands a wooden shed. It is rectangular in plan and capped by a hipped roof with projecting rafter ends. The roof is sheathed with standing seam tin. Large wooden doors carry simple paneling. Southwest of the house is a small brick dependency, built well after the construction of the house. The dependency is almost square in plan and is capped by a hipped roof. Four-over-four sash windows appear more recent.