1.   Name and location of the property. The property known as the Crutchfield- Bomar-Brem House is located at 307 East Boulevard 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. Jack E. Apple

5812-F Hunting Ridge Lane Charlotte, N.C. 28212 Telephone:  704/377-1357

3.   Representative photographs of the property. This report contains representative photographs of the property.
4. A map depicting the location of the property.  This report contains a map which depicts the location of the property.
5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property.  The most recent deed to this property is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3939 at Page 802. The current tax parcel number of the property is 123-075-02.
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, Professor of Architectural History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
8. Documentation of why and in what ways the property meets the criteria set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-399.4.

 

1. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance. The Commission judges that the property known as the Crutchfield-Bomar- Brem House does possess special historic significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklen­ burg.  The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:  (1) the house occupies an important place in the development of Dilworth, Charlotte’s first streetcar suburb, because it was built by the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company or 4Cs, the developers of Dilworth, because it was erected in 1903 and is, therefore, one of the oldest houses on East Boulevard, the grand thoroughfare in Dilworth, because Dr. Edward E. Bomar, pastor of Pritchard Memorial Baptist Church, was an early owner, and because Walter V. Brem, a leading businessman in Charlotte and an early associate of George S. Stephens, who later developed Myers Park, lived in the house for many years and died there in 1925; and (2) the house is one of

the finer local examples of the Queen Anne style.

 

1. 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 Crutchfield-Bomar-Brem House meets this criterion.
2. 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 on the entire .241 acres of land is $28,350.  The current Ad Valorem tax appraisal on the improvements is $11,220.  The total Ad Valorem tax appraisal is $39,570.  The land is zoned Bl.

Date of preparation of this report:

February 3, 1982.

 

Prepared by:

Dr. Dan L. Morrill, Director

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission

3500 Shamrock Drive

Charlotte, N.C. 28215

Telephone:  704/332-2726

 

 

 

A Historical Sketch

of the Crutchfield House

by

Dr. William H. Huffman

August, 1981

 

In the spring of 1903, the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company, commonly known as the Four-C’s, began the construction of a house in the new subdivision of Dilworth for Mr. William G. Crutchfield. The house, presently located at 307 E. Boulevard, is a charming Queen Anne style with some unusual features, including a fireplace in the foyer directly under the stairway leading to the second floor. By October of 1903, the house was completed, and Mr. Crutchfield purchased the lot and new house for the sum of $4803.48 on the thirteenth of the month.

 

William G. Crutchfield was a railroad agent employed by the Southern Railway. He was born in 1871, and in 1894 married Mary D. Crutchfield (b. 1869).  In 1900, the Crutchfields were living in Salisbury, N.C. with their son, William G., Jr. (b. 1899) and two servants, Rose Clark, 22, and Lucy Galloway, 15.  By 1903, the Crutchfields had been transferred to Charlotte, where they lived at 8 West Tenth Street before building the house on the eastern stretch of the “Boulevard,” a block and a half from South Boulevard.  Due to transfer or some other circumstance, Mr. Crutchfield and his family apparently did not live in the house long, if at all, since by 1904 they were no longer in Charlotte, and the house was rented to William M. Lyles and his wife Carrie from 1904 to 1908. Mr. Lyles was a traveling salesman

for Schiff and Co. in Charlotte.

 

In 1908, Dr. Edward E. Bomar purchased the house on a foreclosure sale at the County courthouse, which sale was a result of the foreclosure by Mutual Building and Loan Assoqiation on a defaulted deed of trust executed by the Crutchfields on October 16, 1903.  Reverend Bomar was the pastor of the Pritchard Memorial Baptist Church on South Boulevard.  On assuming his duties, in September, 1906, he became the second pastor of that church. During his tenure, he supervised construction of a new sanctuary and helped organize the Associated Charities of Charlotte, a fore- runner of the United Way.  Reverend Bomar left Charlotte in May, 1916 to take up the pastorate of a church in Owensboro, Kentucky.

 

In 1912, Reverend Bomar and his wife Nannie sold the residence to Hannie Caldwell

Brem (1851-1936), wife of Walter V. Brem (1848-1925).  The Brems had built a house (constructed July, 1902 – Feb., 1903) in the first block of East Boulevard, about a block to the west (now 211 E. Blvd.) of the Crutchfield house.  By 1912, Mr. Brem was 64 and his wife was 61, so it seems probable that they deemed the smaller Crutchfield house more to their liking for retirement years. Mrs. Brem was the former Hannah Caldwell, a daughter of North Carolina Governor Tod Robinson Caldwell from Morganton.   Walter V. Brem was a longtime state agent for the Traveler’s Insurance Company with offices in downtown Charlotte. Mr. Brem started in the insurance business about 1890 with George S. Stephens, who was a close friend of his son’s from their college days at Chapel Hill.

 

Mr. Stephens subsequently married Sophie Myers, daughter of John Springs Myers, in 1902, and a few years later, developed his father-in-law’s 1200-acre farm into the Myers Park subdivision.  By 1916, George Stephens apparently prevailed upon the Brems to try out his new subdivision, so they sold the East Boulevard home to the Stephens Co. and moved to Harvard Place.  After a two-year trial, Walter and Hannie Brem decided that Myers Park was “too far out in the country,” so they repurchased the Crutchfield house from the Stephens Co. in 1918 and moved back to Dilworth. Mr. Brem died at the residence on February 11, 1925, and Mrs. Brem moved to the Addison Apartments, where she lived until shortly before her death in 1936. Hannah Brem willed the East Boulevard residence to their three children, Mina Brem Mayer, Helen Brem Beatty and T. Robin Brem, who in turn sold it four years later to James Eustace Collins.  From 1930 to 1941, the house was rented to J. Landrum Brown, an independent accountant, and his wife, Mary.   James E. Collins was a merchant in Monroe, N.C., and retired because of his health in 1940, when he bought the Crutchfield house.

 

After Mr. Collins death about 1943, Mrs. Mamie Collins continued to live in the house until her own death in 1972, at which time the house was willed to her four children.  The present owner, Mr. Jack F. Apple, purchased the house from the

Collins heirs in 1977, and has attractively turned the site into offices.

 

 

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: CRUTCHFIELD HOUSE

307 EAST BOULEVARD CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

The Crutchfield House, built around 1903, is a well-preserved and robust example of the domestic Queen Anne style popular in American architecture at the turn-of-the-century. The house, now facing a heavy stream of traffic along Charlotte’s East Boulevard, serves as a reminder of the street’s vanished suburban character. Despite erosion of the original environment, the two-and-a-half storey frame house continues to lend human scale to the street. The house is skirted by a front lawn slightly elevated above street level. A retaining wall encloses the yard and runs to the sidewalk. The rear of the site is dominated by an unscreened asphalt parking lot, an alteration resulting from an otherwise exemplary conversion of the structure from residential to commercial use.

The building’s irregular massing is organized around a two-and-a-half storey central core covered by a hip roof. Intersecting the hip is a two-and-a-half storey transverse gabled wing. The wing ends in projections, one bay wide and two deep, along both side elevations. A three-storey pentagonal tower anchors the western corner of the main (southwest) facade. The extreme asymmetry of massing animates the site while also joining it to the larger architectural fabric, still predominately picturesque and pedestrian-scaled, that remains along Dilworth’s non-arterial roads northeast and southwest of East Boulevard.

The house rests on a standard brick foundation ventilated by small metal grilles. The decorative German siding that sheathes the body of the house is punctuated by blind wooden cornerposts and a continuous blank frieze beneath the eaves. Plain wooden surrounds frame doors and windows. The corbelled brick caps of three interior chimneys pierce the roof.

The principle components of the main facade are the corner tower, with an adjacent parapet, and an entrance porch partially enclosed along the eastern corner by the projecting walls of a one-storey sunporch. Tower fenestration is rhythmically varied. Diamond-light casements alternate with one-over-one sash along the first and second storeys. Eighteen-light small-paned rectangular case­ments encircle the top of the third storey beneath a massive conical cap. Between the second and third levels of windows the tower is wrapped with shake shingles; the shakes sweep from the tower to the adjacent parapet. This is a Shingle Style motif used here to visually link the tower with the main body of the house. The parapet terminates in a decorative finial centered over the main entrance bay. Behind and above the parapet is a heavy hipped dormer with a multi-light casement.

The main entrance is sheltered by a partially enclosed front porch raised several steps above grade. Single and triple groups of unfluted Doric columns define the porch corners and support the nearly flat roof. The columns stand on flat-paneled plinths connected by a simple balustrade. The underside of the porch roof is covered with thin strips of ceiling. The single-leaf entrance door is flanked to the east, by a slightly projecting wall carrying a diamond-paned double casement window and a single full-length pilaster.

Set at a right angle to the main entrance is a double-leaf door leading to the one-storey enclosed- sunporch. The sunporch, two bays long and six deep, runs along the southeastern elevation. Its southeastern and southwestern exterior vails are glazed by a continuous band of diamond-light-over-one pane sash windows.

In addition to the trim on the entrance porch, the main facade carries one-over-one double-hung sash windows and characterically Queen Anne oval-shaped occuli. The occuli are set with multi-paned lattice lights enclosed by wooden surrounds from which burst flat splayed keystones. The occuli are placed alternately horizontally and vertically between the sash.

Fenestration along the southeastern elevation includes, in addition to the ornamental sunporch sash, chiefly one-over-one and two-over -two sash windows. The attic glable, faced with shake shingles and outlined by a rakeboard, is pierced by a single multi-light oval occulus. The other face of the gable, projecting from the northwestern side of the house, is similarly faced and outlined. In its center is a small louvered wooden vent. Fenestration along this elevation includes one-over-one sash at both first and second stories. The first storey is dramatized by a triple diamond-light casement enclosed in a single surround.

The rear elevation contains a secondary gabled wing. It is two stories high and three bays square. The ridge line runs at a right angle to the ridge of the transverse gabled wing. The rear gable straddles an enclosed L-shaped corridor entrance porch. The entrance porch runs three bays deep into the body of the house and is one bay wide.

A one-storey rear shed, three bays square, is attached to the rear of the gabled wing, west of the entrance porch. Two-over-two sash flanked by two-light casements form a continuous ribbon around the shed immediately beneath the cornice line. Minor alterations and additions to the rear, including a modest brick patio, do not significantly detract from the structure’s integrity.

In plan the house is, predictably, agglutinative. The entrance stair hall acts as a two-storey stem off of which principal rooms branch. Throughout both levels the stair hall features a wainscot of thin vertically-laid ceiling enclosed by molded baseboard and chairrail. Above plastered walls is a molded cornice some of the principal rooms also contain molded cornices and baseboards. Most of the interior doors are single wooden leaves carrying five flat panels.

The major stair begins in the southern corner of the entrance hall and rises in three runs with half-turn landings. The open string supports turned balusters on plinths. The newel post is square-in-section, decorated with flat panels and a cap built of ovolo, cavetto, and cyma recta Holdings. The tread lips are molded in a cavetto profile. An enclosed back stair rises in a quarter-turn with winders in the rear of the house. The stair walls are sheathed with horizontally-laid flush siding.

The most elaborate decorative program, however, is reserved for the fireplace mantels located in the principal rooms. Most of the mantels employ Neo-classical elements in typical Queen Anne arrangements. The mantel in the first floor entrance stair hall, for example, consists of a black tile surround framed by unfluted Ionic columns, garland bas-reliefs, and a heavy cornice with a register of floral teeth molding. Similar Neo-classical compo­sitions occur in most of the other major rooms.

The mantel in the first floor northwestern room consists of a blue tile surround framed by engaged reeded post flanking two bracketed shelves. The overmantel between the shelves contains a large rectangular mirror. The room also has a simple wainscot, molded baseboard, handrail, and picture molding.

The mantel in the first floor eastern rear room consists of a beige tile surround framed by two tiers of superimposed unfluted Ionic colonettes. The lower tier contains a frieze trimmed with a floral garland of bellflowers. The upper tier contains an oval mirror set in a panel bearing fleur-de-lis at each corner. The upper colonettes support a heavy Neo-classical entablature trimmed with egg-and-dart molding.

The mantel in the second floor eastern room consists of a white tile surround framed by reeded Ionic columns resting on plinths. The columns support a mantel shelf above a garland. The mantel in the second floor northern room consists of a white tile surround framed by modillions supporting a blank frieze and an overshelf. The shelf is underlined by egg-and-dart, fillet, double bead, and cable moldings.

In distinction to these Neo-classical mantels, the mantel in the first floor sunporch, with its blue and white tiles and simple tripartite overmantel, reflects the ideals of homespun simplicity popularized by the Arts and Crafts movement.  Like the sunporch, the second storey pentagonal-shaped tower room is distinguished by its abundant natural light.

The conversion of the Crutchfield House into multiple offices and small shops is a model of appropriate adaptive reuse. In­tegrity of structure, scale, textural contrast, and decorative detail has been maintained.

 

Mary Alice Dixon Hinson

College of Architecture

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

August 3, 1981

 

 

The Crowell-Berryhill Store

 

 

Click here to view Charlotte Observer Article on the Crowell-Berryhill Store

This report was written on July 7, 1982

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Crowell- Berryhill Store is located at 401 West 9th Street, Charlotte, North Carolina.

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

Mr. Cullie M. Tarleton and his wife, Sylvia D. Tarleton
312 West 9th Street
Charlotte, NC 28202

Telephone: 704/376-9439

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 4386 at page 627. The Tax Parcel Number of this property is: 078-074-15.

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

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains an architectural description of the property prepared by Thomas W. Hanchett, 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 history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Historic Properties Commission judges that the property known as the Crowell-Berryhill Store does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: (1) The Crowell-Berryhill Store, which opened in 1897 as a branch of the Star Mills Grocery Company, is the only turn-of-the-century grocery store which survives in uptown Charlotte; (2) The grocery store served as the social, political, and economic centerpiece of neighborhoods in Charlotte at the turn of the century; (3) the Crowell-Berryhill Store is an excellent example of sensitive adaptive reuse; (4) the Crowell-Berryhill Store is an important component of Fourth Ward, a local historic district.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the attached architectural description by Mr. Thomas W. Hanchett demonstrates that the Crowell-Berryhill Store 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 .50 acres of land is $1,090.00. The current appraised value of the store building is $9,720.00. The property is zoned URC.

Date of preparation of this report: July 7, 1982

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

Telephone: 704/563-2307

 

 

Historical Overview  

Dr. William H. Huffman
December, 1981

With the recent renovation of the Berryhill Store at the corner of 9th and Pine, it will once again take its place as a vital part of the restored neighborhood that it had when it was built at the end of the nineteenth century.

Up until the mid-1890’s, the property where the store is located changed hands a number of times as increasingly divided parcels of undeveloped land. ¹ In December, 1896, a corner parcel measuring thirty-eight feet on Ninth Street and ninety-nine feet on Pine was sold for $300.00 to Star Mills, a local company which produced grits and mill feed at 306 E. Trade Street. ² From the records, it appears that in 1897 Star Mills built a store with an apartment occupying the second floor on the site, possibly as a retail feed store, and in April of that year sold it on a lot diminished to the size of thirty-three feet by sixty-six feet to M. L. Alexander for $1250.00. ³ After a brief ownership of a little over a year, Mr. Alexander, through choice or necessity, conveyed the ownership of the store to William M. Crowell in July, 1898, and remained as a clerk for the new owner. ⁵

Mr. Crowell, who previously had a grocery at 701 N. Pine one block to the north of his new location, operated the store as a retail grocery for about a year and a half when he in turn sold out to another competitor, Andrew Monroe Beattie (1854-1911) in December, 1899. ⁶ A. M. Beattie continued to operate his longtime grocery business at 416 E. Seventh Street, ⁷ while a newcomer to the trade, Ernest W. Berryhill took over the operation of the store at 9th and Pine. ⁸ In 1907, Mr. Berryhill bought the property outright from Mr. Beattie, ⁹ who, four years later, died, according to the attending physician, of “congestion of the brain” brought on by “work and worry.” ¹⁰ He had been a grocer in the city for twenty-seven years. ¹¹

Ernest Wiley Berryhill (1865-1931), whose name is associated with another landmark in Charlotte’s Fourth Ward, the beautifully preserved Berryhill House located diagonally across the intersection of 9th and Pine from the store, was a Charlotte native. On January 4, 1893, the twenty-six-year-old Ernest Berryhill was married to Gussie A. Newcomb (1872-1956) in Charlotte with the bride’s brother, George H. Newcomb (1869-1925) acting as a witness. ¹² Gussie and George were born in White Plains, NY, and were the children of John H. (1845-1892) and Anna Augusta (“Gussie”) Newcomb (1850-1933). The Newcomb family had come to Charlotte in 1879, where John and a brother, George, established a bellows factory in the city. In 1884, the brothers and their wives (who joined together in the millinery business from 1881-1891) constructed houses next door to each other on the 300 block of West Ninth Street; the fine Victorian house on the corner lot at 9th and Pine was built by John Newcomb and his wife, the elder Gussie.

In 1891, the brothers dissolved their partnership, and John built a bellows factory behind his house on West Ninth where he was assisted by his son George. The following year, on July 27, Mr. Newcomb unexpectedly died at the age of 47, and was widely mourned in the community. ¹³ Just under six months later, Ernest Berryhill and daughter Gussie were married. At the time, he was a store clerk, but shortly thereafter joined with his brother-in-law to form the Berryhill and Newcomb Bellows Factory, and the newlyweds made their home in the stately house on the northeast corner of 9th and Pine, which thereafter came to be known as the Berryhill house. ¹⁴

It was, then, right about the turn of the century when Mr. Berryhill went into the grocery business on the southwest corner of 9th and Pine, and thus the Berryhill Store came to be a fixture in the mostly residential area in Charlotte’s Fourth Ward for many years. The Sanborn Map of 1905 shows the store neatly tucked in a corner among tight, neat rows of Victorian houses, all with large porches along their fronts or sides, and running for blocks in all four directions from the business. Mr. Berryhill himself was well known as a gracious and considerate man, who ran a charge and delivery store, and from whom those who could not pay received, on some occasions, a free basket of groceries. Working with him in the store for many years was his longtime black employee, Amzie Roseman, who was a familiar figure to those who traded at the store and lived in the area, and Mrs. Berryhill as well was found in the store every day. Also helping out by occasionally looking after the store summers when Mr. Berryhill went on vacation was Benjamin S. Gray (b. 1898), who was born and raised at West Ninth and Graham, one block from the grocery. according to Mr. Gray, Ernest Berryhill had a carefully tended community business which served well the residents of his area, from the two dozen or so well-to-do customers to the plainer folk. Though the store proprietor at first seemed reserved, once you got to know him, “he was one of the finest men you ever knew.” ¹⁵ When he died in 1931, the Queen City lost one of its most respected citizens. Besides being known as the grocer to Charlotte’s 4th Ward, Mr. Berryhill also maintained rental property in the area and was a founder and director of the Citizens Savings Bank, which established its reputation by making loans to ordinary citizens, not just to the wealthy. ¹⁶

Thirty-seven years earlier in 1894, the Berryhills had become the proud parents of their only child, who was born at the 9th and Pine home, John Newcomb Berryhill (1894-1979). In his youth Newcomb Berryhill attended Baird’s school for boys in Charlotte, and, after graduation, took a job with Standard Oil Co. after a year or so with that firm, he had the opportunity to go with the Dupont Company, for which he worked 18 years in various places in the country. In 1919, while helping set up a plant for the fledgling General Motors Company in Pontiac, Michigan, the younger Berryhill met Leonora Lanier, a Nashville native who was also employed by Dupont. The following January 20, 1920, they were married and continued their careers with Dupont for the next 12 years. ¹⁷

When Ernest Berryhill died in 1931, his wife attempted to continue the operation of the grocery with hired help, but within a relatively short time sold the business to Benjamin Gray, the same fellow who used to help the owners some summers. Despite the depression, Mr. Gray said that the business was profitable, but after about a year’s ownership, he had to relinquish the store because of illness. ¹⁸ It was then in 1932 that Gussie Newcomb Berryhill asked her son if he would return to Charlotte to look after the family’s real estate interests and the grocery, which he agreed to do. For the next eight or nine years, despite the lingering depression, Newcomb Berryhill successfully ran the grocery store and the other family interests. In 1940, his mother, who for some time had been living alone in the Berryhill house, suffered a stroke and had to be put in a nursing home. Within a year, Mr. Berryhill sold the grocery business (but the family retained ownership of the property), divided the old family house into four apartments, and devoted himself to his rental properties. With the outbreak of the war, he entered government service and served in several capacities, including heading Draft Board Number 1 in Charlotte and supervising slaughter control in the Carolinas. ¹⁹

From 1941 to 1944, the 9th and Pine store was operated as Turk’s Quality Food Grocery, then from 1944 to 1956 as the Charles R. West Cash Grocery. In the latter year, Mr. West gave up the business because of ill health, and thereafter, the changing character of the neighborhood could be seen by the building’s history for the next twenty years: In 1957 it was vacant, and the following year became the Charlotte Paint and Body Supply Company, then came another vacancy again the next year. In 1960, Mr. Berryhill converted the location to the self-service Ninth Street and Pine Laundry Center, which operated until 1973, when the building once again became vacant, as did the two second-floor apartments into which it had been divided years before. ²⁰

The Berryhill Store has fortunately benefited from the splendid revival of the 4th Ward community. In 1975, Mr. Berryhill and his wife sold the family house, which was in danger of destruction, to the Charlotte Junior League, which in turn conveyed it to the Berryhill Preservation organization, thus ensuring its restoration. ²¹ The store itself was sold in 1977 to two Charlotte men who undertook some restoration work, and the following year passed to the ownership of two members of Charlotte’s Junior League. ²² The present owners, Cullie M. Tarleton, an executive with Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting, and his wife, Sylvia, are completing an extensive and comprehensive renovation of the store, including the two second-floor apartments. ²³ In the spring of 1982, the store will have much of its original appearance and use, and thus once again it will be an integral part of the revived city neighborhood it served so well for so many years.

 

 

---

NOTES

¹ Deed Book 28, p. 309, 21 Oct. 1881; Deed Book 78, p. 457, 9 April 1891.

² Deed book 116, p. 236, 17 Dec. 1896; Charlotte City Directory, 1899, p. 37.

³ Deed Book 117, p. 208, 17 April 1897.

⁴ Deed Book 127, p. 152, 20 July 1898.

⁵ Charlotte City Directory, 1897/8, p. 125. M. L. Alexander cannot be further identified at the present time.

⁶ Ibid., 1896/7, p. 81; Deed Book 144, p. 16, 28 Dec. 1899.

⁷ Charlotte City Directory, 1899/1900, p. 157.

⁸ Ibid., p. 118.

⁹ Deed Book 228, p. 72, 17 Oct. 1907, price $2800.00.

¹⁰ Mecklenburg County Certificate of Death, Book 1, p. 1070.

¹¹ Charlotte Observer, May 12, 1911, p. 6; Charlotte Evening Chronicle, May 11, 1911, p. 6.

¹² Mecklenburg County Marriage Register, 1889-1898.

¹³ “Survey and Research Report on the Berryhill House,” Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission, undated.

¹⁴ Charlotte City Directory, 1893/4, p. 39; Ibid., 1896/7, p. 60.

¹⁵ Interview with Benjamin S. Gray, 7 January, 1982.

¹⁶ See note 13.

¹⁷ Interview with Leonora Lanier Berryhill, 18 December 1981.

¹⁸ Interview with Benjamin Gray, note 15.

¹⁹ Interview with Leonora Berryhill, note 17.

²⁰ Charlotte City Directories, 1941-1977.

²¹ See note 13.

²² Deed Book 4016, p. 621, 13 December 1977; Deed Book 4075, p. 382, 27 June 1978.

²³ The Tarletons acquired the property on 2 January 1981: Deed Book 4386, p. 627.

 

 

Architectural Description  

By Thomas W. Hanchett

The Berryhill Store is a two story frame commercial building on a prominent corner site in the heart of Charlotte’s Fourth Ward neighborhood. Its design is simple and straightforward, reflecting its utilitarian function. The structure was extensively renovated for owner Cullie Tarleton in 1982 and now appears much as it did when it first opened at the end of the nineteenth century.

The structure is built right at the lot lines of North Pine and Ninth streets, facing northeast onto Ninth. It is a rectangular block under a gable roof, with the short end of the rectangle at the front and the long side of the rectangle stretching down Pine. The first story has always been a commercial space, the second story residential. Sometime in the twentieth century a one story flat-roofed addition of cement block was built at the rear to increase store space to its present 1800 square feet.

The building’s siting marks it clearly as a commercial structure. Homes in Fourth Ward are built closer to the street than in newer parts of Charlotte, but all are set back at least enough for a porch. The store’s location right at the sidewalk line serves as an advertisement to passersby over a block away. This is especially pronounced because Pine street is wider in front of the store than it is after it crosses Ninth to the person walking or driving down Pine toward the front of the store, the building appears to be in the middle of the street. In its own humble way the Berryhill Store provides a pleasing sense of closure in the Fourth Ward streetscape, bounding the view down the street much as churches often do in the small towns of Europe.

The building itself is very simple, with no stylistic flourishes beyond its Victorian balcony and shopfront. The gable roof is sheathed with new standing-seam sheet metal, duplicating what existed before renovation. The shallow eaves are boxed and have a single strip of molding at the wall line. Exterior walls were originally wooden clapboard with corner boards. During renovation masonite clapboards replaced the wood with care taken to match the original appearance.

Windows have flat, undecorated surrounds. The long sides of the structure each have three double-hung six-over-six pane sash windows on the second floor and none on the first. At the rear of the main block of the building each of the second story apartments has a window and door opening onto a new sun deck on the roof of the one story concrete block addition.

The front of the building is only slightly less utilitarian. Beneath a large louvered gable vent are four second story windows. These are six-over-six pane double hung sash like those on the sides of the building. Below them is a wooden balcony extending over the sidewalk. The balcony itself has been rebuilt, but its Victorian balustrade with turned balusters, its heavy chamfered supporting brackets, and even the chains that steady it from above are said to be original.

By the 1980s the original shopfront beneath the balcony had been completely replaced by newer designs. The shopfront was ripped out in 1982 and replaced with the present one, following a photograph of the store taken in 1905. This recreated shopfront is symmetrical, consisting of a central show window, then a pair of recessed entrances to the store, finally flanked by two doors to stairways to the upstairs apartments. There is a transom band running across this entire assemblage above the doorways, and there is a band of vertical tongue-and-groove panels across the bottom.

Inside, the first floor is a single large room which now houses a grocery store and delicatessen. Its wide wooden floor planks were salvaged from the walls and ceiling of the space, and refinished. The remainder of the space is new. The old wooden coolers, counters, and shelving now in use were salvaged by storekeeper Paul McBroom from three neighborhood stores elsewhere in the city. On the second story are two identical loft apartments created during the 1982 renovation.

 

Croft Schoolhouse

                                                       

This report was written on 30 March 1992

1. Names and locations of the properties: The properties known as the Croft Schoolhouse and the S. W. Davis House and Outbuildings are located on Bob Beatty Road in the unincorporated area known as Croft, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

2. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the present owners of the properties: The owners of the properties are:

Investors Real Estate Investment Company
P. O. Box 51579
Durham, NC 27717

Local Agent: John A. Gilchrist
East West Partners of Charlotte
8800 Davis Lake Parkway
Charlotte, NC 28269

Telephone: (704) 598-0063

Croft Schoolhouse
Tax Parcel Number: 027-201-07
Deed Book 5744, page 542

S. W. Davis House and Outbuildings
Tax Parcel Number: 027-201-06
Deed Book 5744, page 542

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

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

5. Current Deed Book References to the properties: The most recent deeds to the Tax Parcels, as listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Books, are given above in item 2.

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

7. Brief architectural descriptions of the properties: This report contains brief architectural descriptions of the properties prepared by Nora M. Black.

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

 

a. Special significance in terms of history, architecture, and /or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the properties known as the Croft Schoolhouse and the S. W. Davis House and Outbuildings do possess special significance in terms of Mecklenburg County. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:
1) the community of Croft was an important early railroad stop between Charlotte and Huntersville;
2) the original two room, two story Croft Schoolhouse was constructed ca.1890;
3) the ca. 1910 two story addition to the Croft Schoolhouse was built by Neil Barnett, a local carpenter;
4) the Croft Schoolhouse served the community until the 1930s;
5) S. W. Davis became a prominent farmer, and with his brother, Charles, a retail merchant;
6) the S. W. Davis House was built ca.1903 by Neil Barnett;
7) the S. W. Davis House is a fine example of a Queen Anne style farmhouse;
8) the largely intact exterior and interior of the S. W. Davis House show the early 20th century pattern of living in rural Mecklenburg County;
9) the two outbuildings, the flower house and the spring house, are fine examples of early 20th century brickwork; and
10) the Croft Schoolhouse, the S. W. Davis House, and the outbuildings provide a set of timeless landmarks in the changing landscape of northern Mecklenburg County.

b. Integrity, design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and /or association: The Commission contends that the architectural descriptions by Nora M. Black included in this report demonstrate that the Croft Schoolhouse and the S. W. Davis House and Outbuildings 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 a designated “historic landmark.” The land has been divided into new Tax Parcels so recently that the Tax Office has not recorded the new current appraised value of the improvements, the current appraised value of the land included in the Tax Parcels, the total appraised value of the properties, and zoning.

Date of preparation of this report: 30 March 1992

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

Telephone: (704) 376-9115

 

 

Historical Overview  

P. M. Stathakis

The Croft Community is located on NC 115 along the Norfolk Southern Railroad, between Charlotte and Huntersville. Croft was once described by a train conductor as “a mud puddle between Charlotte and Statesville.”¹ The Croft School and the S.W. Davis House are two of the twenty-one contributing structures and sites of the National Register Historic District that make up the small community.² In addition to the school and the Davis House, other principal structures in Croft include the S.W. and C.S. Davis General Store, the C.S. Davis house, and the Robert Beatty House. Minor features include warehouses, storage buildings, barns, a smokehouse, and a flower house (located adjacent to the S.W. Davis house).³

The focal point of Croft is the S.W. and C.S. Davis General Store, established in 1908 by brothers Silas Winslow and Charles Spencer Davis. The Croft District is, as a whole, representative of the time when Mecklenburg was still largely rural, and when a significant part of its economy was based on agriculture. During this time, country merchants, such as the Davis brothers, controlled part of this rural economy by acting as suppliers, middlemen, and bankers to area farmers.

Croft and its general store would have never developed without the railroad. The tracks that run through Croft, in front of the general store, the S.W. Davis House and the school house were formerly part of the Atlantic, Tennessee, and Ohio Railroad. This line, which connected Charlotte to Huntersville and points beyond, was completed in 1863. Shortly after its completion, portions of this track were torn up and re-laid to supplement the wartime needs of a railroad between Greensboro, NC and Danville, VA. After the Civil War, the A.T. & O. leg between Charlotte and Huntersville was restored in its entirety by 1871. This railroad has been aptly described as the “spine” of the subsequent industrial and commercial development in Northern Mecklenburg in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.⁴

The railroad and the general store in turn-of-the-century Mecklenburg County, and in the south as a whole, were tremendously important social and economic forces. The construction of railroads changed the outlook of southern agriculture and the situation of the yeoman farmer. Railroads brought the market closer to the farmer, and it seems that farmers could have reaped great financial benefits from this arrangement. However, many farmers ultimately found themselves trapped between the railroad and the merchant. Railroads brought cheap manufactured goods, that undercut regional monopolies, and effectively put most domestic manufacturing and artisans out of production. Rural families became less reliant on domestic manufactures, and more dependent on area merchants who extended credit on purchases. Farmers were also often vulnerable to the credit system provided by local merchants which required that credit customers provide a cash crop as security on their account. In Mecklenburg County, as in many other parts of the south, farmers were consequently forced to shift from subsistence farming to cotton cultivation to satisfy merchants. Small farmers were always in debt to merchants for seed and fertilizer, and by the turn of the century, cotton became the crop that chained the farmer to the merchant in the cycle of debt and obligation.

It was in this economic climate that the Davis brothers established their store. The general store had a cotton gin on site to process bales for local farmers. According to the Annual Accounts of the Estate of Silas Davis, this gin pressed 500 pound bales with processing fees ranging from 22 l/4 cents per pound to 25 cents per pound. Part of the cotton ginned by the Davis brothers was sold directly to area mills and cotton brokers, and could be distributed to these customers easily by train.⁵ The Davis general store also sold agricultural supplies, general merchandise and provided the first telephone in Croft.⁶

Silas Davis combined farming and retailing throughout his adult life. The 1900 and 1910 manuscript census lists Silas Davis as a farmer and lists his brother Charles as a retail merchant.⁷ According to Helen Brown, daughter of Silas Davis, her father grew cotton, corn, wheat and oats. Silas Davis routinely kept three or four tenants on the farm, but much of the agricultural labor was performed by his children. During picking season, each child was required to pick a certain quota of cotton, and if this quota was not met, Davis would pop them once with a hickory stick for each pound that was lacking. Davis also raised several different kinds of fowl, goats, sheep, hogs, cows, mules, and horses. Every week, Silas Davis slaughtered a cow and sold the fresh meat in the store.⁸

The two story Queen Anne style farmhouse where the S.W. Davis family lived was built in 1903 by Neil Barnett, a local carpenter. Silas and his wife, Nannie J. (Nancy Black) Davis, whom he married in 1895, raised their ten children in this house. Silas and Nannie occupied a smaller house that was situated behind the large house while it was being built. The Davises told their children that this small house was located next to a fig tree in what became their back yard. This house was torn down after the two story house was completed.⁹

The Croft School, located next door to the S.W. Davis house, was originally built as a two room, two story schoolhouse in 1890. A two story addition, completed in 1910, enlarged the schoolhouse to four rooms, with four teachers instead of two. Silas Davis had lobbied for a schoolhouse expansion for several years, but the county school board was unable or unwilling to accommodate his wishes. Davis had the addition built at his own expense and billed the school board for the construction costs for which he was promptly reimbursed. The 1910 addition was built by Neil Barnett.¹⁰

In its early years, the Croft School served as a combined elementary and middle school. When the building had only two rooms, grades one through nine were taught there. By the 1920s, in its expanded version, grades one though seven were taught at Croft. Although students were grouped according to grade, teachers had more than one grade per classroom. During most of Helen Brown’s tenure at Croft there were two students in her grade, and by the time she graduated from the seventh grade, the size of her graduating class had doubled to four. Students who finished at Croft were sent to Huntersville High School.¹¹

Students who attended the Croft School in the l910s and 1920s remember that the school never had electricity or running water. Students had to bring their lunch from home and they were also required to bring their own drinking glass. Each day, different children were chosen to go next door to the Silas Davis house to pump the drinking water for school. It took several trips and several buckets full to meet the schools daily drinking water requirements. However, the pupils looked forward to having their turn to escape class for a few minutes to pump water. Two outhouses were located behind the school, one for boys, the other for girls. In the winter, the school was heated by a wood stove.

Since the school was close to the general store and the railroad tracks, teachers and pupils became accustomed to the seasonal whistle of the cotton gin and the daily noise of trains. Three northbound trains passed through Croft each morning and three southbound trains passed through each afternoon. Teachers and students were so used to the noises that marked the rhythm of life in Croft, that the trains and whistles frequently went unnoticed.¹³

Nena Thomasson Davis came to teach at Croft in 1925. She was a native of northern Mecklenburg County, and had completed two years at Huntersville High School in addition to ten years of public school at a one teacher school on Concord Road. Because her family could not afford to send her to college, the principal at Huntersville High School encouraged her to attend a six week summer course to study for a provisional teaching certificate. Nena Thomasson attended Lenoir Rhyne College for six weeks to earn her certificate, and before her studies were complete, she was approached by several individuals who were desperately trying to recruit teachers for rural schools. She taught her first year in Leagrove, NC (in Harnett County), but she missed her home, and she soon returned to Mecklenburg County to teach. She taught at Croft for seven years. During this time, she also attended Davidson College where she earned her a certificate in teaching, a requirement for all teachers in Mecklenburg County.¹⁴

In 1931, Nena Thomasson married Charles Spencer Davis. She had to give up teaching because the school board did not permit married women to teach. Within a few years, Charles Davis led a movement to build a new school house in Croft. The new schoolhouse (now the VFW post) was built in the 1930s across the road from the original school, which has stood empty ever since.¹⁵

 

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Notes

¹ Interview with Nena Thomasson Davis, by Paula M. Stathakis, February 1992. According to Nena Thomasson Davis, Croft was named for Croft Woodruff, a major landowner in the area. The railroad authorities chose Mr. Woodruff’s name when they created a new railroad stop between Charlotte and Huntersville.

² National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the Croft Historic District. Prepared by Richard Mattson and William Huffman, July 1990, section 7 page 2.

³ Ibid. See section 7 pages 2-7 for a complete inventory of all structures and sites of the Croft Community.

⁴ D.L. Morrill, Survey and Research Report, S.W. and C.S. Davis General Store. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission, October 1, 1980.

⁵ These figures are accurate for the year 1925 and are derived from the Annual Accounts of The Silas Winslow Davis Estate filed in 1925 in Record of Accounts Book 20 page 238, Mecklenburg County Court House.

⁶ Survey and Research Report, S.W. and C.S. Davis General Store, Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission, October 10, 1980.

⁷ Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Manuscript for Mecklenburg County; Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910. Manuscript for Mecklenburg County.

⁸ Interview with Mrs. Helen Davis Brown by Paula M. Stathakis, February, 1992. One of the tenant farmers lived in the flower house.

⁹ Ibid. The Davis children were Alma Davis Hucks, Naomi Davis Lewis, Bruce Hill, Mattie Rebecca, Silas Washington, Charles Edward, Helen Davis Brown, Carl Wilson, Ruth Virginia Davis Wallace, Catherine Davis Marcus, and John Woodrow. Mattie died when she was nine, the rest of the children survived to adulthood. Helen Brown recalled that as there were so many men in the family, she spent a great deal of time ironing shirts. The Davis children used to joke that Silas and Nannie ran an “old folks home” because elderly aunts and uncles as well as several cousins came to live in the Silas Davis household for extended visits. Charles Davis was also a member of the Silas Davis household until his brother died, in 1925.

¹⁰ B.C. Fincher, “Change Comes Slowly to Croft”, Charlotte Observer, April l9, 1989. Good Neighbors Section, p. 22. Interview, Helen Brown.

¹¹ Interview, Helen Davis Brown; Interview, Nena Thomasson Davis. In one of the lighter moments during the school day, Bruce Davis, one of Silas Davis’ sons, recalled that he was once dangled out of a second story window by his heels by some of the older school boys, B.C. Fincher, “Change Comes Slowly to Croft.”

¹² Interview, Helen Davis Brown; Interview, Nena Thomasson Davis; Interview with Mr. James and Mrs. Rosa Hucks Davis by Paula M. Stathakis, February, 1992.

¹³ Ibid. B.C. Fincher, “Change Comes Slowly to Croft.”

¹⁴ Interview, Nena Thomasson Davis.

¹⁵ Interview, Nena Thomasson Davis.

 

 

Architectural Description  

 

Croft Schoolhouse

Nora M. Black

The Croft Schoolhouse is located in the unincorporated area known as Croft in north Mecklenburg County. The Schoolhouse is on the east side of Bob Beatty Road (State Road 2483). The front or west facade of the Schoolhouse is parallel to Bob Beatty Road; the rear or east facade overlooks land slated for development as part of the Davis Lake subdivision. The Schoolhouse is located on the east side of a square lot of 0.908 acres owned by Investors Real Estate Investment Company; it is currently unused.

The late 19th century part of the Croft Schoolhouse is the north half of the building. The south half of the building was constructed in the early decades of the 20th century. Although both halves look similar, differences in building materials can be seen. The ground plan of the Croft Schoolhouse is a massed plan with two units of width and depth. The building presents a symmetrical elevation to Bob Beatty Road. The two-story facade dominates the front view in spite of the high hipped roof. A one-story hipped roof porch runs the length of the front of the Schoolhouse. This plain, utilitarian front or public side of the building is enlivened by two cross gables.

Exterior
The siding is lapped horizontal boards with vertical corner boards. The siding on the older north section is narrower than that of the newer south section. A former student, Mr. Donald Penninger, Sr., remembers a time approximately 57 years ago when the north part of the building was painted red while the south part was painted white. The siding is original and mostly intact. Some pieces are missing above the front porch. There is also some deterioration of siding around the north chimney on the back of the building. The foundation consists of original brick piers infilled with newer brick in the north section; the south section has a brick foundation laid in running bond.

The front elevation is divided into two symmetrical bays defined by a strip of vertical molding. Each bay has a single window on the second floor over a single door on the first floor. Each bay also has a centered cross gable with a large diamond-shaped vent. The steep pitch of the hipped roof tends to unify the two sections. The dark gray composition shingles are old and curled; their three-sided tabs lend the appearance of hexagonal tiles on the roof. The roof of the front porch is covered with rusty but intact metal roofing material. The two cross gables and the boxed eaves have a moderate overhang.

Some of the windows in the Croft Schoolhouse contain the original leaded glass; most are 6/6 double hung wooden sash. Pairs of 6/6 windows occur only on the east or back facade. In the older section, the east facade has one pair of 6/6 windows on both first and second stories. The newer section has two pairs of 6/6 windows on both stories. Many windows have broken lights. In some cases, the entire sash is missing. The window surrounds in the older section are wide boards and not elaborate; however, the windows in the newer section have simple decorative moldings. The only exceptions to the 6/6 windows are two pane square windows located on the first floor. One is near the southwest corner of the building; the other is near the northwest corner.

The north wall has three 6/6 windows on both first and second stories. The south wall has two 6/6 windows on each story. The east wall of the building has two exterior masonry chimneys. The older north chimney is constructed of red/orange brick but it has collapsed to the level of the cave. The newer south chimney is constructed of red/brown brick. Some of the bricks of the south chimney have fallen too, but it still rises well above the level of the cave. Each chimney served two classrooms – one room upstairs, one room downstairs.

The entry porch on the west facade is a one-story hip-roofed porch with three turned wooden posts and two rough cedar posts. The south corner post is missing altogether. The two turned posts on the older section of the porch have square bases and Doric capitals. The early 20th century post has both a square base and capital. The outline of a classic dentil molding is evident in the red paint of the architrave of the older porch section. There is no evidence that such a molding ever existed on the newer section of the porch. The porch has tongue and groove flooring of same width boards; much of the wood on the south end is deteriorated. The steps leading to the porch have been removed. Each section has a single door opening into a vestibule. The door on the older section had an upper panel of glass (now missing) over a wooden panel. The newer section has a six panel wooden door; the doorknobs are missing.

Interior
The interior of the Croft Schoolhouse has not been modernized. It is remarkably dry inside considering the amount of glass missing from the windows. Some old bed frames, tractor tires and miscellaneous items are in the building. Both sections of the building have tongue and groove floors; however, the boards in the older section are wider than those in the new section. The stoves that once heated the classrooms are gone.

The older north section has walls and ceilings covered with wide beaded boards. All four window openings on the south wall of this section were covered when the new section was added. If one entered the door to the vestibule of this section, the stairway would be to the right or south side. The newel on the first floor is fluted; however, the newel on the landing is plain. There are two small rooms on the north side of the vestibule. A five panel wooden door opens into the first floor classroom. Another opening for a door has been covered with narrow beaded boards. On the second floor of the older section, a door at the top of the stairway opens directly into the classroom. The east wall of the classroom is deteriorating around the chimney. A narrow room over the vestibule runs the length of the classroom. An opening in the ceiling of this room leads to the attic.

The newer south section of the Croft Schoolhouse has walls and ceilings covered with narrow beaded boards. The window surrounds in this section have some decorative molding. If one entered the door to the vestibule of this section, the stairway would be to the left or north side. The square balusters and newels of the newer section are simple in shape. There is one small room on the south side of the vestibule; shelves line the walls. The door from the vestibule opens directly into the classroom. Lack of paint on the classroom walls shows the locations of blackboards and bulletin boards. A door in the southwest corner of the classroom leads to a book room. On the second floor of the newer section, a door at the top of the stairway opens directly into the classroom. As in the older section, a narrow room over the vestibule runs the length of the classroom. In the southwest corner of the classroom, there is a small storage closet with a six panel door.

The Croft Schoolhouse did not have electricity or running water during the time it was used as a school. Electricity was added at some time as evidenced by the exposed wiring strung between porcelain brackets fastened to the ceiling. The electrical box was installed in the vestibule of the older section.

Another change to the Croft Schoolhouse occurred after World War II. According to Mr. Penninger, housing was so scarce that a family moved into the Schoolhouse.³ That might account for the wallpaper that is still fastened to the beaded board walls in some rooms.

Conclusion
The Croft Schoolhouse provides a solid architectural link to the early educational system in Mecklenburg County. Most of the original fabric is relatively unchanged and in fair condition. The Schoolhouse provided more than just an education setting. It also served as a community gathering place. Mr. Robert Houser, Jr., a Croft native, still speaks wistfully of the ice cream suppers that the Woodsmen of the World held at the Schoolhouse in the 1930s.⁴ The building could be used as an example of early classrooms. Perhaps it could again become a gathering place for the residents of Croft.

 

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Notes

¹ Interview with Mr. Donald Eugene Penninger, Sr., Croft native who attended school at the Croft Schoolhouse; 20 March 1992.

² Interview, as in #1.

³ Interview, as in #1.

⁴ Interview with Mr. Robert Houser, Jr., Croft native who attended school at the Croft Schoolhouse; 20 March 1992.

 

 

S. W. Davis Outbuildings

Nora M. Black

The S. W. Davis House is located in the unincorporated area known as Croft in north Mecklenburg County. The house is on the east side of Bob Beatty Road (State Road 2483). The driveway running from Bob Beatty Road to the house runs near the southern edge of the tax parcel. The front or west facade of the house faces Bob Beatty Road; the rear or east facade overlooks a field that is slated to be developed as part of the Davis Lake subdivision. The house is located on an irregularly-shaped lot of 1.685 acres owned by Investors Real Estate Investment Company; it is currently leased as a residence. The house sits near the rear of the site with most of the acreage between the S. W. Davis House and Bob Beatty Road.

The S. W. Davis House is a Victorian House built in the Queen Anne style. The house is a subtype of the Queen Anne style called the Spindlework type. Houses built between 1860 and 1900, the last decades of the reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria, are usually referred to as “Victorian.” The advent of balloon frame construction, replacing heavy timber construction, simplified the home building industry making it easier to add bays and overhangs and to construct irregular floor plans. Industrialization in the United States allowed large factories to mass produce wire nails, doors, windows, siding, and decorative details. The growing railroad system carried these mass-produced items throughout the country.² Although the S. W. Davis House displays some of the benefits of the era including the dormer with its decorative details and the decorated cross-gables of the varied roofline, the house is a simpler interpretation of the style than Queen Anne houses built in town. To see the contrast to the high-style, town version of the Queen Anne Style, compare the S. W. Davis House to the Overcarsh House or the Sheppard House (both located in Charlotte’s Fourth Ward).

The ground plan of the S. W. Davis House is a compound plan with irregular projections from the principal mass. The house presents an asymmetrical, two-story elevation to Bob Beatty Road. The front view is dominated by the one-story porch that runs across the front and part of the south side of the house. The shaped wood shingles in the gable ends add the wall texture variation that is common in the Queen Anne style. The hipped roof with lower cross gables is a common roof type found in this style.

Exterior
According to local accounts, the lumber used in the house was cut from woodlands on the property and milled on the site as well. Brick used for the chimneys and supporting piers is said to have been produced from the brick yard behind the Davis Store.³ The S. W. Davis Houses has three types of siding: original horizontal lapped-board siding, channel siding with a beaded edge, and wood shingles. The channel siding with beaded edge occurs only under the protective cover of the first floor porch. Wood shingles are used in the cross gable ends as a decorative element. The repeating three-row pattern of shingles consists of a bottom row of rectangular-cut shingles; diamond-shaped shingles form the middle row; triangular shingles form the last row. The gables have wide overhangs with cornice returns. The wide eave overhang is boxed and has shingle molding. Wide boards serve as a simple frieze wrapping the house at the level of the eaves. Wide corner boards terminate at the frieze. The exterior of the house is painted white; however, the paint has weathered and is flaking in many spots.

The hipped roof encloses a large, unfloored attic. The hipped ridge, which runs parallel to the front facade, is approximately 42 feet from ground level.⁴ Two interior brick chimneys with corbeled tops pierce the asphalt-shingled roof. The one-story kitchen wing, located on the east side of the house, has a single interior brick chimney that is no longer used for reasons of safety. A new metal chimney vents smoke from the wood-burning stove in the kitchen.

Many of the windows in the S. W. Davis House contain the original leaded glass. Most are double hung, 2/2 wooden sash with vertical mullions. Shutters believed to have been used on some windows are stored in a barn off the property.

The front elevation is three units wide with the widest unit being the two-story cross gable section located on the northwest corner. Each floor of the cross gable section has a single, centered window; a small window is centered in the gable end as well. The cross gable section does not project far from the face of the house. The front entry forms the center unit; a single square window completes the first floor of the front facade. The second story center unit is composed of a single 2/2 window. The second story unit on the southwest corner has a single pane, square window. The gable end of the attic story has the repeating shingle pattern described earlier. It also has a decorative spandrel with a sunburst pattern set over a row of spindles with knob-like beads. A dormer on the southwest end of the facade has the same ornament as the gable end. Decorative bargeboards complete the gable and dormer ends. A cross gable end on the south side and a dormer on the north side are finished in the manner just described.

The one-story porch extends across the front of the house and halfway across the south side of the house. The roof of the porch is supported by lathe-turned columns. The balustrade consists of graceful turned balusters. The porch is floored with tongue and groove boards; it has a ceiling of beaded board. Five deteriorated wooden steps lead to the porch. The porch roof is covered with rectangular pieces of metal roofing.

The front entry has a modern aluminum and glass storm door protecting the inner door. The wood and glass paneled inner door has applied millwork and incised decorative detailing. The hardware, with the exception of the dead bolt, appears to be original. The door surround has wide fluted boards and bull’s-eye corner blocks. A side entry opening onto the one-story porch has a similar door with one difference — the large pane of glass is surrounded by smaller rectangular and square panes of stained and pebble-textured glass. The second door is also protected from weather by a modern storm door.

The S. W. Davis House had a back porch on the south facade of the kitchen wing. The framework of that porch has been covered with siding to provide space for a bathroom and an enclosed back porch. The back of the house is unremarkable with the only ornament that of the east gable end of the kitchen wing.

Interior
The interior of the S. W. Davis House has not been modernized. Most of the historic fabric is not only intact but visible. The rooms have original moldings and original hardware for the wooden, five-panel interior doors. The door surrounds are fluted with bull’s-eye corner blocks. Walls throughout the house are of plaster with beaded board wainscot. Exceptions are the parlor which has plaster walls with no wainscot, and the kitchen which has horizontal beaded boards covering the walls. Beaded boards were also used for the ceilings. Pine flooring is used throughout the house.

The front door opens to a large center passage hall that runs the length of the house; an open staircase to the second floor is on the south side of the hallway. The front section of the hall is somewhat separated from the back section by a wall with a scalloped opening. The effect is that of a separate foyer at first glance. The stairway to the second floor hallway has a balustrade of simple lathe-turned balusters. The square, fluted newels on the first and second floors are topped with lathe-turned urns.

To the left (north side of the house) when standing at the front door is the parlor. Wide crown moldings decorate the plaster walls. The focal point of the parlor is the fire surround with rectangular mirror. The painted fire surround has slender Ionic columns on each side of the fireplace to support the shelf. Centered above each column is a lathe-turned post that supports a higher shelf. Applied decorations are primarily floral although a fan is centered in the main panel. The fireplace has been closed for many years; at one time it was used to vent a stove.

The second room on the north side of the center passage hall has closets on each side of the fireplace. The fire surround has slender posts supporting the single shelf. Beadwork, sawn in half, decorates the panel. This fire surround is much simpler in character than the one in the parlor. A door on the east walls opens into the kitchen.

The kitchen is contained in a one-story wing located on the east side of the house. As mentioned earlier, it has horizontal beaded board covering all four walls. The cabinets, sink, and appliances have been added over the years. The kitchen has a doorway on the south wall leading to a large pantry. The door to the enclosed back porch is also on the south wall. The enclosed back porch is located on the south side of the kitchen wing. A door on the west wall of the enclosed porch opens to the center passage hallway. A shed addition to the enclosed porch provides space for a bathroom. Originally installed in 1934 by the Davis family, it is currently being renovated to provide a new shower and to repair termite damage.

On the south side of the center passage hallway, there are two rooms. The small room in the southwest corner of the first floor has a simple fire surround with three undecorated panels and two lathe-turned posts supporting the shelf. A door to the south side of the fireplace opens into the room beyond the fireplace. That second room on south side of the hallway has a door (described earlier) opening to the side of the one story front porch. The original wooden fire surround has been replaced by a modern brick fire surround. Otherwise, the room retains its original details.

The staircase climbs from the center passage hall to the second floor. The long single-run staircase lands in the hallway on the second floor. The second floor hallway, like that of the first floor, runs the length of the house. There are two rooms on each side of the hallway. Fire surrounds on the second floor are simple and unadorned; turned posts support the shelves. All the second floor rooms appear to have served as bedrooms for the Davis family. The entrance to the attic is a set of steps in the northeast room. That room also contains an access door to the attic above the kitchen wing.

The S. W. Davis House was constructed without a central heating system. Electricity was installed in the 1930s; it appears that many of the fixtures installed then are still in place. The house now has a wood stove located in the kitchen. Insulated ductwork carries heat from the kitchen to one upstairs bedroom. The fireplaces are not used.

Flower House
A brick structure, called the flower house, stands on the south side of the S. W. Davis House. The front, or west, facade of the flower house runs parallel to Bob Beatty Road. The brick, said to have been made near the Davis Store, is laid in common bond with 6th course headers.⁶ The building has a wooden five panel door centered on the west facade. Large 2/2 windows would have admitted plenty of light for the plants. Thick vines of ivy have grown over most of the building.

Spring House
A brick structure, located to the southeast of the house, is said to be a spring house. The front, or northwest, facade of the building is set at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the back wall of the S. W. Davis House. Constructed of brick laid in common bond with 6th course headers, the building has segmental arches of two rowlock brick courses over the windows and the door. The segmental arch over the door has deteriorated. The side walls have parapets that step down from front to back of the building in three steps. The top course of brick is corbeled. Two wing walls at the back of the building extend to the southeast. The space enclosed by the walls has metal roof. The building is currently used for storage by the tenants.

Conclusion
The S. W. Davis House is an intact example of a Spindlework, Queen Anne style house from the early years of the 20th century. The finishes and decorative details of the S. W. Davis House are typical of those found in farmhouses. It can provide insight into the type of houses that large farm families inhabited during the days when Mecklenburg County was one of the nation’s leading producers of cotton.

 

---

NOTES

¹ Virginia & Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York, 1986), 264-265. Ibid., 239.

² Ibid., 239.

³ Interview with John and Mary Wilber, current tenants of the S. W. Davis House; 22 March 1992.

⁴ Interview, as in #3.

⁵ Bargeboards (or vergeboards) are projecting boards placed against the incline of the gable of a building; they are frequently decorated.

⁶ Interview, as in #3.

⁷ Interview, as in #3. Interview, as in #3.

 

This report was written on 18 December 1990

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House is located at 7648 Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road, Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

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

Bobby Don and Margie Davis Lawing
7648 Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road
Charlotte, North Carolina 23208

Telephone- (704) 399-3058

Tax Parcel Numbers: 033-141-02 and 033-141-03

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

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

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to Tax Parcel Number 033-141-02 is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 5789 at page 834. The most recent deed to Tax Parcel Number 033-141-03 is listed in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 3007 at page 333.

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

7 . A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Richard L. Mattson, Ph.D.

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

 

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following consideration:
1) the ca. 1888 Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House is one of the most intact dwellings of the post-Civil War period;
2) the Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House is architecturally significant for exemplifying the vernacular Victorian, T-shaped, two-story farmhouse of Mecklenburg County;
3) the array of intact farm outbuildings represent traditional forms and a variety of construction techniques including a log outbuilding;
4) the farm setting is enhanced by the preservation of pastoral vistas; and
5) the Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House and its associated outbuildings provide valuable insight to rural life in Mecklenburg County.

b. Integrity of design, settings, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description by Richard L. Mattson, Ph.D., included in this report demonstrates that the Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes a designated “historic landmark.” The current appraised value of the improvements is $130,170. The current appraised value of the 10.45 acres is $39,600. The total appraised value of the property is $169,770. The property is zoned R-15.

Date of Preparation of this Report: 18 December 1990

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

Telephone, 704/376-9115

 

Historical Overview
Note: The following architectural and historical reports, combined on the form entitled “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form,” were prepared under the auspices of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission is not responsible for errors.

National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7

Shaded by mature oak and magnolia trees in a rural setting northwest of Charlotte, the ca. 1888 Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House is among rural Mecklenburg County’s most intact dwellings of the post-Civil War period. Its T-shaped two-story form and vernacular Victorian decoration exemplify a popular local expression of farmhouse architecture that appeared between the late 1870s and the turn of the century. Associated with the Craven House is an assortment of farm outbuildings dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tract, which is approximately five acres, includes a small fenced pasture where horses now graze.

The weatherboarded frame Craven House represents a divergence from the I-house tradition that dominated middle and upperclass rural domestic architecture during the 19th century. Facing north, the main three-bay facade includes a one-story, hip-roofed porch that spans the front. Slightly altered by latticework and a wooden frieze composed of a series of arches that were added in the 1960s, the porch retains its original configuration as well as original chamfered posts. Although the majority of the facade is covered by original lapped weatherboards, a portion of the facade around the main entry features original German siding. The entrance is framed by sidelights and transom as well as a cossetted surround. Windows around the main body of the house and rear ell are primarily six-over-six sash windows, although the main facade in the gable-end wing has paired windows with four panes in each sash. The window surrounds are simply moulded. A two-room, one-story dining room/kitchen wing extends to the rear of the house’s east side. Additions to the original house include a rear shed-roofed, one-story room (den) west of the kitcen ell, and an enclosed porch on the east side of the ell which serves as a reading area and place for storage. These exterior modifications, as well as an open wooden deck attached to the rear of the present den, were added by the current owners in about 1968.

The basically intact interior reflects the methods of construction, the craftsmanship, and the standards of design of middle-class farmhouses of this era in the county. Although the kitchen has been modernized, the remainder of the original rooms retain original woodwork and hardware. All of the original rooms, with the exception of the kitchen, have intact board-and-batten ceilings; and the majority of rooms retain original flush-board walls. Dr. Craven’s former office, located behind the parlor in the gabled front section, has plaster walls. The rooms and hallway, which separates the two main sections of the house, have simply finished baseboards and four-panel doors with simple, moulded surrounds. Box locks and porcelain door knobs survive throughout the interior. In all of the rooms except the kitchen, mantels are intact. Composed of a basic post-and-lintel shape, each is a slightly different and inventive variation of a common vernacular Greek Revival mantel type in North Carolina. For example, the mantel in the north upstairs bedroom features pilasters with unusual v-shaped applied moulding. The mantels in the principal first-floor rooms have curvilinear lintels with carpenter-built scalloped decoration.

Outbuildings (keyed to map) C-contributing; NC-noncontributing

Symbol Name	C/NC	Date	Description
B – Well Canopy	C	1929	Hip-roofed, frame well canopy with concrete floor and latticework posts. Date inscribed on concrete floor.
C – Chapel	C	ca. 1910	Utilitarian, gable-front, frame, one-story building erected as a family Catholic chapel. Present owners call it the “chapel,” and use it as an informal playhouse and storage building.
D – Barn	C	ca. 1920	Gable-front, frame four-unit barn with central passage. Still in use as horse barn, and all four pens are used for stables.
E – Corncrib	C	ca. 1888	Side-gable, log corncrib with half-dovetail notching and frame shed addition.
F – Tool shed	C	ca. 1920	Frame, one-story tool shed with shed room
G – Auto Garage	C	ca. 1920	Frame, one-story gable-front auto garage with storage area; door located on the side- gable (north) facade as well as on the gable-front facade.
H – Carport	NC	ca. 1960	Gable-roofed, metal carport, measuring about 18 feet on a side; located behind house on southeast side.

The remainder of the five-acre tract is composed of pasture used by the current owners to graze horses. Surrounded by new post and board fences, this area represents an adaptation of a traditional rural land use.

 

National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 8

The Dr. Walter Pharr Craven House is architecturally significant under National Register Criterion C for exemplifying the vernacular Victorian, T-shaped, two-story farmhouses that appeared in Mecklenburg County during the post-Civil War period. (see Associated Property Type 1–Houses–Postbellum Farmhouses) The relatively intact exterior and interior display first-rate craftsmanship representing a variety of carpenter-built Victorian elements. In its decorative and apparently locally crafted mantels, chamfered porch posts, crossetted entrance surround with sidelights and transom, and German siding focused around the main entry, the ca. 1888 Craven House includes essentially the full spectrum of post-Civil War Victorian architecture as applied to farmhouses in Mecklenburg County. The board-and-batten ceilings and board walls bear witness to the construction and restrained interior finish of even the more stylish middle-class farm dwellings of this period in the county. The array of intact farm outbuildings represent traditional forms and construction techniques, including side-gable corncrib and cental-passage barn, and both log and frame building techniques. (see Associated Property Type 2–Outbuildings)

The Craven House and surrounding buildings afford us a glimpse into the life of a country doctor and farmer. In addition to providing medical care to the Hopewell community, Dr. Craven also farmed, although not on as large a scale as most of his neighbors. A corncrib, barn, toolshed and well canopy occupy the site, as well as a small chapel that was built as a place of worship for the Catholic wife of one of Dr. Craven’s sons.

The house, located at 7648 Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road, was built by Dr. Walter Pharr Craven (1845-1929) probably shortly after his purchase of the property in 1888 ¹. That year, Dr. Craven bought 18 acres from Robert Blair McGee and his wife Mary W. McGee ². Dr. Craven appears in the 1880 Agricultural Schedules of the Census as a renter of 18 acres of land, which is likely the same land he bought from the McGees. According to the current owner, Marge Lawing, Dr. Craven practiced medicine from one of the rear rooms on the west side, which was complete with special cabinets for stored medicine ³.

Dr. Craven was born in Randolph County and was raised in Iredell County. At the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the Confederate Army. His service in the field ended when he was captured at the Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, eight days before the war’s end, and spent several months as a prisoner at Staten Island, New York ⁴. After the war, Dr. Craven returned to North Carolina and studied at Davidson College in northern Mecklenburg County and at Trinity College (now Duke University). After completion of his undergraduate studies, he spent two years in Texas where he taught school and farmed. In 1872, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore to study medicine. When his training was complete (about 1876), he returned to North Carolina, and established his practice in the Hopewell community of Mecklenburg County. In that year, he also married Martha Addie May Gluyas (1859-1903), daughter of Captain and Mrs. Thomas Gluyas of Hopewell, with whom he had eleven children who survived to adulthood. In 1907, Dr. Craven married Ossie Lawing of Spurrier who died after a few years, and he was subsequently married for the third time to Mary Andrews of Charlotte in 1917 ⁵.

Considering that Dr. Craven had a large family and a country doctor’s practice was not highly lucrative, it was not unusual that he also ran a small farm on his 18 acres. The census records show that he hired black farm laborers for thirty-two weeks in 1879 for a total expenditure of $100.00, which was proportionally consistent with the hiring practices of the other farmers in his communtiy. Apparently, he did not keep much livestock: the 1880 records show that he had one milk cow, some swine, and poultry (fifteen hens produced seventy-five eggs in 1879). He also raised corn (10 acres yeilding 100 bushels), wheat (4 acres yeilding 45 bushels) and cotton, (4 acres yeilding 3 bales). ⁶

Dr. Craven was a highly visible member of the Hopewell community; he served the Hopewell Presbyterian Church as a ruling elder for several years, and his professional services were a valuable asset to the local population. The other doctor in the area, Dr. Sam Abernathy, was considered by many to have been Dr. Craven’s competitor. They were nicknamed by the locals “Dr. PW and Dr. Powder,” but it is not clear who was who. Two of Dr. Craven’s sons, William and Thomas, became doctors. ⁷ Dr. Thomas Craven (d. 1952) is reported to have lived and practiced medicine in the house for a time after Dr. Walter Craven’s death, but later he moved to Huntersville where he lived and maintained his practice. After Dr. Thomas left the house, another son, Harry Craven (d. 1957), lived in the house for an indeterminate time, then moved to Mooresville. For a number of years, the house was not continuously occupied, but was used as a summer retreat for members of the family and also as a gathering place for holidays. About the early Fifties, another son of Dr. Walter Craven, John, retired and lived in the house until his death in 1962. John Craven added a bath and modernized the kitchen. ⁸

The year following John Craven’s death, 1963, a granddaughter of Dr. Walter Craven, Ruth Craven Roddey and her husband, Sidney H. Roddey, Jr., bought the house from the heirs and lived in it until 1968, when they sold it to the present owners, Bobby Don and Margie Davis Lawing. ⁹ Thus after eighty years, the house passed out of the possession of the Craven family.

 

---

Notes

¹ Mary Beth Gatza, “Architectural Inventory of Rural Mecklenburg County”, 1988. On file at Archives and History, Raleigh.

² Mecklenburg County Deed Book 62, p. 411.

³ Interview with Marge Lawing by Mary Beth Gatza, 1988.

⁴ Charies W. Sommerville. The History of Hopewell Presbyterian Church (Charlotte: Hopewell Presbyterian Church, 1939), p. 123.

⁵ Ibid., pp. 123-4.

⁶ Agricultural Schedules, 1880 U.S. Census.

⁷ Sommerville, p. 123; Gatza, “Survey.” ⁸ Interview with Margie Lawing and Ruth Craven Roddey by William H. Huffman, 1989.

⁹ Mecklenburg County Deed Books 2435, p. 237; 3007, p. 333.

National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 9

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

Interviews with Marge Lawing by Mary Beth Gatza, 1988, and with Ruth Craven Roddey by William Huffman, 1989.

Mecklenburg County. Deed Books.

Sommerville, Charles W. The History of Hopewell Presbyterian Church (Charlotte: Hopewell Presbyterian Church, 1939).

United States. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Tenth Census of the United States, 1880: Agricultural Schedules, Mecklenburg County, N.C.

1. Name and location of the property.  The property known as the Crane Company Building is located at 1307 West Morehead Street, Charlotte, North Carolina.  The property encompasses Tax Parcel Number 07325C99.

 

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

The owners of the property are:

 

1307 LLC—Units 101, 104-107, 204

LLC CNM Investments—Unit 102

Walden Enterprises—Unit 108

Insight Realty—Unit 109

Holdings LLC Fosbinder and Van Kampen—Units 201, 203

Seth Bernanke and Ellen R. Goldberg—Unit 202

 

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

 

4. Maps depicting the location of the property.  This report contains maps which depict the location of the property.

 

5. Current deed book references to the properties. The most recent reference to Tax Parcel Number 07325C99 (1307 West Morehead Street) is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Books 22918, page 727, and 19763, page 595.

 

6. A brief architectural description of the property.  This report contains brief architectural description of the property prepared by Richard L. Mattson and Frances P. Alexander.

 

7. A brief historical sketch of the property.  This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Richard L. Mattson and Frances P. Alexander.

 

8. Documentation of why and in what ways the properties meet criteria for designation set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-400.5.
9. Special significance in terms of history, architecture, and cultural importance. The Commission judges that the property known as the Crane Company Building does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.  The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:  Constructed in 1928 for the Crane Company, a national manufacturer and supplier of plumbing supplies, the property clearly illustrates Charlotte’s historical role as an important regional warehousing and distribution hub.   In its use of reinforced concrete construction, the building clearly illustrates the innovations in structural engineering and factory and warehouse design that transformed industrial construction during the first decades of the twentieth century.  It remains well-preserved, featuring decorative herringbone brickwork on the main elevation, and banks of steel-sash windows.  Recently renovated according to the Secretary of the Interior’s “Standards for Rehabilitation” for certified historic properties, the building is currently used for professional offices.

 

 

1. integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and association.  The          Commission contends that the architectural description by Richard L. Mattson and   Frances P. Alexander included in this report demonstrates that the Crane Company            Building meets this criterion.

 

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal. The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the properties which become designated historic landmarks.  The current appraised value of the improvements to Tax Parcel Number 07325C99 (1307 West Morehead Street) is _______.  The total appraised value is _________.

 

Date of Preparation of this Report.

20 May 2008

 

Prepared by:

Richard L. Mattson, Ph.D.

and Frances P. Alexander, M.A.

Mattson, Alexander and Associates

2228 Winter Street

Charlotte, North Carolina  28205

Telephone:  (704) 376-0985

Telephone:  (704) 358-9841

 

 

Statement of Significance

Constructed in 1928, the Crane Company Building exemplifies the storage and wholesale warehouses built in Charlotte during the early twentieth century, when the city emerged as a regional industrial, distribution, and commercial center.  The growing commercial and manufacturing base of the city required a number of warehousing and wholesaling facilities, sited with both rail and highway access and proximity to the center city.  The Crane Company was a national manufacturer and distributor of plumbing supplies.  The building was one of the earliest warehouses constructed along the emerging West Morehead Street industrial corridor, which linked the center city to the newly built Wilkinson Boulevard.  Completed in 1927 as the state’s first four-lane highway, Wilkinson Boulevard followed the Piedmont and Northern Railway westward from Charlotte into the heart of region’s textile belt.  The adjacent railway allowed for railroad service to the booming mill towns, including the textile manufacturing center of Gastonia, west of Charlotte.  Today, the Crane Company Building survives as one of the best preserved commercial or industrial properties within the West Morehead Street industrial corridor.

 

In its use of reinforced concrete construction, the building clearly illustrates the innovations in structural engineering and factory and warehouse design that transformed industrial construction during the first decades of the twentieth century.  Technological advances, especially in the reinforcing systems used in concrete construction, made factories and warehouses largely fireproof, as well as offering numerous structural advantages over either heavy timber mill construction or steel framing.

 

The great strength of reinforced concrete framing, combined with the innovative extensive girder system for even greater structural support, was of particular importance in the design of multiple-story buildings housing heavy materials, such as the Crane Building.  Listed in the National Register of Historic Places (2001), the building was recently renovated under the Secretary of the Interior’s “Standards for Rehabilitation.” The building features decorative herringbone brickwork on the façade and banks of steel-sash windows on the side elevations.  The principal exterior modifications are the modern metal-frame windows and doors on the first floor of the front elevation.  The first-floor windows had been brick-infilled in the mid-twentieth century.   Now serving as the main entrance, the rear elevation also has modern, metal-frame storefront windows and doorways. The interior has been primarily subdivided for professional offices, but retains the original, exposed brick walls and concrete floors, ceilings, posts, and beams.

Historical Background

Located within the industrial corridor of West Morehead Street along the Piedmont and Northern Railway, the well-preserved Crane Company Building stands as a tangible reminder of the diverse warehousing, commercial, and industrial operations that made Charlotte a flourishing New South city by the early twentieth century.  With the end of the Civil War, and the subsequent reconstruction and expansion of the Piedmont’s rail network, leaders throughout the region envisioned a new order based on industrialization, specifically cotton production, and urban growth to replace the agrarian society of the past.  These proponents of the New South campaigned vigorously for the construction of cotton mills, which by World War I numbered over 300 within a 100-mile radius of Charlotte.  The city became the hub of the southern textile manufacturing industry, and by the 1920s the Piedmont of North and South Carolina had surpassed New England as the leading textile producer in the world.  Textiles, in turn, attracted other industries to Charlotte.  By the 1920s, the city could boast that its 141 factories manufactured eighty-one different products.  With industrialization, the population of Charlotte soared from just 7,000 in 1880, to over 82,000 in 1929, becoming the largest city in the two Carolinas (Sixteenth Census 1940; Hanchett 1993:  202).

 

Although cotton and textile production formed the economic mainstay of Charlotte, other industries were also drawn to the city’s good rail system, expanding work force, and plentiful and inexpensive electric power.  Machine shops, pump and elevator manufacturers, foundries, engineering firms, mattress factories, and cotton oil processors were just some of the industries which followed in the wake of the textile boom.  Tobacco magnate, James Buchanan Duke, and his Southern Power Company (later Duke Power Company) expanded aggressively in the region, supplying both industrial and residential clients with inexpensive electricity.  With a robust industrial economy and urban prosperity came a strong commercial and financial base which served large areas of the industrialized Piedmont as well as local consumers.  As the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce boasted in a 1928 advertisement, Charlotte had emerged as a regional commercial center with a 150-mile trading radius and more than 4,500,000 consumers (Charlotte City Directory 1928).

 

Because of its inland location, the economic success of Charlotte was dependent upon good rail transportation.  Sustaining little damage during the Civil War, the city quickly recovered and even expanded its rail network.  By 1875, six railroads were routed through the city, giving Charlotte more rail connections than any other city between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.  Charlotte benefited from continued rail expansion and consolidation throughout the late nineteenth century, which created both the powerful Southern Railway system, with its connections to New Orleans and Baltimore, and the smaller, but strategic, Piedmont and Northern (P & N) Railway.  An interurban line linking Charlotte to scores of mill towns to the west, the P & N served both passengers and freight on its 150-mile route.  At its height of operation in the 1920s, the line generated so much traffic that its motto, “A Mill to the Mile”, was accurate for much of its length (Fetters and Swanson 1974:  12; Hanchett 1993:  72-74; Glass 1992:  57-58).

 

With the increase in manufacturing and trade, auxiliary operations quickly followed to serve these expanding sectors as well as a growing population and an increasingly specialized urban economy.  Principal among these secondary operations were the large warehouse and storage companies that provided varying degrees of service to a diverse, urban clientele.  As a sign of the growing urban status of Charlotte, by the late 1920s, the city supported eight storage warehouses and eleven transfer and moving companies (Charlotte City Directory 1928).

 

The Crane Company began in Charlotte in 1918, with Cyril G. Smith as the owner, president, and manager.  The city directory in that year listed the firm’s address as 205 West First Street, several blocks north of West Morehead Street.  The 1921 directory listed West First Street as the company’s office address and West Palmer Street (several blocks south of West Morehead) as the location of the warehouse (now gone) (Charlotte City Directory 1921, 1927).

 

The Crane Company Building was constructed at 1307 West Morehead Street in 1928, and first appears at that address in the 1928 Charlotte City Directory.  The 1929 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Charlotte depicts the two-story, brick warehouse and denotes its 1928 date of construction.  The West Morehead Street location was a strategic one for the newly built warehouse.  In 1927, West Morehead Street, formerly a minor roadway at the outskirts of the center city, was extended westward across Irwin Creek to connect downtown with Wilkinson Boulevard.  Completed in 1927, Wilkinson was the state’s first four-lane highway, and linked Charlotte to the booming textile center of Gastonia and surrounding mill towns west of the city.  West Morehead Street also ran parallel to the P & N Railway, which Wilkinson Boulevard followed westward into Gaston County.  Benefiting from both rail and highway connections and proximity to the Piedmont and Northern’s Mint Street yards and freight station, the West Morehead Street corridor became prime industrial real estate.  By the end of the 1920s, a number of warehousing, light industrial, and small commercial enterprises had been built along the new route (Sanborn Map Company 1929; Hanchett 1993:  16; Fetters and Swanson 1974:  69).

 

In 1920, there had been only one industrial operation, a foundry, located along West Morehead, but with its new connections, sales and construction both along the new thoroughfare were brisk between 1927 and 1930.  In 1927, the four-story Carolina Transfer and Storage Company Building was constructed across the street from the Crane Company warehouse, while the two-story Union Storage and Warehouse was completed several blocks to the east.  The following year, the Carolina School Supply Building opened across the street from the Union warehouse.  By the end of the decade, West Morehead Street also included multiple-story buildings for the Charlotte Coca-Cola Bottling Plant and the Grinnell Company, manufacturers of fire extinguishers for the textile industry (Sanborn Map Company 1929; Charlotte City Directory 1920, 1929).

 

West Morehead continued to attract industrial and warehousing facilities until the 1950s and early 1960s, but the construction of Interstate Highway 85 to the north and east reoriented much of the industrial geography of the city after the early 1960s.  Some of the original occupants along the corridor, like the Carolina Transfer and Storage and the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, continued to operate in their West Morehead locations until the 1980s and early 1990s, but other properties became vacant or underused.

 

The Crane Company Building operated at 1307 West Morehead Street until 1942, when (for reasons unknown) it relocated to facilities (now gone) on the 200 and 300 blocks of West First Street.  In that year, Ford Motor Company acquired the building for use as an automobile repair establishment.  The recent rehabilitation of the building for office use reflects a renewed interest in this area because of the easy access provided by Interstate Highway 77 and increased commercial and residential development in downtown Charlotte.  In particular, the 1996 construction of Bank of America Stadium along West Morehead Street for the city’s professional football team has sparked the renovation and conversion of a host of industrial buildings along the street.

 

Physical Description

Constructed in 1928 for a major wholesale distributor of plumbing supplies, the Crane Company Building is located at 1307 West Morehead Street, southwest of downtown Charlotte.  Facing the street, the building occupies a 0.39-acre lot that was laid out adjacent to both West Morehead and the Piedmont and Northern (P & N) Railway, which ran behind the property.  Now used for professional offices, the building has recently undergone a renovation according to the Secretary of Interior’s “Standards for Rehabilitation.”

The two-story building is of reinforced-concrete construction, with exposed concrete framing that articulates the window bays and brick curtain walls.  The building has a largely utilitarian appearance expressed in its steel-sash windows with concrete sills, flat roof, and simple, boxy form.  The rear elevation has a stepped configuration that originally accommodated a series of four individual loading bays and docks.  Exterior ornamentation is concentrated on the front elevation, which features a parapet facade topped by two decorative urns, and brick spandrels laid in a herringbone pattern.  The four bays across the front facade are defined by projecting pilasters highlighted on the second story by alternating bands of brick and concrete.  The second-story, steel-sash windows are original.  However, the window bays on the front façade, which had been brick-infilled, now have modern metal sash.  Original steel sash windows survive on the side and rear elevations.  The rear elevation now includes the main entrance, and has modern metal-frame, storefront windows and doorways on the first floor.  The original rear loading dock has been replaced by a modern concrete deck with a metal railing that conforms to the configuration of the dock, and has a red-brick foundation that includes a portion of the original, brick dock foundation.

The interior has concrete floors and an extensive system of exposed, reinforced-concrete girders, beams, and piers, specifically designed to carry heavy loads, such as quantities of steel plumbing supplies.  The overall use of reinforced concrete, combined with brick curtain walls and steel window frames and stairs, made the building largely fireproof.  Originally large storage areas filled both floors, but with the conversion to offices, modern partition walls now subdivide much of the interior into offices and hallways.

 

 

Architecture Context

A two-story masonry building with reinforced concrete construction, the Crane Company Building exemplifies the innovations in structural engineering and factory design which transformed industrial construction during the first decades of the twentieth century.  Technological advances, particularly in the reinforcing systems used in concrete construction, made factories and warehouses largely fireproof, as well as offering numerous structural advantages over either heavy timber mill construction or steel framing.  Although unreinforced concrete had long been known for its great compressive strength, and had been used for simple vertical piers, in its reinforced state, the material could withstand tensile stresses as well, making reinforced concrete feasible for horizontal members such as foundations, floor slabs, and girders.  Of particular importance in factory and warehouse design, its great strength reduced the number of vertical members needed for structural support, and even multiple story factories could be built with open interiors unbroken by numerous piers, and with flexible plans, which greatly increased the storage capacity of warehouses.  The great strength of reinforced concrete framing, combined with the innovative extensive girder system for even greater structural support, was of particular importance in the design of multiple-story buildings housing heavy materials, such as the Crane Company Building.

 

By the 1920s, tall lofts had begun falling out of favor for manufacturing purposes as sprawling, one-story factory complexes better accommodated the new straight-line production methods with their emphasis on efficiency and rationalization of layout.  However, multiple-story construction remained both highly efficient and economical for warehouse design.  The strength of the reinforced concrete framing permitted even the upper stories to hold heavy loads, while making the interior plan versatile.  In addition, the vertical loft design made economical and profitable use of expensive rail frontage property, which the contemporary sprawling one-story, multiple-building industrial properties did not.

 

Bibliographic References

Alexander, Frances P.  The Making of the Modern Industrial Park:  A History of the Central

            Manufacturing District of Chicago, Illinois.  M.A. Thesis, George Washington            University, 1991.

 

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.  “Charlotte:  A Center of the South’s New Industrial    Empire.” Informational Pamphlet, 1928.  On file in the Carolina Room, Charlotte-    Mecklenburg Public Library.

 

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.  Charlotte Transportation Directory.  1976-1977. On            file in    the Carolina Room, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library.

 

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.  Charlotte Transportation Facilities.  Informational   Pamphlet, n.d.  On file in the Carolina Room, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library.

 

Condit, Carl.  American Building Art:  The Twentieth Century.  New York:  Oxford      University Press, 1961.

 

Condit, Carl.  Chicago, 1910-1929:  Building, Planning, and Urban Technology.  Chicago:    University of Chicago Press, 1973.

 

Fetters, Thomas T. and Peter W. Swanson, Jr.  Piedmont and Northern:  The Great Electric     System of the South.  San Marino, California:  Golden West Books, 1974.

 

Glass, Brent D.  The Textile Industry in North Carolina, A History.  Raleigh:  Division of          Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1992.

 

Hanchett, Thomas W.  Sorting Out the New South City:  Charlotte and Its Neighborhoods.     Chapel Hill, North Carolina:  University of North Carolina, 1993.

 

Mattson, Alexander and Associates, Inc.  (Former) Charlotte Coca-Cola Bottling Company      Building.  Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, 1997.

 

Miller’s Official Charlotte, North Carolina City Directory.   Asheville, North Carolina:  E.H.   Miller, 1921, 1927, 1928, 1935, 1940, 1950, and 1960.

 

Nichols, John R.  “Choice of Type of Construction,” Architectural Forum (September     1923):  99-104.

 

Sanborn Map Company.  Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.  New York:  Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, 1929.