A New Chapter for Our Colonial Revival: Part 2 - Chapters Before Us
- Meredith Street
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
With my love of history, architecture, and the charm of our hometown, it still feels like a pinch me moment that all the pieces fell into place at the right time for our family to have this opportunity. The privilege to continue this home's story is not lost on me.
My interests in history and homes have been evident since I was little. One Christmas, I received an architecture kit to design and build a 3D model of a home and I often begged my mother to buy me house plan books as kid. You know, for light reading in between historical fiction novels. I loved scouring real estate listings listings to look at homes for fun. I would always play the game in my head of 'What would I change and how would I improve this home?' I often wondered what things would be like if I had had the guts to pursue architecture professionally. What 31 year old working mother spends any free time they get watching YouTube videos about historic homes, moldings from different time periods, and historic restoration and design? If you do, let me know because I think we'd be fast friends!
From the very beginning, I was most interested in the home's chapters before us. The home is a contributing member to our town's Nationally Registered Historic District. The earliest photo I have been able to find of the home is from the 1990s as part of the historic district application. But the best find of all came when we first came to see the home with the intent of purchasing. The seller's daughter found the original blue prints rolled up in a closet. They so graciously let us take them home with us even before we ever made an offer on the home. Talk about a true treasure! This really let us dig even deeper into the home's history and piece together what changes had occurred over it's 90 years. How rare it is to have that. This home's history is a story worth telling and preserving.
Blueprint Differences
There were a few changes from the blue prints and what we uncovered with demo. On the exterior there were elevation differences. The garage was actually built as a two story garage that lined up with basement instead of the main level of the house as the plans originally showed. That second story was finished out as living space at some point towards the end of the 1900s to make a bedroom and the laundry was also moved to the space. This made the head room space in the area underneath very low and unusable as an actual garage. This part of our house will be undergoing changes as we are currently in the planning stages of a major addition that will rework this space and give us an attached garage with direct entry into our house. This room is just the exposed brick walls and the temperature fluctuates drastically with weather. Right now, we are using it as an all purpose room for a play area, laundry, and household storage. The staircase to the lower level of the garage is damaged. During renovations, we painted this space and haven't changed anything in anticipation of our future garage plans.
From what we know, the side porch was never there. Instead there was a back porch and back door. The columns currently on our front porch are not the original columns either. You better bet my list of future projects includes restoring the columns on the front to something as similar as the blue prints show as possible. The closet locations in the primary bedroom had been changed at some point, as well as closets added (that we removed) to what is now our daughter's room. The wall dividing the breakfast room and the kitchen had been taken down and the hallway with an arch from the foyer to the kitchen area had been covered up and a cabinet put in on the kitchen side. We made efforts to restore the floor plan as much as possible to the original layout, while also changing a few things to match more modern upgrades that we made to the home. The kitchen and the primary bedroom received the most dramatic changes in terms of layout.
The Architect
The plans were designed for the original owners by Willard G. Rogers and Frank B. Griffin. Both architects out of Charlotte, N.C. Willard G. Rogers, a native of Ohio, was a prominent architect in the state. I can only assume based on what I've been able to research that Frank B. Griffin worked under Mr. Rogers. I have not been able to find any information specific to this name and architectural credits. I am curious to do more research, but I am going to have to find time and the right places to look beyond just what is available on web searches.
Rogers was the grandson and son of well known architects, Solomon and Isaiah Rogers. Willard Rogers relocated to North Carolina and has many historic buildings and homes credited to his resume. Upon relocation to Charlotte, Rogers worked at the firm of Stuart Cramer and later as a named partner in the firm, Hook and Rogers. At the time the plans for our home were drawn, Rogers would have been working through his own solely named architecture firm. His firm also had an office in Kinston, North Carolina.
Willard Roger's credited works included a broad range of private residences, municipal buildings, and college campus buildings across North Carolina. Rogers is credited as the architect of the famed Four Acres mansion of Benjamin N. Duke, Greystone Mansion, the Addison Apartments in the Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte, Catawba County Courthouse, Eliza Pitman Memorial Auditorium at Saint Mary's School, and Van Landingham house (a now prominent wedding venue in Charlotte). You can only imagine the utter shock that an architect of this magnitude designed our home. It was a really neat find. I looked through several of the home plans available to view that he also designed and it was interesting to compare similarities. His home is on the National Register of Historic Places in Charlotte.
Previous Owners
So who could have afforded blueprints like these at the time and a house so well built? The thing Austin could not get over during demo was how well built the house was and many things indicated to him that the original owners had to have been able to afford certain aspects of how the home was built. The architectural plans were drawn specifically for The Dalton family. From what we have been able to find, they owned many of original lots on our street back in the early 1900s that were sold for the builds of the houses where our lovely neighbors now live. We believe the differences between the house and the blueprints are due to choosing a different build site on the street. This would have changed the elevations leading to many of the changes, especially with the garage. The Daltons had three children, who have all now passed. Their daughter, was a classmate and friend of my grandmother in high school. I've enjoyed hearing stories about the Daltons and their home from my grandmother's friend who grew up just down the street as a close friend of the Dalton's daughter. The grand piano in the living room, hiding in the buffet, and popcorn being given out on Halloween. How special it has been to have this connection. I am looking forward to having her over some time to hear more of her special memories.
The Dalton's owned a very successful department store in our downtown. The buildings where their business was still stand and actively house businesses today. Mr. Dalton was a student at UNC Chapel Hill, but I don't think he finished due to entering military service. He had experience as a buyer working for different store entities. Dalton Brothers was a family run business and was the place to buy clothing and more for the county. Many write ups in the local papers featured the store and more specifically, Mr. Dalton. He was known as an active member of the community and an upstanding citizen. I have throughly enjoyed combing the newspaper archives at mentions of him, extended family, and gatherings hosted at the home by Mrs. Dalton. I love the style of the old newspapers and the society sections! One of our friends grew up next door and remembers Mrs. Dalton as a kind neighbor, who often gave them candy and sweet presents. She even remembered our light fixture in the foyer from when she was little! If any of our readers have information or earlier photos of the home, I would love to know! I've tried reaching out on several local history groups with no luck.
Throughout our renovation, I enjoyed uncovering many design choices made throughout the home. At one point and time, all the trim was Carolina blue. My favorite color may be blue, but our house pulls for the NC State Wolfpack. The many layers of wallpaper in rooms like the kitchen and the primary bedroom revealed that Mrs. Dalton and I would have definitely agreed on design and decor. While removing the wallpaper in our daughter's room, we revealed a handwritten note underneath as well as two additional layers of wallpaper. How much I wish those old wallpapers could have been preserved and that I had taken a picture of all of them. They were so beautiful!
We purchased the home by working with the previous owner's children, who was only the second owner of the home along with his wife after retiring in the 1990s. A lot like Mr. Dalton, he was a man of great influence and reputation in our town worthy of admiration. They shared a lot of similarities like being leaders of the Kiwanis organization, military service, and involved members of the same church we also attend. Both ladies of the home also loved their plants and we have so many unique ones around the yard. Seeing the parallels between these two couples struck me sincerely. What a treasure to know that our home has been loved and cared for by people who also loved and cared for this community and those around them so well. People who left a mark here through their gifts, time, and talents, and made an impact on others. What a legacy that Austin and I can only hope to achieve.
Looking Forward
For us, preserving our town's historic charm has always been the goal of what we hoped to do with the Bee House and our home now. I love our historic main street, the homes and buildings, and hope to see other members of our community restore and respect what makes our little town unique and beautiful. Many locals might balk at codes, historic area zoning, and "rules & regulations" but these things do matter. It helps create the warm and fuzzy feeling one gets driving down Main Street. These are the things that keep our town's identity and attract visitors that help support our small businesses, and the vibrant downtown and revitalization that has occurred over the last decade. We hope to be good stewards of the gifts and talents we have and who knows, maybe our preservation won't stop here. With Austin's hopes to do contracting full time some day and my interests, I have some definite pipe dreams inspired by homes and architecture of the 1920s/1930s. You know, the best chapter of home building!
-Meredith
Comments