Preservation Watch List
Historic Charlotte, taking a lead from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has decided to create a list of
Mecklenburg County’s most at risk historic places. We hope that this list will serve as an alarm to raise awareness of
the serious threats facing our architectural and historic assets.
In addition, we aim to use this list as an effective tool
to raising awareness and appreciation for the wide variety of historic places on hand, as well as achieving the result of
actual restoration and reuse of these buildings. We would love to see any and all of these buildings restored so that one
day they would be eligible for a Historic Charlotte Preservation Award!
This list is by no means complete; please help us expand the list. Nominations can be sent to
[email protected]. Please include the name, address, historic significance and age of the building or site.
The George E. Davis House
(c. 1895)
The Davis House is at risk as the photograph illustrates. Renewed efforts to save
this house are underway. Dr. Davis was
an important figure in three respects: he was the first black professor at Johnson C. Smith University, and, as
Dean of the Faculty, a major shaper of education at that institution; he built a number of houses near his own
as rental housing, thus molding the character of this part of the Biddleville neighborhood; and he was a North
Carolina state agent for the Rosenwald Fund, and in that capacity had a direct hand in raising more than a
half-million dollars for many of the black schools (including Billingsville) built in the state which were partially
financed through the fund.
The Smith House in Fourth Ward
(c. 1924)
The special significance of the Charles H and Bess Smith House rests
primarily upon its architectural importance and upon its role in documenting the evolution of the residential
built environment of Center City Charlotte. The house is currently empty and not well maintained. It is
being offered at land value! Martin E. Boyer, Jr. (1893-1970), who prepared plans for this Spanish Colonial
Revival style house in 1923, was a nephew of well-known architect James McMichael. The initial owners
were Charles H. Smith and his wife Bess, who moved into their new home in 1924 from elsewhere in Center
City Charlotte. Charles Smith was president and manager of Blake Drugstore at nearby Trade and Tryon Sts,
locally known as the Square. Boyer was born in Glen Wilton, Virginia and reared in Charlotte. Like his uncle,
for whom he worked during his early professional career, Boyer was steeped in the vocabulary of derivative
design that increasingly dominated American architectural theory in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Boyer
attended Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, where he was trained in the Beaux
Arts tradition. During World War I he served as a naval architect and in World War II was a lieutenant colonel
with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Boyer practiced architecture in Charlotte for more than 50 years and
mostly designed homes for wealthy patrons. Illustrative of Boyer’s commitment to traditional Revivalism are
two imposing extant homes he designed in Charlotte’s exclusive Eastover neighborhood.
Recently, due to lack of needed maintenance and neglect by the owner the
house may be demolished. Though it is listed as a Local Landmark, its
disrepair has made it an eye soar in the otherwise nicely kept Historic Fourth
Ward. The Historic Landmarks Commission has approved the request by the City of
Charlotte for demolition.
East Boulevard as a Residential Street
East Boulevard was historically one of the premier residential streets of
Dilworth, the first streetcar suburb in Charlotte, and the boulevard remains the spine of both the local and
National Register historic districts that encompass much of Dilworth. Streetcars once ran down the broad, treelined
boulevard along which some of the finest houses, small scale apartment houses, and churches were built
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Today, many of these one and two story buildings, sited
on large, tree-shaded lawns, remain as testaments to East Boulevard having once been a fashionable address for
Charlotte’s business leaders. Although now used primarily for commercial purposes, the historic houses along
East Boulevard, with their residential character, scale, and setbacks, remain substantially intact but could be
threatened by redevelopment.
Thrift Depot of the Piedmont & Northern Railroad Company
(circa 1912)
Charles Christian (C.C.) Hook and his partner, W. G. Rogers, designed three types of P&N stations — passenger stations, freight stations, and combined passenger and freight stations. They were
constructed in 1912-13 on a 98-mile run from Spartanburg to Greenwood, S.C. and a 21-mile line from Charlotte to Gastonia.
Passenger service ended in 1951. This depot is the last of its kind and sorely in need of preservation and restoration. The Historic Landmarks Commission has been interested in purchasing the station for many years, but it current owner has not been willing to part with the station
To visit the station, go out Freedom Drive past I-85 to Paw Creek, turn left on the Old Mount Holly Road and look for the brick
railroad station on your right. It’s a lonely sentinel of the past now surrounded by massive fuel tanks and overgrown shrubbery.
The Wiliam Treloar House
(circa 1887)
The legacy of William Treloar
to Charlotte’s First Ward is the home he built for his family at the
southeastern corner of Brevard and Seventh Streets. It is a distinct
reflection of the prosperity and expansiveness of the life of the English
native, and shows as well the taste and style of a very rare large
house surviving from the 1880s in the area. The Treloar House is
one of only two surviving examples of “row house” architecture in
Charlotte’s central city and one of the few remnants of the days
when Brevard Street was a highly respected residential street.
Built in 1887 of brick, wood, and stone, the Treloar House is
a rectangular building with a steep-sided mansard roof with small
decorative gables. Beautiful decorative slate roofing is found on
the majority of the mansard roof. The shallow sloped top portion
is not intended to be seen, therefore, less expensive roofing
material is found on that portion. The gables are complete with
pendanted collar braces and decorated collar beams. The dualresidential
nature of the original building was emphasized in the building’s front façade. Rusticated stone blocks were placed vertically in
the brick pilasters on both ends of the façade. Another pilaster with identical stone block decoration was located directly in the middle
of the façade, dividing it visually into two units. The stone blocks, plus the appearance of two identical houses placed side by side gave
the house a very strong vertical feeling, which was a common Victorian feature.
The upper level windows of the front façade reflect the Renaissance Revival styles. There exist four symmetrically-placed windows on
the second-floor; two windows are placed on each side of the center pilaster. They are tall and thin double-hung windows with simple sills
and elaborate cast iron Italianate window heads. A wooden second-level rectangular bay window is located underneath each gable closest
to the back-end of the house. Each bay window has Stick Style trim with X braces plus diagonal and vertical siding, and three windows,
one facing the front and one facing each side. They are arched windows made of wood with glass in the upper half only.
Though modified somewhat over the years, the Treloar House remains an unusual and stately presence in a part of town that has nothing
like it in the immediate area, which is now being redeveloped. It is a distinct reminder of an era now long past by a hundred years, but
it should continue to be a vital part of First Ward in the city, linking future development with a sense of where we have been.
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