Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Historic Salisbury Foundation to Save Another Historic NOMA Home!

Our NOMA neighborhood has been so grateful to the Historic Salisbury Foundation for stepping up to save (3) endangered historic homes along the North Main Street corridor over the last two years. Our famous, or infamous, 'scaffolding house' can no longer earn that moniker! The beautiful Prairie Four-Square home at 1428 N. Main Street now lives up to its formal name, the Myers-Morris House, circa 1898. What a transformation has been accomplished on this fine home, that before HSF's intervention may have been a fine candidate for the wrecking ball! But no more!

Another home stabilized by HSF is at 1600 North Main ~ The ca.1912 Hunter-Mowery House. Both the Myers-Morris House and the Hunter-Mowery House have been purchased and the NOMA neighborhood looks forward to having them further restored . . . and to having new neighbors.

The third home stabilized by the foundation is the adorable bungalow high on its elevated lot at 1628 N. Main Street ~ already seeing the effects of investment by its new owner!

And now . . . we have even better news ~ as if this could be possible after these three enormous improvements to our neighborhood!

The gorgeous Victorian home at 1008 N. Main has been donated to the Historic Salisbury Foundation (the ink is still drying) and soon we hope to see improvements there!

This beautiful home has been treated as a rental for several years, and frankly, despite its designation as a 'pivotal structure' in the National Register of Historic Places, it has been a 'problem house' for the neighborhood. On Friday, December 9, 2016, the Historic Salisbury Foundation announced the donation of the C.L. Emerson House at 1008 North Main St. from James Isaiah “Ike” Emerson and his mother, Bonnie Rufty Emerson. And 1008 North Main Street just happens to be one of the very special and prime examples of historic residential architecture in the North Main neighborhood and historic district!


The house has been in the Emerson family since it was built in 1900 by C.L. Emerson, Ike Emerson’s great-grandfather. This beautiful, late Victorian home has been in the Emerson family since it was built in 1900 by C.L. Emerson, Ike Emerson’s great-grandfather. C.L. Emerson was Salisbury’s first oil dealer, moving from Ohio to work for both the Standard Oil Company and the Indian Refining Company. He later shifted his work to real estate, and among other property ventures, he built three additional houses in the 1000 block of North Main Street.


C. L. Emerson House 1008 N. Main St. c.1900 is classified as a 'Pivotal' property in the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form. This is one of just (25) homes listed in the North Main Historic District with the 'Pivotal' classification.


Long considered a fine example of late Victorian architecture, the C.L. Emerson House continues to draw attention, particularly with its beautiful fluted stone columns. Residents in the North Main District cherish this one-of-a-kind Victorian home along the main corridor through the neighborhood. This unusual two-story dwelling emphasizes the asymmetry and irregular massing so characteristic of the late Victorian period. Unlike its more eclectic Victorian contemporaries, it features a steeply pitched side gable roof interrupted by a broad gable and majestic five-sided turret on the front, and gabled and hipped roof dormers at the rear. The asymmetrical first floor facade is defined by a porch supported by the notable tall, fluted, stone pillars, found only on one other structure in the vicinity.

A hint of the rich exterior ornamentation found on some of district's other Victorian dwellings is provided by circular sawn vent located high in the front and side gables and by diamond-shaped mullions which divide the upper sash of windows in the front gable and turret, as well as those windows which rise up the south elevation along the course of an interior stair.

Ike Emerson’s father, the late Maj. Gen. James Willard “Jim” Emerson, owned and rented out his family’s house for several decades. An electrical fire this past summer persuaded Ike that the house needed a new caretaker. Donating the house to Historic Salisbury Foundation was an ideal solution.

Historic Salisbury Foundation will stabilize the house and put protective covenants in place to maintain its architectural features and to preserve the association with the Emerson family. The importance of this property to North Main Street cannot be overstated. The renovated C.L. Emerson House will provide an important anchor to this central section of North Main Street.

The Foundation works on houses such as this as part of their Revolving Fund. Don't know what the Revolving Fund is? Check out this amazing video explaining it!



We are nothing short of thrilled that the Historic Salisbury Foundation will kick off 2017 working on this pivotal NOMA property.

It IS a Happy New Year!!

















The North Main Neighborhood
Salisbury, North Carolina 28144
www.facebook.com/NOMAnorthmain
www.NextDoor.com / NOMA North Main

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