Antebellum Buildings: Domestic

The oldest known building in the historic district is the Grice-Fearing House, 200 S. Road Street, built between 1789 and 1808. The two-story frame gabled house with exterior end chimneys, now a composite of several periods, was built as a single pile dwelling in the Georgian style for Francis Grice, an important early settler.¹ The side-hall plan of the main block indicates the antiquity of this arrangement in Elizabeth City. In 1840 a rear addition in the Greek Revival style doubled the house in size--for merchant Isaiah Fearing. The gable end windows, each with a six-over-six sash flanked by narrow two-over-two sash, have fluted surrounds with corner blocks and date from the remodelling. The double front porch, with full-height Doric posts, also dates from this era. The south wing, Federal in style, was built in the early nineteenth century, perhaps as an outbuilding, and joined to the house at a later date. The late nineteenth century north wing has ornate sawnwork details in the Queen Anne style. The only original feature visible on the interior is the fine closed-string stair of Georgian design, with diagonally set balusters, and a heavy molded handrail and newel cap. The stair rises in the front corner of the side hall from back to front. The south wing has a diminuitive Federal style mantel, and several others are Greek Revival in style.

The district contains 0nly two known Federal style buildings: the Goodman-Matthews-Pool House and the cottage at the rear of the Griggs-Toxey House. Both have undergone considerable alteration. The Goodman-Matthews-Pool House, 204 E. Colonial Ave., ca. 1808, originally sat on Main Street between Pool and Martin Streets² and was moved to its present site ca. 1903 when the Federal Building was erected. The original house, a two-story frame structure one room deep, with a center hall and a one-story rear wing,³ retains beaded weatherboarding wlth flush sheathing on the main (south) façade, two-part molded surrounds, a double door entrance with transom with delicate semi-circular muntin pattern, and interior end brick chimneys with exposed faces (a late eighteenth and early nineteenth century coastal feature common in North Carolina). The interior retains nearly all of the original mantels, including two of ornate Federal tripartite design with lozenge, sunburst, reeding, dentil, and corbel course details; the secondary mantels are of transitional Georgian-Federal design with dentil and gougework details.

About 1849 the owner of the house, Joseph H. Pool, was involved in a construction project--probably the Greek Revival style remodelling evident on the interior.⁴ The present Doric portico was constructed after the house was moved, although the house had a portico in the nineteenth century.⁵ The present porch follows the form of Greek Revival porches in the district, and is perhaps a copy of the earlier one.

One of the most interesting features of the Goodman-Matthews-Pool House is the Georgian reproduction woodwork, including an overmantel, cornices, and round-arched door, added in the 1930s. Copied in part from the nearby Old Brick House, ca. 1760, the oldest house in the area, the fine work is believed to be by Charlie Griggs, a talented Elizabeth City cabinetmaker who worked between 1900 and 1930.

The frame cottage at the rear of the Griggs-Toxey House, 404 E. Church Street, apparently constructed between ca. 1800 and 1830, has beaded weatherboarding, nine-over-six sash with two-part molded surrounds, and molded box cornices of typical Federal design. The chimney has been removed. The interior is said to have been completely remodelled. The original function of the structure is unknown.

Increased traffic on the improved Dismal Swamp Canal resulted in a building boom in Elizabeth City after 1828. Eight Greek Revival style houses built between ca. 1834 and 1863 still stand within the historic district: the Dr. William Martin House, Pool-Kennedy-Lumsden House, Hinton-Pailin House, Shannon-Hollowell House, Bland-Overman House, Richardson-Burfoot House, Overman-Sheep House, and the Charles-Harney House. All but the Charles-Harney House are two-story frame houses, five with side-hall plans, three with center-hall plans.

The earliest is apparently the Dr. William Martin House, 405 E. Church Street, built ca. 1834 for the prominent early physician.⁶ It has interior end chimneys, pedimented gable ends with large lunettes, and fine symmetrically molded surrounds with paneled corner blocks. A mid-twentieth century portico replaces a porch described in the late nineteenth century as having “six tall columns.”⁷ Conversion to a mortuary in the 1940s produced rear and east additions, but the original main block is basically intact. The interior, a center hall plan, contains fine woodwork with delicate Federal scale and Greek Revival character, including a graceful stair with a slender turned newel with a distinctive acorn cap, ramped railing, and open, bracketed string--a type used frequently in the city in this era. The first floor surrounds consist of convex molded frames and similarly-treated corner blocks; on the second floor are the simpler strip-paneled type with faceted corner blocks, typical of the Greek Revival style in the district.

The Pool-Kennedy-Lumsden House, 204 S. Road Street, was built ca. 1840 as a town house for the Pool family, who lived on a nearby plantation.⁸ The side-hall-plan house, one of the most handsome and best preserved historic buildings in the district, has interior end chimneys, pedimented gable ends, and corner block surrounds. The main entrance is surmounted by a multi-paned transom and entablature with corner blocks and a center tablet, and sheltered by an apparently original pedimented Doric entrance porch. The rear two-story porch originally served as a breezeway between the detached kitchen wing and main block, and is now partially enclosed. Interior surrounds repeat the simpler type of the second floor of the Dr. Martin House, and the elegant stair is also similar, including the acorn-capped newel. (An 1849 newspaper account referring to construction at this house probably concerned the north side wing, nearly identical in finish to the main block.)⁹

The Hinton-Pailin House, 202 W. Main Street, built between 1855 and 1857 for, and perhaps by, James W. Hinton,¹⁰ is a side-hall plan house which follows the formula of the Pool-Kennedy-Lumsden House, although it is slightly less elaborate. Other deviations are the single interior end chimney with corner fireplaces and the front entrance with an elliptical fanlight and sidelights with curvilinear leaded muntin patterns. The stair has a particularly graceful ramped hand rail which terminates in a spiral at the newel with the distinctive acorn cap. An early twentieth century remodelling resulted in the present Colonial Revival one-story wrap-around porch and replacement mantels throughout the house.

The Shannon-Hollowell House, 112 E. Main Street, believed to have been built ca. 1850 for Will Shannon, local merchant,¹¹ is a simply finished member of the side-hall plan group, with exterior chimneys and a simple transomed entrance. The cross-gable of the center main façade and one-story bracketed porch are late nineteenth century additions, and replaced a classical portico with balcony similar to other Greek Revival porticos in the district. The unusually well-preserved interior trim consists of woodwork identical to that of the rest of the group, and each room of the original main block retains its original mantel, a pilastered Greek Revival design.

The Bland-Overman House, 501 W. Main Street, although altered since its construction ca. 1850,¹² including replacement of the original chimney and addition of side and rear wings, retains the basic features of the side-hall-plan group. The modest structure has a single door with transom, and a Doric pedimented stoop of uncertain age. The interior has simple strip-edged surrounds, replacemeat mantels, and a lovely acorn-newel stair.

The Richardson-Pool House, 301 Culpepper Street, and the Overman-Sheep House, 401 W. Main Street, built ca. 1860, are two of the most beautiful of the Greek Revival group. The first house was built by Daniel Richardson, a wealthy merchant, and bought at his death in 1868 by George D. Pool, a farmer and philanthropist.¹³ The second house was built by Reuben F. Overman, a banker, and purchased by Samuel L. Sheep, prominent educator, in 1891.¹⁴ The center hall plan houses, set on high foundations, have entrances with corner blocks and paneled center tablets, and full Doric porticos. Both have interior end chimneys. The Richardson-Pool House, a double pile structure, has heavier porch posts, a porch balcony, and a deep deck-on-hip roof. The Overman-Sheep House, a single pile structure, has a gable roof with a late Victorian cross-gable addition, and lacks the porch balcony. The east wing with a Doric entrance stoop appears to be original. Neither interior was available for inspection.

The Charles-Harney House, 400 W. Main Street, last of the side-hall group, has transitional Greek Revival-Italianate interior design features. The gabled structure, the only antebellum brick house in the district, is laid in one-to-five common bond. The exterior treatment is simple, with pedimented gable ends, trabeated main entrance, and large beaded window and door surrounds. The unaltered interior finish consists of crossetted surrounds with pointed arch lintels, and simple mantels with pointed arch friezes. The stair with curtail has a newel with acorn-shaped cap, and is within the local Greek Revival idiom. The house is believed to have been built by George W. Charles, a local contractor who, according to local tradition, also constructed the Bland-Overman House.¹⁵

Another distinctive group of houses in the district--the Tillett-Nixon House, the Bell House, and the house at 512 W. Main Street--was probably constructed in the early 1860s. These two-story frame houses with low hip roofs and side-hall plans are quite urban in appearance and do not conform to a recognizable architectural style. Construction of this house type was probably interrupted by the economic inertia brought on by the Civil War and Reconstruction. The Tillett-Nixon House, 400 W. Church Street, perhaps the earliest of the group, is said to have been built by Isaac Tillett, a schoolmaster,¹⁶ and is the finest of the three. It has a lovely entrance transom with an oval leaded muntin pattern, molded wooden lintels above the openings, and a rear two-story porch which appears to be original. The house had a front porch in the late nineteenth century, probably also original, now removed. The wooden quoins on the main façade are a twentieth century addition. On the interior, the stair is typically Victorian in design, with a heavy turned newel and turned balusters, and part of a marblized slate Eastlake style mantel, probably original, remains in the rear first floor room. The Bell House, 315 W. Colonial Ave., also has molded wooden lintels, but has a simple main entrance. 512 W. Main is the most modest of the group.¹⁷ Neither the Bell House nor 512 W. Main Street were available for interior inspection.