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Traditional and Popular Forms (2.1.1.1.1)

Single-Pile Houses (2.1.1.1.1.1)

Single-pile dwellings in Elizabeth City are rectangular structures either one, one-and-a-half, or two stories in height, with the two-story version being the most numerous. They comprise approximately one-tenth of the residential buildings throughout the city. Most are sheltered beneath gable roofs, and some of the more ambitious examples--particularly those from the antebellum period--have pedimented gable roofs. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries gable roofs were often accentuated with a façade gable, yielding a form commonly called the triple-A roof. The single-pile dwellings in Elizabeth City follow a very predictable appearance. All that have been inspected on the interior have a center-hall plan, and the vast majority have interior end chimneys. Many houses from the late nineteenth century exhibit a curious--and unexplained--arrangement of chimney and gables in which the single attic window is located in the center of the gable, directly in front of the interior chimney shaft; the shaft is clearly visible if the window glazing is clear. Although this awkward arrangement is eliminated on some houses by the utilization of a pair of windows flanking the shaft, the use of a single attic window is more common. All Elizabeth City examples of the single-pile house form also originally had a front porch, although some porches have been modified, stylistically updated, or removed altogether. This porch most typically spanned nearly the full façade and was carried by columns, turned posts, or tapered pillars raised on pedestals, depending on the prevailing fashions. All single-pile houses in the city, no matter how modest, also have a rear ell and porch of some sort. Two-story houses usually have two-story ells, and some, as the Rollinson-Puckett House (201 West Cypress Street, ca. 1900), have complementary double-tier rear porches.

One- and one-and-a-half-story examples of the single-pile house are very few in number and all surviving examples date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The most outstanding example is the George W. Owens House (915 Southern Avenue, ca. 1898), which has a decorative porch of Victorian millwork. Most, however, are modest houses erected as rental houses for workers.

The two-story version of the single-pile dwelling--popularly known as an I-house--was erected in Elizabeth City from the 1790s through the 1920s, during which it was one of the most versatile of house forms. One of the city's oldest houses, the Grice-Fearing House (200 South Road Street), began ca. 1798 as a single-pile residence, and the Judge George S. Brooks House (504 South Road Street, ca. 1857), illustrates the popularity of this house form among the well-to-do during the late antebellum period. Most of the city's two-story single-pile houses, however, were erected between 1881 and World War I for middle-tier merchants, shopkeepers, and farmers. The simpler houses--such as the house at 405 West Fearing Street (ca. 1892)--have decoration limited to the porch, while ambitious examples, such as the Sharber-Emery House (307 East Burgess Street, ca. 1891), are lavished by an abundance of sawn and turned decoration.