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Late Nineteenth Century Victorian Styles (2.1.1.1.4)

Traditional Forms with Millwork Decoration (2.1.1.1.4.1)

A large percentage of the dwellings constructed in Elizabeth City during the late nineteenth century and into the first decade of the twentieth century are traditional two-story houses in either center-hall, side-hall, L-, or T-plans. Generally, decoration is limited to a modest application of turned and sawn millwork that was readily available and easily applied. This decoration is usually concentrated on the porch in the form of turned or chamfered posts; balusters that are either turned (and sometimes connected with "webs"), square-in-section, or sawn slats; sawn scrolls applied to the side of the posts; and simple turned or rectangular-in-section spindlework friezes spanning the posts. Other examples display decorative porch friezes consisting of an inter-connected circle motif or star motifs incorporated into lateral brackets. One of the more widely employed elements is a simplified pent hood supported by scrolls above a window. These hoods, which were probably made locally at the Kramer planning mill, were extremely popular and are found on all forms of traditional houses except the simplest and most modest. Another popular decorative element is a sawn ornament at the top of the gable; several are embellished further with inset turned spindles. While each of these elements is found in a variety of highly elaborate and intricate forms on the largest and most ornamented houses, each is also seen throughout all the period's neighborhoods in simple combinations on houses of modest size.

The simplest decorated traditional dwellings are two-bay gable-front structures such as those at 702 and 704 West Colonial Avenue (1914-1923) which are ornamented only by porch scrolls and square-in-section balusters. The seven gable-front Ward Rental Houses (700 block North Road Street, 1902-1908) are finished in a similar manner; several have turned porch balusters and two retain the gable ornament which probably appeared on all seven originally. Numerous two-story single-pile, center-hall, and T-plan houses were given modest Victorian millwork. The Williams-Clifton-Garrett House (405 West Fearing Street, ca. 1891) has simple turned and sawn porch elements, while the Bradford-Hughes House (316 West Fearing Street, ca. 1901) has more complex porch decoration in addition to pent window hoods and shaped rafter ends. The simplest form of the T-plan house is represented by the Keaton-Bundy House (502 West Fearing Street, ca. 1895, enlarged 1902-1908), where the millwork is limited to turned posts, scrolls, and webbed lusters on the two-bay porch. The T-plan J. J. White House (507 Cedar Street, ca. 1892) is more elaborate, embellished with a spindlework frieze, pent window hoods with sawn molding, and gables sheathed with diagonally laid beaded tongue-and-groove boards.

The most ornate houses in Elizabeth Ciiy have turned, sawn, drilled, and gouged millwork in lavish designs. These dwellings usually follow the T- or L-plan, often enlarged and enriched with additional projecting wings and bay windows displaying the influence of the Queen Anne style. Some of the larger examples, such as the (former) City Road Methodist Church Parsonage (603 North Road Street, ca. 1902), have high hip roofs with gables projecting from each elevation. Gable elevations often end in highly decorative two-story bay windows. This elaborate millwork is often referred to as Eastlake decoration, named after Charles Eastlake, an English architect and furniture designer who advocated highly embellished forms during the late nineteenth century. Chief among these decorative elements are spindlework friezes between porch posts and complex gable ornaments. Often these are combined with panels adorned with a quatrefoil or cloverleaf, as illustrated on the Bray-Ward-Warden House (407 North Road Street, ca. 1897).

The wide variety of gable ornaments ranges from very simple ones found on modest houses to the elaborate examples seen on the three Sawyer Brothers Houses (310, 312, 314 North Road Street, early 1910s). These ornaments may be combined with wood-shingled gables, as on the Sharber-Emery House (307 East Burgess Street, ca. 1891); with diagonally-laid beaded tongue-and-groove boards, as on the W. E. Pappendick House (601 West Main Street, 1892); or with diagonally-laid molded weatherboarding, as seen on the George R. Bright House (200 East Colonial Avenue, 1896). Gables that project over bay windows may be accented with either large quarter-circle brackets, often with a wagon-spoke motif as seen on the W. E. Pappendick House, or complex pendant ball-and-rod friezes, as seen on the Bray-Ward-Warden House. The two houses that perhaps best illustrate the panoply of Eastlake ornament in Elizabeth City are the N. R. Zimmerman House (809 North Poindexter Street, ca. 1892) and the Selig-Parker House (105 North Road Street, 1891).