NEWS

The John Eli Brattain house on South Main Street.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission Survey Committee met Wednesday night, July 24, and they had a full agenda. Four different Davidson properties were up for discussion at the meeting.

The first item of business was to consider “Designation Reports” for three properties, two of which have connections to Davidson.

Two additional homes in Davidson were on the latter part of the agenda termed “Consideration of Placement on the Study List of Prospective Historic Landmarks.”

Essentially, the properties at the “Designation Report” stage are in the middle of the extensive process for local historic landmark designation. The latter discussion of properties reflects an early step in the process.

Davidson resident Stewart Gray, Director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, said the process begins with the Survey Committee’s work to place properties on the Study List and can progress to the development of a Designation Report. “The vote of the Survey Committee marks the middle of the process. The next step is the Historic Landmarks Commission vote.”

Some of the criteria assessed by the committee stem from the “Integrity Statement” featured in the Designation Report for each property. Those criteria include: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.

The first structure discussed at the meeting is a house that used to be a schoolhouse. It was one of the last one-teacher schoolhouses in the region. Known as the Caldwell-Bradford School, the structure is located at 16401 Davidson-Concord Road. While it is currently located in Huntersville’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ), the historic significance of the structure is connected to Davidson’s history.

A screenshot of the Caldwell-Bradford School from the Designation Report.

The history of the building dates back to 1889. The Caldwell family initially deeded the property to members of the school board with the intention that it be used for a school for white students in Deweese Township – the northern township in the county. Public funding had supported education in the township since at least 1871.

In 1918 the school had 21 students registered and averaged 14 students in attendance on any given day. The teacher was expected to teach students of all ages. The Caldwell-Bradford school served as a one-teacher school until October 1923 when the Mecklenburg County Board of Education began to rely on buses to get students to school.

According to the Designation Report, “In Deweese Township six teachers were paid for services at white schools and two teachers at Black schools. For the entire county, 46 public schools served 1,702 white children (with an average attendance 1,122) and 34 public schools served 1,824 Black children (with an average attendance 1,127) during the 1873-1874 school term.”

And while several of the assessed values in the integrity statement were deemed low, the original location and the direct association were “high.” Specifically, the report states the following:

• The Caldwell-Bradford School is located at its original site of construction.
• The Caldwell-Bradford School is historically significant as a former one-teacher school in Northern Mecklenburg County. For this reason, its historic association is high.

The Landmark Designation Report for the Caldwell-Bradford School can be found here. The document is also fascinating reading to learn a lot more about public education in North Carolina.

The proposal was made to designate the exterior of the Caldwell-Bradford School and the 1.6 acre parcel of land as a historic landmark. Gray said of the structure, “the real significance is the story it tells.”

The second property assessed is an iconic Davidson home on South Main Street. The John Eli Brattain House is located at 305 South Main Street. Some people affectionately call it the “Icicle House or Cottage.” The Landmark Designation Report for the house is a whopping 77 pages long.

The “Statement of Significance” in the Designation Report bears repeating in full:

“Despite the many handsome residences and stately structures that comprise Davidson’s well-preserved historic district, it is difficult to imagine the passerby who is not immediately smitten with the John Eli Brattain House. Perched for more than 140 years at the corner of South Main and Walnut Streets along the primary corridor into Davidson’s downtown, the whimsically adorned Folk Victorian Brattain House remains, according to (former) town historian (the late) Mary D. Beaty, ‘one of the loveliest and best preserved Victorian houses in this entire region,’ thanks in part to an exterior festooned with lavish icicle-like bargeboard and three-dimensional pendills, decorative brackets, porches with turned spindles and ornate spandrels. . . The town’s built environment includes other examples of Folk Victorian architecture, but none combine so strikingly the exuberant embellishments characteristic of the late 1800s Carpenter Gothic and Italianate styles as this fanciful Folk Victorian cottage. The uniqueness of its appearance and its longevity of its presence on that well-traveled roadway invests the Brattain House with a familiarity that has made the structure a recognizable and cherished landmark of the local community for generations. The house is the handiwork of its original resident: noted carpenter, woodworker, mechanic, entrepreneur, and civic leader John Eli Brattain. Both the architectural significance and remarkable integrity of the well-preserved Brattain House render the structure an excellent candidate for historic landmark designation.”

Like the document for the Caldwell-Bradford School, this document makes for terrific reading for anyone interested in the history of the Town of Davidson.

Photos of the Brattains as included in the Designation Report.

It even includes information about Brattain’s role as an elected Town Commissioner. “In January 1891, John and the five other members of the town council voted to change the town’s name from “Davidson College” to “Hempstead.” The new name remained in place for ten days, until the board met to reconsider their choice.

The recommendation is for designating the interior and exterior of the house as well as the parcel the home sits on and the adjacent parcel. Collectively, the land is approximately .720 acres.

One of the fascinating parts of the discussion among the members of the committee was the discussion of the fact that all four sides of the house have the same elevation. No one had ever seen that in the design of a house.

A bit of humor in the discussion surrounded the kitchen. Several of the members of the committee noted that they believed the kitchen remodel (1970s) must have been done by the Brady Bunch’s Mike Brady. While there doesn’t appear to be a mention of that in the report, there is a reference that the kitchen cabinetry has been removed.

Following their presentations and discussion, the Survey Committee voted to send both properties to the Historic Landmarks Commission with a recommendation for approval. If approved by the HLC, the recommendations will be sent to the respective local municipality for a final vote. As noted, this would mean that the Caldwell-Bradford School would be sent to the Huntersville Town Board and the John Eli Brattain House will go to the Davidson Town Board. The HLC is likely to vote on these properties at their August 12 meeting.

While it seems like a somewhat convoluted process, there is a lot of logic behind the state statute that lays out the process.

According to Stewart Gray, “The statute precludes a local municipality from randomly designating properties as historic.”  It puts the responsibility of investigating and documenting the historical authenticity, and then presents the information to the local municipality.

As noted earlier, there were two more Davidson properties on the agenda of the meeting.

The first home is the Jenkins-Houston House located on Sloan Street. It was originally Ms. Ada Jenkins house when she served as a teacher, then principal of the Davidson Colored School. That school building was subsequently named in her honor, and today is known as the Ada Jenkins Center.

The house was built in 1926 and has only been in the Jenkins-Houston families. After Miss Jenkins passed away, the home was purchased by Mr. & Mrs. Ollie (Bernice) Houston. They raised their two daughters, Ruby and Karen, in the home.

The second is the Mary Rose and William Alexander Davis Jr. House located at 140 Lynbrook Drive. It is a mid-century modern home built in 1964.

The Survey Committee voted to put both properties on the Study List.

Gray noted that the study list is essentially a working document. “Some properties don’t go anywhere after being placed on the list. However, the list is a standardized tool that gives some order to the process of seeking historic designation for properties in Mecklenburg County.”

It is important to note that North Carolina is a “delay, not deny” state when it comes to demolishing historic properties. Even if a property is a designated historic structure, an owner can simply wait 365 days after submitting a demolition permit. Davidson residents are all too familiar with the loss of important historic structures.

Mayor Rusty Knox said he hopes more people seek historic preservation designation. “We also have to try to get some teeth into the statewide legislation to save historic sites in our town. One long-time Davidson resident recently told me that he fears that one day you will drive into Davidson and just see Charlotte.”