204 N. CHURTON ST.

From H. Lee Waters 1939 film of Hillsborough; 204 N Churton is in the background.

(State Archives of North Carolina)

Erected in the late 1920s in the Craftsman style, this two-story, frame building is three bays wide and four bays deep with a hipped metal tile roof and a low shed-roofed dormer on the façade. In the mid-twentieth century, likely when it was converted to a funeral home, the building was significantly remodeled to its present Colonial Revival-style appearance, with a brick veneer and a Mount Vernon-style portico. The building has paired eight-over-eight vinyl-sash windows on the façade with six-over-six vinyl windows on the right (south) elevation. Centered on the façade is a six-panel door with leaded-glass-over-one-panel sidelights and a leaded-glass arched transom. The full-width, two-story, shed-roofed portico is supported by square columns on a brick porch floor. The shed-roofed dormer on the façade has weatherboards, two boarded-up window openings, and exposed rafters. There is a second-floor balcony on the right elevation that is supported by diagonal braces and has a decorative metal railing. It is accessed by a one-light-over-three-panel door at the second-floor level. An entrance on the right elevation is accessed by an uncovered concrete step and there is a brick chimney at the right rear (southeast). Original four-over-one Craftsman-style windows remain at the second-floor level of the left (north) elevation and an entrance on the left elevation is inset slightly with a classical surround. A c. 1965 one-story, gabled wing on the rear (east) elevation with a projecting gabled bay on the north elevation doubles the footprint of the building. Entrances on the left elevation of the rear wing have six-panel doors with classical surrounds with fluted pilasters. The building is not present on the 1924 Sanborn map, but the Craftsman-style architecture indicates that it was likely constructed in the late 1920s. Its original function is unknown, but it has been the Walker Funeral Home since mid- century. According to a representative from the Walker Funeral Home, the one-story rear addition was completed around 1965, though the business had moved to the location prior to that.

09.24.2016 (G. Kueber)