223 E. FRANKLIN ST. / PICKARD'S HOTEL (SECOND LOCATION) / COATES BUILDING

View north, circa 1915 (image via UNC)

1915 Sanborn Map excerpt

Built in 1907 by/for Walter W. and Elizabeth S. Pickard. It was three stories and had 75 rooms. Upon entering the front door, the parlor was to the left, and is where a piano and card tables were and where guests/residents tended to gather before and after their meals. The dining room was in the rear of the structure. It was also a boarding house for students.

In September 1917, M. William and Mary "Lula" Louisa Cox Uzzell purchased the property and hotel from Elizabeth Pickard, as Walter Pickard died in May.

North Carolina future author and then-UNC student Thomas Wolfe rented an attic room fronting Franklin Street, with J. L. "Nip" Poston, in late 1918. He neglected to pay his final bill ($25 for room and meals), as recalled by an Uzzell family member in the 1970s.