704 GIMGHOUL RD. / JUDGE BROCKWELL CABIN (SITE) / GROVES HOUSE (SITE)
Built in
1926-1927
/ Modified in circa 1930
,
circa 1935
/ Demolished in 2016
Architectural style:
Local Historic District:
National Register:
Neighborhood:
Type:
Use:
In tours
- This building does not appear in any tours yet.
Last updated
- Fri, 03/12/2021 - 3:55pm by SteveR
Comments
Built in
1926-1927
/ Modified in circa 1930
,
circa 1935
/ Demolished in 2016
Architectural style:
Local Historic District:
National Register:
Neighborhood:
Type:
Use:
UNC owned the property until it was traded (exchanged for nearby property) to the Gimghouls in October 1923. The property was the site of the "Judge" Brockwell cabin, which burned in 1923. (The Brockwell cabin site is depicted on a 1911 map of Chapel Hill and on the 1923 Gimghoul/Piney Prospect subdivision map.)
1919 (via UNC's Yackety Yack)
1920
The property was subdivided in 1923. This property became lot 5 of the development.
UNC Coach William "Bill" Fetzer and his wife, Dorothy, purchased the property in April 1924, and intended to build a house on the property in late 1924, with plans drawn by H. D. Carter of Atwood & Nash. However, the Fetzers sold the lot to Dr. Wade H. and Ellen L. Marshall in May 1926 prior to having the house built. It can be presumed the house was built for the Marshalls in late 1926 or early 1927.
UNC professors Ernest R. and Gladys Groves purchased the house and property in October 1927. They constructed a garage (circa 1930) and small stone building to serve as a library and office (circa 1935). Later, both were converted to student rental cottages; Andy Griffith rented the stone outbuilding as a residence while a student at UNC (circa 1946 to 1949).
Ernest Groves died in 1946, and Gladys sold the property in 1965 to Robert R. Hutchinson.
A description of the house from the 1993 NRHP Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District form:
"Late 1920s. 2-story frame Colonial Revival style house with an entrance with a transom, sidelights and a bracketted hood, double and triple wooden casement windows, exterior end brick chimneys, wood shingled walls, and flanking 1-story wings. Built for Dr. Marshall, a physician, and owned in the 1930s by Gladys and Ernest Groves, marriage authorities who taught at UNC."
The owners who purchased the property and house in early 2013 intended to demolish the house and outbuildings, based on their extant condition, but then decided to renovate and restore them, but then decided to sell the property. And yes, the Chapel Hill Planning Department, Preservation Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill Historic District Commission, and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) all were working with the property owners on what to do with the house and outbuildings. However, in January 2014, SHPO reviewed the research and determined the property was not eligible for designation of statewide significance, which sealed the structure's fate.
View south west (front), circa 2013
View north (rear), circa 2013
The stone outbuilding, view south east
The stone outbuilding, view north east
The stone outbuilding, chimney detail
In March 2015, the property was purchased by Virginia and Bob Buysse. The house and outbuildings were demolished in 2016, after the Buysses received a demolition permit from the Chapel Hill Historic District Commission.
A house of nearly identical porportions was built on the property in 2017.
View south, June 2019 (via Google Streetview)
Comments
No comments yet.
Add new comment