RUFFIN-ROULHAC HOUSE

Front of the house, ~1900 (History of the Town of Hillsborough)

Back of the house, ~1900 (History of the Town of Hillsborough)

1940 (Library of Congress)

Circa 1940 (Library of Congress)

Circa 1940 (Library of Congress)

Outbuildings, circa 1940 (Library of Congress)

June 9, 1937 (HABS / Library of Congress)

1954 (Pauli Murray Collection at Harvard Schelsinger Library)

July 1971 (via News of Orange)

Outbuildings, July 1971 (via New of Orange)

In 1972, the house and property were acquired by the Town of Hillsborough and were renovated for use as the Town Hall and offices.

NC Congressman Lawrence H. Fountain and Lucius Cheshire discussing the conversion project, late 1960s (via Colonial Inn Cookbook)

The Ruffin-Roulhac House, also known historically by several names including "Francis C.P. Hill's House," "The old Ruffin place," "Little Hawfields," and the "Home of W.S. Roulhac," is one of the best preserved of the elegant small Federal houses surviving in Hillsborough, which include Heartsease and the Berry Brick House. Additionally, the property is one of a small number of houses in Hillsborough that has retained its large original lot and numerous outbuildings.

The Ruffin-Roulhac House, built about 1821 for Martin Hanks, consisted of the west three bays. In the 1830s Francis L. Hawks and Frances C. P. Blount Hill purchased the house and added the eastern part consisting of two rooms on the first floor and one above incorporating the earlier dwelling into a unified elegant residence. The house was sold to Thomas Ruffin in 1865 who named it "Little Hawfields." Ruffin died in the Northeast room of the house on January 15, 1870 and his wife Anne inherited the estate. Upon her death in 1875 the estate passed to her children and a grandchild. In 1904, the wife of William Sterling Roulhac acquired the estate and made several renovations to the property, including relocating the outbuildings to the rear of the house in a formal straight line.

The house is a one-and-a-half-story frame, Federal-style house that is five bays wide and double-pile with a brick foundation, beaded weatherboards, and nine-over-nine wood-sash windows with molded hoods. There is flush sheathing in the pedimented end gables and three gabled dormers each on the façade and rear (north) elevation have flush sheathing and fixed twelve-light windows. A window on the left (west) elevation has been covered with flush sheathing. The double-leaf three-panel door centered on the façade is flanked by two-over-two wood-sash windows over a fixed panel in lieu of sidelights and has a blind arched transom. The entrance is sheltered by a one-bay-wide, front-gabled porch supported by slender Tuscan columns with decorative, scalloped shingles in the gable and there is flush sheathing under the porch roof. There are two interior brick chimneys in the left (west) gable and an exterior brick chimney in the right (east) gable. A shed- roofed porch extends across the right three bays of the rear elevation. It is supported by round brick columns on low brick piers and there is flush sheathing under the porch roof.

08.08.2016 (G. Kueber)

07.23.2016 (G. Kueber