07/04/2012
FROM THE JULIA-ANN SQUARE WALKING TOUR BROCHURE:
An unassuming house, which may pre-date the Civil War, this was an early example of balloon-framed construction, simply built with three rooms, each heated by a fireplace, and a hallway on each level. The original kitchen sat at the end of a dog-trot extending from the rear door of the dining room toward the rear of the property.
Study of the façade reveals a modified Federal-style house, most likely having a small stoop at the entrance. Like the ornate gingerbread along the roofline and elsewhere, the veranda was added in later years, probably during the ownership of Charles and Charlotte Bekurs (1876-1892), who used the house – along with the adjacent 1039 Ann Street – as a rental property, as did their daughter Ida and Edward Nelly (1892-1921), residents of the Nelly-Estill House.
Three of the six cast fireplace surrounds are still intact, having been added when they were adapted for use of coal. Gas was introduced to the house in 1880, and some of the gas light fixtures are still in use, adapted for electricity. A connected kitchen and other additions were made prior to the first bathroom, which was added to the home in 1923 by Dr. Mandeville and Louise Lowe (1921-1930) who had begun residence as renters by 1914. Nellie Wait Howe (1930-1965), John and Mary Beaty (1968-2001), and Mary S. Haddox (2001-2008) continued to maintain and improve the home, but no restoration toward the mid-19th Century appearance was attempted.
Having passed through several hands in the 1870’s, the earlier history of the house is yet to be unearthed. The Chafins are continuing their research, along with the renovation, which they began in 2008, intending to restore appearances to approximate the late Victorian-era appointments that dominate the exterior of the home.
