J.L. Hemphill House, Wilkesboro North Carolina

History of J. L. Hemphill House

J. L. (Jimmy) Hemphill built the Queen Anne style house at 203 N. Brook Street in 1899. He had come to Wilkesboro from Morganton and had married a Ferguson woman from Wilkes County. Hemphill operated a wholesale dry goods company in North Wilkesboro, although he was also apparently involved in the building trade. In addition to his house on Brook Street, local tradition relates that he built at least two other houses in Wilkesboro, the Queen Anne/Colonial Revival house at 406 Highland Street and later a Colonial Revival house on Corporation Street. He also remodeled a house in Roaring River.

After Hemphill, the Brook Street house had several owners, including a Miller family and a Dr. Reeves, until it was purchased in 1920 by Carl A. Lowe. The Lowes had eight children, and when both Carl A. Lowe and his wife had died, one of their daughters, Beulah Lowe Woodie, and her husband, Glenn C. Woodie, purchased the house from the estate.

The house is currently listed for sale.

Description of the Hemphill House

The J. L. Hemphill House is a prominent expression of late nineteenth century Queen Anne style architecture in Wilkesboro. Although not located in the center of town, as are most of the other properties of historic or architectural significance, the Hemphill House stands out from its surroundings, not only because of its large size and intact detailing, but also because of its location on a street corner, at the crest of a hill, surrounded by its larger than usual lot (approx. 4 acres) of lawn and woodlands. The main facade faces southeast toward Main Street, but the spacious surroundings and the fact that the house is separated from Main Street by woods give it an almost rural character. However, the style of the house has an "in-town" quality.

The 1899 Hemphill House is a two-story frame, late Victorian house with earmarks of the Queen Anne style as so often interpreted in North Carolina during this period, the irregular massing and variety of texture and ornamentation are all present. Basically the house is composed of a central hip-roofed block with slightly projecting gabled "wings" on all four sides and a two-and-a-half-story polygonal tower with bell-cast roof and finial on the south corner. While the main body of the house is sheathed in German siding, textural and visual variety are created by the use of patterned metal shingles on the roof, square-cut wood shingles on the top level of the tower, diamond-cut wood shingles in the gables, and diagonal boarding in the panels of the lowest level of the tower and in the panels of the dado, frieze and corners of the bay window on the southwest side. While the majority of windows are simple one-over-one sash, the gables feature upper sash infilled with stained glass with muntins of a decorative design. Adding to the large-scale feeling of the house, and helping to enliven it visually is the one-story porch which wraps around the front and half of the two sides of the house. Its frilly ornamentation consists of turned posts, shallow wood arches accented by applied curvilinear sawn-work details in the corners and a spindle-work frieze which echoes the turned balustrade below. While the exterior of the house is predominantly of wood, the metal roof and brick foundation and chimneys create some contrast in the use of materials. Projecting from the rear of the house is a one-story service ell with gable roof, central chimney and hip-roofed porch along the southwest side with turned posts, plain balustrade and simple brackets. The house is painted white.

Glazed and paneled doors lead from the exterior to the interior of the J. L. Hemphill House. While the interior has an asymmetrical plan, rooms are arranged on wither side of a central hall. The closed string main stairway with heavily turned newel and turned balustrade rises from the tower space to the left of the main entrance. Originally the walls and ceilings of the Hemphill House were entirely sheathed in stained beaded board. The second story retains this sheathing, but the first story has in recent years been over-sheathed with plywood paneling and acoustical tiles, although the original sheathing remains intact underneath. Wooden mantels in the house are of simple late Victorian design, and the door and window casings are symmetrically molded with bulls-eye corner blocks, typical of turn-of-the-century interiors. Although the interior is simple, it is consistent throughout the house.

A frame garage is located behind the house.