House in South Carolina prior to demolition

Oakhurst - Budd Matthews House, Newberry South Carolina

Date added: July 07, 2023 Categories: South Carolina House

Located in the town of Newberry, South Carolina, Oakhurst was constructed between 1893 and 1895 by Budd Cade Matthews and Clara Crotwell Matthews. It is a combination of both Queen Anne and Italianate architecture.

Oakhurst or the Matthews House was constructed as a private residence by Budd Cade and Clara Crotwell Matthews. Mrs. Matthews was the daughter of James Alfred Crotwell, a prominent Newberry businessman who founded the Crotwell Brickyard. He was also involved in real estate and constructed one of the town's early hotels. Clara Belle Crotwell married Budd Cade Matthews on September 29, 1891. According to tradition, they lived in the Crotwell house on the present Oakhurst property following their marriage. It is believed that this frame house still stood on the site in 1893 when James Crotwell willed the property to his daughter. After James Crotwell's death on April 4, 1893, the older dwelling was demolished, and Oakhurst was constructed in its place. The house was certainly completed by 1895, as a photograph of Oakhurst dated that year reveals.

Budd Cade Matthews was a prominent Newberry banker, businessman and civic leader, Matthews founded the B.C. Matthews Brick Manufacturing Company and the Matthews and Cannon Mercantile Firm. He served as president of the National Bank of Newberry, as president of the Newberry Chamber of Commerce, and as a director of both the Newberry Cotton Mills and the Newberry Hospital Association. In addition, Budd Cade Matthews owned large farming interests.

Matthews and his wife lived at Oakhurst until their deaths. The house then passed to their son, William Enoch Matthews.

Oakhurst is an excellent example of both the Queen Anne and Italianate styles as combined in a single residential structure. It was designed by the architectural firm of La Motte and Niernsee, according to the original plans. Niernsee was one of the architects of the South Carolina Statehouse. Oakhurst is the only house in Newberry known to have been designed by the Niernsee firm and is the only identified brick dwelling in the Central Midlands Region of the state which features the Queen Anne style. The house has remained in the ownership of the Matthews family since its construction and has retained much of its original character. Through the years the owners have also continued to maintain the historic cream and red paint of the exterior. Among the outstanding architectural features of the house are its turret, encircling veranda, arched entryway and stair hall.

Also a notable part of the Oakhurst property are the original dependencies. These include a brick privy, brick milk house, frame stable, combination wood and hen house and well.

Building Description

Oakhurst is a two-story brick private residence built circa 1893 to 1895 by Budd Cade Matthews and Sarah Crotwell Matthews on the site of an earlier dwelling. Designed by the firm of Niernsee and La Motte of Columbia, South Carolina, the house reflects both the Queen Anne and Italianate influences. Oakhurst is also notable for its extant collection of original dependencies, which include a brick privy, brick milk house, frame stable, combination wood/hen house, and well.

The two-story brick structure is set on low brick piers and has walls 18" thick; according to family tradition, the brick is said to have come from the Matthews brickyard. Asymmetrical in form, the house features numerous elements which are exemplary of the Queen Anne style. These include an encircling veranda; a three-story turret with shingled tent roof; tall, narrow paneled chimneys; roof cresting; and several steep gables. The Italianate mode is evidenced by round arches, two-light sash, the low-hipped roof with heavy overhanging eaves and by horizontal string courses which continue unbroken around the turret. A one-story balustraded veranda extends from the turret at the right corner of the front facade across both the front and left facades; it is supported by Italianate-paired colonettes with paneled piers beneath. Fenestration is irregular, but is arranged in bays by stories, extending uninterrupted around the turret. Windows are largely trabeated and 1/1, aside from the arched entryway of the front facade. The turret features different windows in each of the exposed hexagonal planes.

The main feature of the front (south) facade is the double central pavilion, with a monumental arched entryway on the lower story and a pedimented upper story pierced by arched double windows. Of significance in the left (west) facade is the porte cochere extending outward from the central bay of the veranda. The porte cochere has a balustraded roof line and is crowned on the second-story eave by a pedimented gable and paired brackets. The important feature of the right (east) facade is the two-story pavilion. It consists of pilasters flanking the lower story windows, above which there is a pedimented balcony, featuring the colonette and balustrade motif of the veranda. Both the pediment and the flared balcony have shingled facing.

The original cream and red paint for Oakhurst, as specified in the architects' original plans, has been maintained. Red paint is used contrastingly to accent: arches and lintels; string courses; two-story, monumental pilasters at the corners of the facades; and the water table, creating a visual base for the house.

The present eleven-room house with a central hall and flanking rooms on each floor differ little from the original plan, which featured ten rooms and a right rear kitchen connected to the main block by a latticed and screened breezeway. Of particular note is the access to the exterior from three of the upstairs chambers provided by the balcony on the right facade and by the roof of the porte cochere on the left facade. The only alterations to the original form consist of the enclosure in 1945 of the kitchen passageway and of the adjoining open porch. The original cypress shingle roof was replaced in December 1978 with modern composition shingles because of deterioration; however, the original structural members were retained.

The interior of the house retains its original fabric throughout, including center beaded wainscoting in the two rear first-floor rooms and in the first-floor and second-floor halls. Of particular note is the main stair hall, which reflects the influence of the Arts & Crafts Movement in its grouping of fireplace, spool and spindle screen separating the staircase from the rest of the space, built-in bench, paneled staircase wall, and in the turn of the balustraded staircase itself.

Other significant interior features include: the spool and spindle frieze decorating the turret alcove of the right front room; ten fireplaces, each with beveled glass overmantel, differently carved Victorian mantel and overmantel and differently tiled architrave; original inside wooden shutters at each double-hung window, still functioning; single-paned transom above each interior door; and, a downstairs intercom system.

Oakhurst is located in an urban setting and is surrounded by a modern brick serpentine fence. Located within this fence are several notable outbuildings which were also constructed during the 1890s. Still extant to the rear of the house are a small brick milk house, a rectangular frame wood/hen house, a frame stable, and a double brick privy. Also located behind the house is a frame kitchen set on a raised brick basement, which belonged to the earlier Crotwell dwelling on the property. To the left of the house, indicated by brick foundations, are the sites of a greenhouse and a windmill. The latter powered the original system for inside faucets in conjunction with the well, which is still standing nearby. Although the Oakhurst property itself is unaltered, there is commercial development located adjacent to the property.