Anderson House, Rock Hill South Carolina
The Anderson House is located on Oakland Avenue in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The house is associated with John Gary Anderson, a key figure in the development of Rock Hill and the co-founder and president of the Anderson Motor Company, one of the few automobile manufacturing companies in the South during the early days of the automotive industry. Anderson was also significant in the field of agriculture for his creation of the Rock Hill Plan for reducing cotton acreage. The Anderson House is known for its elaborate Queen Anne design. According to tradition, the house was built in 1898 by A. D. Holler, the foremost builder in Rock Hill at the time, for Mr. Anderson from a design by George Barber, a nationally recognized architect.
John Gary Anderson, born in 1861 and orphaned early in life, married Alice Louetta Holler of Rock Hill in 1884 and shortly thereafter went into business with his father-in-law to form the Holler and Anderson Buggy Company, later to become Anderson Motor Company. Anderson became sole owner of the company in 1905 and directed it until 1925 when competition from Detroit forced Anderson to close down production.
In addition to his involvement in the automotive industry, Anderson was a key figure in the development of Rock Hill and the region. Around 1888, he installed the city's first telephone exchange which eventually became the Rock Hill Telephone Company. As the founder and first president of the Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce, Anderson initiated plans to pave the city's streets and sidewalks. Due to his lobbying efforts, Rock Hill got its first post office building in the 1890s and eventually obtained a U.S. District Court for the city. Anderson was a member of the Winthrop Board of Trustees and served in that capacity until his death in 1937. In 1911 Anderson formulated the Rock Hill Plan to reduce cotton acreage, averting a financial crisis in the cotton belt.
The Rock Hill Buggy Company, owned, directed, and managed by John Gary Anderson, considered automobile production first in about 1907 and again in 1910; however, it was not until 1916 that the first successful Anderson car was put on the market. The hallmark of Anderson Motor Company was the luxury cor assembled from the finest parts available, the body and interior superbly handcrafted. One of the few automobile production companies in the South, the slogan of the Anderson Company was, "A Little Bit Higher in Price, But ... Made in Dixie." Unfortunately made in Dixie was not enough incentive to potential customers to pay the approximately $1,500.00 price tag of an Anderson. The high price in comparison to cars such as the Ford Model T, competition from Detroit, and shipment of faulty cylinder blocks forced the Anderson Motor Company to close in 1924.
In 1911, the South's cotton farmers suffered financial distress due to a surplus of cotton which forced prices down to less than five cents per pound. Anderson devised the Rock Hill Plan which prevented certain economic tragedy in the South's cotton belt.
The plan involved reducing cotton acreage. which forced cotton producers to buy the cotton on hand, thereby increasing prices. Anderson successfully toured the South to promote his plan, which several states adopted. Among these states were Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina.
Irregularity of plan, massing, and texture characterize the style. The Anderson House has a dramatic, picturesque, asymmetrical composition with a polygonal three-story turret, a steep slate roof, and two tall brick chimneys dominating the profile. Multiple materials and textures are employed: patterned slate, weatherboard, spindle friezes, metal crestings and finials, and sawn brackets. A multi-faceted porch, wrapping around the first story, enriches the composition; a one-story gazebo, attached to this porch, is a counterpart to the three-story turret. Several cross-gables extend from the main mass of the hip roof. The design for the Anderson House is believed to have been adapted from one of the published designs of George F. Barber, an architect from Knoxville, Tennessee, who published his work in numerous books and magazines.
Building Description
The Anderson House was built in 1898, on Oakland Avenue in Rock Hill, South Carolina. According to tradition, John Gary Anderson had the house built according to a design published by George F. Barber, an architect from Tennessee who propagated his work in numerous architectural pattern books. It is believed to have been constructed by A. D. Holler, a Rock Hill builder. The house is a noteworthy specimen of Queen Anne architecture.
The Anderson House is a two-and-one-half-story frame building with a three-story turret on the north corner of the facade. A one-story porch wraps around the turret and spans the facade, with an attached gazebo at the south (left) end. The house has a tall hip roof with gable extensions on the northeast: and southeast sides, and a conical roof on the turret. The roof is of slate, with metal crestings. Two brick chimneys with corbeled caps rise above the roof.
The facade (northeast elevation) is composed of the three-story turret, the two-story main block of the house, and a projecting two-and-one-half-story bay, with a porch on its second story, and a Palladian window in its attic gable-end. A one-story porch, which spans the breadth of the facade, has turned posts with sawn brackets, a balustrade with turned balusters, and a spindle frieze beneath a dentil cornice. A broad pediment marks the entrance. The roof of the porch is of slate. The facade is sheathed in weatherboard. The double doors feature frosted glass panels with the initials "A" in each side. These doors are in the first level of the projecting two-and-one-half-story bay, which rises behind the one-story porch. The second-story porch, within this bay, has a spindle frieze; the porch is flanked by an elliptical window. The windows of the body of the house are one-over-one sash. The turret, on the north (right) side of the facade, is circular in plan. It has a pent roof between the second and third stories, sheathed in fish-scale slate. The third story of the turret is sheathed in imbricated shingles and features square windows with stained-glass inserts. A tall, slate sheathed conical roof crowns the turret.
The side elevations of the Anderson House are marked by projecting two-and-one-half story bays with gable roofs. The original open porch which extended across the south-east elevation was partially enclosed as a sleeping porch.
The southwest elevation of the house features two projecting bays, with a porch at the base of one bay, and a brick chimney at the other bay. The central portion of the south-west elevation, between the two projecting bays, features a dormer window with a pedimented cornice and gable roof.
The interior of the Anderson House was reportedly finished in heart pine, executed by the craftsmen of the Rock Hill Buggy Company (John Gary Anderson's own firm.) The central stairhall features a triple-run staircase with carved newel posts and turned balusters. Diagonal beaded boards form a herringbone pattern on the underside of the staircase. A double parlor on the first floor is divided by sliding pocket doors. Beaded wainscoting, chair rails, and baseboards appear in most rooms. Six wooden mantelpieces with overmantel mirrors embellish the interior. The original brass hardware is intact throughout most of the house.
The original wrought iron fence defines the property, which is landscaped with boxwoods, fir trees, willow oaks, magnolias, dogwoods, and azaleas. The Anderson House is located in the center of an older residential district that is becoming commercial.
