GUILFORD COUNTY Historic Preservation Commission PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION for LANDMARK DESIGNATION

Name of Designated Landmark (Historic and/or Common): Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak House Property Address/Location: 909 North Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401 Tax Parcel Number: 4416 PIN: 7865606972 Deed Book and Page Number: Guilford County Deed Book 8147, p. 1745 Plat Book and Page Number: N/A Acreage to be designated: 0.43

Owner Names and Contact Information:

Jeffrey Segal Giraffe Neck, LLC 1 Staunton Court, Greensboro, NC 27410 (336) 324-8772 [email protected]

______Jeffrey Segal

Applicant Name and Contact Information:

Heather Fearnbach Fearnbach History Services, Inc. 3334 Nottingham Road Winston-Salem, NC 27104 (336) 765-2661 [email protected]

______Heather Fearnbach

The application is due no later than twelve noon (12 noon) on the last Tuesday of the month. The regularly scheduled meeting held on every third (3rd) Tuesday of the month.

Return completed applications to: Guilford County Planning and Development Independence Center, 5th floor 400 W Market Street - Post Office Box 3427 Greensboro, 27402 O (336) 641-3334 F (336) 641-6988 Guilford County Historic Landmark Application Name of Property Page 2 of 2 READ CAREFULLY AND SUPPLY ALL INFORMATION

The following information must be provided before the application can be reviewed, deemed complete and placed on the next available Historic Preservation Commission agenda.

1. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The property must be deemed historically, architecturally or archaeologically significant. Please describe and document the seven aspects of integrity which include the significance of location, design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and association. Include significant dates in the property’s history.

2. MAPS: Provide a location/vicinity map for the property. Also provide a scaled site plan of the property indicating the proposed landmark boundaries and location of all buildings to be included in the designation.

3. PHOTOGRAPHS: Provide a complete photographic record of the property. Include photographic views sufficient to document all significant aspects of the property proposed for designation. All photographs must be labeled and submitted in a digital format such as TIF or JPG.

4. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe the original and current appearance and style of the significant structures such as houses, barns, well houses, and other buildings to be designated. The description should include the following: date of construction; date(s) of alterations, description of overall form, and exterior details (and interior details if included). Include a drawing of the existing and original (if different) floor plan with rooms labeled.

5. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: Describe the history of the property. The details should include the following: former uses of the property, list of owners (from Grantor-Grantee index), a list of builders and/or architects if known. Also, if available, provide and label further documentation such as newspaper or periodical articles, excerpts from books, cemetery records, register of deeds documents, and oral history documentation.

6. BIBLOGRAPHY: Provide footnotes and a list of information resources.

I (WE), THE UNDERSIGNED, HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE STATEMENTS ARE TRUE AND ACCURATE TO THE BEST OF MY (OUR) KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF; AND SUPPORT LANDMARK DESIGNATION OF THE PROPERTY DEFINED HEREIN. I (We) acknowledge that theGuilford County Historic Preservation Commission may require additional information. I (We) acknowledge that the designation includes the exterior as well as the interior, and the land, unless otherwise noted in the approved application. I (We) acknowledge that any alterations of the property and/or features designated, require a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) issued by the Guilford County Historic Preservation Commission or its staff. I (We) acknowledge that all final application materials submitted become the property of Guilford County and cannot be returned.

Signature of Owner(s) Date

Signature of Owner(s) Date Revised 12/16/2019

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak House

LOCAL HISTORIC LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT

Prepared by:

Heather Fearnbach Fearnbach History Services, Inc. 3334 Nottingham Road Winston-Salem, NC 27104

May 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of Significance 4 Integrity Statement 4 National Register of Historic Places Status 5 Architectural Context 5 James Henry Hopkins, architect 6 Architectural Description 9 Setting 9 Exterior 10 Interior 13 Rehabilitation Scope of Work 18 Historical Background 20 Fisher Park Development 20 Ownership History 22 Frank and Minnie Leak 18 John V. and Jessie D. Berry 22 Preservation Greensboro Connections 23 Bibliography 24 Designation Parameters 26 Boundary Description and Justification 28 Fisher Park National Register Historic District Map 29 Original Floor Plans 30 Rehabilitation Floor Plans 38 Photograph Contact Sheets 41

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 3 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Statement of Significance

This report demonstrates that the Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak House possesses the requisite historical and architectural significance and integrity for local historic landmark designation. The sophisticated Colonial Revival-style 1913 dwelling designed by prolific Greensboro-based architect James Henry Hopkins was erected during Fisher Park’s early 1910s development boom. Although Hopkins rendered plans for many residences, the Leak House is notable due to its size and finely executed classical features. Approximately 130 Colonial Revival-style dwellings stood within the Fisher Park Historic District at the time of its 1991 inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.1 The Leak House, embellished with stepped parapets and classical porticoes that emulate colonial Tidewater Virginia plantations, is one of the most intact and architecturally distinctive residences of its type and age remaining in the district.

Integrity Statement

The Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak House possesses the seven qualities of historic integrity—location, setting, feeling, association, design, materials, and workmanship—required for local historic landmark designation. The dwelling maintains integrity of location as it stands on its original site. Granite walls and steps front North Elm Street. The setting—a prominent ample lot in a neighborhood of late- nineteenth to mid-twentieth-century residences—remains much as it was during the Fisher Park Historic District’s period of significance, thus allowing for integrity of setting, feeling, and association.

The Leak House also retains integrity of design, materials, and workmanship. Current owner Giraffe Neck, LLC, acquired the property in April 2019 and oversaw the completion of a comprehensive rehabilitation in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s standards. The spacious residence comprises a two-and-one-half-story side-gable-roofed brick main block with a two-and-one-half-story gabled frame west (rear) wing and a one-story hip-roofed brick and frame rear wing with a central engaged open porch. Colonial Revival stylistic elements include stepped parapets, robust modillion cornices, classical porticos, and pedimented dormers. Reconditioned original one-over-one and multipane double-hung wood sash and casement windows of various sizes illuminate the interior. The brick and concrete accessibility ramp at the east portico’s south end was constructed in a non-invasive and reversible manner.

The floor plan is intact and primary rooms possess original volumes and finishes including smooth plaster walls and ceilings, tongue-and-groove oak floors, tall baseboards capped with molded trim, and molded wood cornices and window and door surrounds. Single- and double-leaf raised-panel wood doors and wood-framed multipane French doors and transoms retain original hardware. The living room and dining room feature coffered ceilings and brick fireplace surrounds with segmental-arched fireboxes, brick hearths, and wood mantel shelves. The dining room retains paneled wainscoting and a built-in cupboard north of the fireplace. The staircase at the center hall’s northwest corner has slender turned balusters capped by a molded wood handrail that terminates in a spiral around the turned newel post at the bottom. Two original beadboard-backed cabinets remain on the kitchen’s east elevation and a wood-shelf-lined pantry projects from its northwest corner.

1 Most construction dates delineated in the nomination are approximate. Therefore, it is impossible to make definitive assertions regarding the quantities of originally listed or extant Colonial Revival houses in the district. Marvin A. Brown, “Fisher Park Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1991.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 4 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

National Register of Historic Places and Local Historic District Status

The 1913 Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak House is a contributing building in the Fisher Park Historic District, which encompassed 670 resources when listed in the National Register in 1991. Most are single- or multi-family residences, associated outbuildings (primarily garages), and structures such as stone retaining walls and steps. The district contains only five non-residential primary resources: three churches and two commercial buildings. The period of significance begins in 1889 and ends in 1941, which would have then been the default end date based upon the National Park Service’s fifty-year rule. The Leak House is one of approximately 130 dwellings in the district manifesting a Colonial Revival stylistic influence.2 The residence is also in the locally designated Fisher Park Historic District, delineated in 1982, which has slightly different boundaries.

Architectural Context

Dwellings that display Craftsman, Tudor, Georgian, Colonial, and Classical Revival stylistic influences were built throughout Greensboro’s early- to mid-twentieth-century subdivisions. The use of replica and salvaged architectural elements reflected national trends as well as the original owners’ social and economic status. Sizable lots often contained curving driveways and formal gardens, but even smaller parcels featured foundation plantings and landscaped beds that provided appropriate settings for such residences.

As Fisher Park’s development escalated in the early-twentieth century, builders often utilized stock plans for speculative dwellings. However, property owners and developers also engaged architects to render distinctive residences in myriad styles. Increased demand for such services resulted in a greater number of architects; at least six—George W. Armfield, Wells L. Brewer, Richard Gambier, James Henry Hopkins, Joseph Schlosser, and Frank A. Weston—establishing Greensboro offices by 1909.3 Some Fisher Park dwellings have definitive attributions, but in most cases, architects, carpenters, masons, and other contractors have not been identified.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak’s decision to erect a Colonial Revival-style residence designed by J. H. Hopkins at 909 North Elm Street demonstrates the pervasive popularity of the nationally prevalent aesthetic. Hopkins, who moved his Chattanooga, Tennessee, architectural practice to Greensboro in 1898, was highly regarded for his Revival–style designs.4 Like his colleagues, he found that Colonial Revival edifices enjoyed enduring esteem. Architectural historians have documented that between 1910 and 1940 Colonial Revival elements were more often utilized in American houses than any other style. Events such as the United States’ 150th anniversary celebration in 1926 fueled emulation of iconic American buildings. Richard Guy Wilson asserted that the Colonial Revival is “the United States’ most popular and characteristic expression. Neither a formal style or a movement, Colonial Revival embodies an attitude that looks to the American past for inspiration and selects forms, motifs, and symbols for replication and reuse.”5 Fisher Park dwellings exhibiting this influence vary in material, form, and size, ranging from modest brick-veneered and weatherboarded foursquares and bungalows with Colonial Revival features to expansive, fully articulated Georgian Revival-style residences.6

2 Marvin A. Brown, “Fisher Park Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1991. 3 Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1909-1910 (Greensboro: Hill Directory Company, 1909). 4 Maloney Directory Company, Maloney’s 1899-1900 Greensboro, N. C. City Directory (Atlanta, GA: Maloney Directory Company, 1899), 16; “J. H. Hopkins,” Greensboro Daily News, December 8, 1912, p. 8. 5 Richard Guy Wilson, The Colonial Revival House (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2004), 6, 89. 6 Brown, “Fisher Park Historic District.”

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 5 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

The Leak House is one of the most intact and architecturally sophisticated Colonial Revival-style early 1910s dwellings in Fisher Park. The two-story, side-gable-roofed, brick residence erected at 200 Fisher Park Circle in 1913 for public school superintendent, attorney, and real estate speculator Edgar D. Broadhurst and his wife Mamie is comparable. Brick pilasters, French doors with transoms, and large multipane double-hung windows punctuate the symmetrical five-bay façade. Multipane sidelights and a fanlight frame the central entrance. Like the Leak House, the Broadhurst residence features classical porticos and pedimented dormers. Meyers Department Store president William D. Meyer president and his wife Etta purchased the home in 1916.7 Frame examples built during the early 1910s include Carolina Insurance Agency manager Paul W. Schenck’s two-story, side-gable-roofed, weatherboarded, 1914 house at 115 North Park Drive and livery stable owner and carriage and wagon manufacturer Benjamin B. Tatum’s two-story, gambrel-roofed, weatherboarded, Dutch Colonial Revival 1915 residence at 216 Florence Street, both designed by architect Raleigh James Hughes. In December 1915, Hughes rendered plans for seven speculative dwellings—a Colonial Revival bungalow, an English cottage, a Tudor Revival residence, and four Dutch Colonial Revival houses—on Virginia Street and Bessemer Avenue to be erected by broker James Edwin Latham’s development company. The houses, estimated to cost between four and five thousand dollars each, were within the Fisher Park Extension, laid out by Cambridge, Massachusetts, landscape architect John Nolen.8 J. E. and Maude Latham had previously engaged Wells L. Brewer to design their unique two-story, hip-roofed, stone, Prairie-style, circa 1913 residence at 412 Fisher Park Circle (NR, 1982). Brewer, a Rochester, New York native, opened a Greensboro architectural design firm around 1900. Skilled stone mason Andrew Leopold Schlosser and his crew erected the house and retaining walls.9 Schlosser may have also overseen construction of the granite wall and steps fronting North Elm Street at the Leak House.

James Henry Hopkins (1856-1923), architect

Baltimore native J. H. Hopkins designed numerous buildings erected throughout North Carolina during the twentieth century’s first two decades. Little is known about his early life, education, and career. In 1890, he resided in Sheffield, Alabama, where his commissions included speculative and custom-built dwellings.10 Hopkins moved from Sheffield to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1892, and married Danville, Virginia native Carrie Herndon in her hometown the following year. While living in Chattanooga, Hopkins designed the North Methodist Protestant Church on Mount Royal Avenue in Baltimore, a commanding granite edifice completed in 1895.11

Hopkins relocated to Greensboro and launched a prolific practice in 1898. He rendered plans for a building erected by W. L. Grissom, likely the three-story, gray-brick, Romanesque Revival-style, 1899 edifice at 310 South Elm Street, and may have designed the adjacent three-story, brick, Classical Revival,

7 “Fisher Park Property for Sale,” Greensboro Daily News, September 27, 1911, p. 8; “Occupy New Home,” Greensboro Daily News, May 21, 1913, p. 5; “Mrs. W. D. Meyer Buys E. D. Broadhurst Home,” Greensboro Daily News, February 26, 1916, p. 3; “Sale of a Handsome Home Made Yesterday,” Greensboro Daily News, July 7, 1916, p. 5. 8 “Plans are Drawn for Beautiful Dwellings,” Greensboro Daily News, December 5, 1915, p. 13; Guilford County property reports, http://gis.guilfordcountync.gov/PropertyCard (accessed in May 2020). 9 “Residence for J. A. Latham, Fisher Park, Costing $10,000,” Greensboro Daily News, November 14, 1908, p. 8; Alice Moore, “Latham-Baker House,” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1982; C. E. Weaver, compiler, Sketches of Greensboro, North Carolina, U. S. A. (Richmond: Central Publishing, 1917), 52. 10 “A Basis for Investment,” Sheffield Daily Enterprise (Alabama), May 13, 1890, p. 2; Sheffield Weekly Enterprise, May 29, 2891, p. 8, and July 20, 1891, p. 3, “J. H. Hopkins,” Greensboro Daily News, December 8, 1912, p. 8. 11 “Twenty-Five Years Ago,” Chattanooga News, March 7, 1917, p. 6; “Corner-stone [sic] Laid,” Baltimore Sun, December 3, 1894, p. 10; Virginia marriage records.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 6 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 circa 1900 Burtner Building at 312 South Elm Street.12 Hopkins frequently collaborated with William Carter Bain, one of Greensboro’s most productive contractors. Bain erected numerous residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and ecclesiastical edifices throughout North Carolina and began manufacturing building materials in a Greensboro factory under the auspices of W. C. Bain Company in January 1891.13 Hopkins designed a large Pinehurst hotel erected by Bain’s crew, which comprised approximately seventy-five men in October 1899. Hopkins and Bain also worked together on the design and construction of C. A. Hunt’s Lexington residence in 1899 and improvements to the Central Hotel in Winston in 1900.14

In 1901, Hopkins provided plans for an addition to the no longer extant McAdoo House, a forty-room 1874 hotel that stood at 303-311 South Elm Street in Greensboro. The following year, he rendered drawings for four commercial buildings that F. S. and J. S. Lambeth erected in Thomasville.15 His 1903 commissions include the McCrary-Redding Hardware Store in Asheboro, the second Vestal Hotel in Graham, Pleasant D. Gold’s eclectic two-story wood-shingled house at 1020 West Market Street in Greensboro, and Cottage Grove, S. L. Trogdon’s ten-room Colonial Revival residence on Guilford Battleground Road about a mile from central Greensboro. The two-story Gold House features a cross- gambrel roof, weatherboarded first story, wood-shingled upper story, polygonal corner tower, and wraparound porch (now partially enclosed) with Tuscan columns. Cottage Grove had porches on three elevations and a porte cochere.16

In March 1904, Hopkins established a joint practice with architect Frank A. Weston, who had just moved to Greensboro from Bennettsville, , but the collaboration ended within a year. Hopkins and Weston’s known attributions include the five-story Renaissance Revival-style City National Bank Building at 125 South Elm Street, characterized by a Mt. Airy Granite-veneered ground floor, brick upper stories, polygonal bays, arched windows, terra cotta ornament, and a denticulated cornice. W. C. Bain Company erected the building.17

In April 1905, Hopkins rendered plans for the one-hundred-room White Sulphur Springs Hotel in Mount Airy to replace the concern’s building destroyed by fire that winter. Also that spring, he designed State Normal and Industrial College professor T. Gilbert Pearson’s no longer extant residence at 1034 West Market Street in Greensboro. His 1906 commissions included a Siler City hardware store and, in

12 Grissom also commissioned the construction of 306-308 South Elm Street, also known as the Grissom Building, in 1899. The 1899 structure has a 1930s Art Deco façade. “Another Splendid Building,” Greensboro Telegram, October 31, 1898, p. 3; “The Grissom Building,” Greensboro Patriot, May 3, 1899, p. 11; Greensboro Patriot, May 3, 1899, p. 4; “Some Good Work,” Greensboro Telegram, July 11, 1899, p. 1; Laura A. W. Phillips, “Downtown Greensboro Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1984. 13 North State, January 22, 1891, p. 8; “Events of a Day,” Daily Workman (Greensboro), March 2, 1891, p. 1. 14 Greensboro Telegram, July 19, 1899, p. 3, and October 24, 1899, p. 4; “Hotel Improvements,” Union Republican (Winston), April 5, 1900, p. 7. 15 “McAdoo House,” Greensboro Patriot, January 13, 1875, p. 3; Ethel Stevens Arnett, Greensboro, North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1955), 212; “Davidson Dispatch,” Union Republican (Winston), January 8, 1903, p. 7; Manufacturer’s Record, August 1, 1901, and July 10, 1902. 16 The Hopkin-designed Vestal Hotel, completed in 1904, replaced another building of that name completed shortly before being destroyed by fire in July 1903. Morning Post (Raleigh), October 7, 1902, p. 2; Greensboro Patriot, February 11, 1903, p. 1; “Fire at Graham,” Union Republican, July 16, 1903, p. 1; “Greensboro’s Big New Mill,” Charlotte Daily Observer, September 2, 1903, p. 3; “Colonial Mansion,” Morning Post, July 18, 1903, p. 2; Gayle Hicks Tripp, Greensboro, Volume II, Neighborhoods (Charleston, S. C.: Arcadia Publishing, 1998), 64. 17 Greensboro Patriot, February 3, 1904, p. 3; “Local News,” Greensboro Patriot, March 23, 1904, p. 2; “City National Bank to Build,” Greensboro Patriot, April 6, 1904, p. 1. Frank Weston partnered with young architect Harry Barton in October 1912. “Weston and Barton,” Greensboro Daily News, December 8, 1912, p. 10.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 7 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Greensboro, the N. C. Christian Advocate Building and stables for the Central Carolina fairgrounds.18 Hopkins supplied drawings for the two-story brick infirmary erected in 1907 at the Baptist orphanage in Thomasville. In Greensboro, he designed John A. Hodgin’s three-story, brick, forty-room 1908 hotel at the corner of South Elm and Lewis Streets, as well as Arnold A. Fisher’s 1909 dwelling erected by Inter- State Construction Company at 434 Church Street, neither of which survive.19 Montpelier, James Madison’s Virginia home, served as Hopkins’ inspiration for judge William P. Bynum’s dwelling at 501 Arlington Street in Greensboro, completed in 1913, which has been demolished.20 The two-story, side- gable-roofed, brick, 1913 Leak House, with its stepped parapets, robust modillion cornices, classical porticos, and pedimented dormers, also emulates colonial Tidewater Virginia plantations. Hopkins’ commissions after 1913 have not been identified. He resided in Staley prior to his August 1923 death at the age of sixty-six.21

18 Greensboro Patriot, March 29, 1905, p. 1; Manufacturer’s Record, March 30, 1905, May 25, 1905, June 28, 1906, August 23, 1906; Greensboro Patriot, April 5, 1905, p. 1, and August 22, 1906, p. 1; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1907-1908 (Greensboro: Hill Directory Company, 1907), 303. 19 Manufacturer’s Record, October 1, 1908, and August 19, 1909; “Thomasville Times,” Union Republican (Winston), August 29, 1907, p. 7; “Two New Hotels for Greensboro,” Greensboro Daily News, September 19, 1908, p. 8; “Greensboro in November,” Greensboro Patriot, December 9, 1908, p. 2; “Handsome New Residence,” Greensboro Daily News, August 7, 1909, p. 8; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1909-1910 (Greensboro: Hill Directory Company, 1909), 178. 20 “Was Host to Workmen,” Wilmington Morning Star, July 18, 1913, p. 7; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1913-1914 (Greensboro: Hill Directory Company, 1913), 134. 21 “Greensboro Architect Dies,” News and Observer (Raleigh), August 22, 1923, p. 4.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 8 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Architectural Description

909 North Elm Street indicated with red parcel boundary 2014 aerial from Guilford County GIS Setting

The Leak House faces east toward North Elm Street on a 0.43-acre lot in a block of late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth-century dwellings. Its deep setback allows for a sizable front lawn punctuated by deciduous and evergreen trees. The lot’s steep slope to the east necessitated the lengthy rough-face granite retaining wall with raised mortar joints that borders the concrete municipal sidewalk. The retaining wall and the straight run of granite steps with a central cast-iron railing and granite walls that rises from the sidewalk were likely erected in 1913 in conjunction with the house. Unpainted vertical- board fences have been constructed along portions of the north and west parcel lines.

Site modifications in conjunction with the 2019 rehabilitation include removal of overgrown plantings and invasive vegetation including English ivy on the house walls. The straight bluestone sidewalk between the granite steps and the front portico and the concrete sidewalk that extends from the bluestone sidewalk to the concrete parking area and driveway north of the house were installed. The accessibility ramp with a wood railing that extends from the east portico’s south end and turns west to fill much of the

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 9 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 narrow area between the dwelling and the south parcel boundary was erected. The concrete driveway and fences were repaired. Concrete paving was extended to create additional parking spaces. New planting beds line the façade, sidewalks, driveway, and fences.

The surrounding blocks, many of which are encompassed within the Fisher Park Historic District, were initially residential, but some dwellings fronting North Elm Street, a busy four-lane thoroughfare, are being utilized as offices. East Wendover Avenue, one of Greensboro’s most heavily trafficked six-lane east-west corridors, is one block to the north.

East elevation photographs taken by Heather Fearnbach in October 2019 unless otherwise noted

Exterior

The spacious residence comprises a two-and-one-half-story side-gable-roofed brick main block with a two-and-one-half-story gabled frame west (rear) wing. A one-story hip-roofed brick and frame wing that includes a central engaged open porch wraps around the gabled wing. Robust classical modillion cornices top the façade and second-story sunporches on the north and south elevations. Cast-stone coping caps the main block’s Colonial Revival-style stepped parapets. Soldier-course lintels embellish first-story window openings beneath a soldier-course band, while the modillion cornice tops the second-story sash. All window openings have projecting header-course sills. Façade (east elevation) fenestration comprises two first-story windows flanking the central entrance, two identical windows in the second-story’s outer bays, and two narrower windows at the elevation’s center. Three pedimented dormers pierce the front roof slope. Reconditioned original double-hung one-over-one wood-sash illuminate the interior. Paneled pilasters frame the single-leaf two-panel wood front door, rectangular transom, and sidelights. Some wall sections had been inappropriately repointed during attempts to mitigate brick veneer cracking and separation, but deficiencies were remedied in 2019.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 10 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Tuscan columns and fluted square pilasters support the flat-roofed classical porticos that shelter the central entrance on the main block’s east elevation and the north entrance. Deep eaves protect cornices featuring triglyph friezes. Original Chippendale portico roof balustrades and the east portico columns and landing had been removed by 2015. Dimensional lumber posts bolstered the east portico roof.

In 2019, original porch elements were repaired and repainted. A poured-concrete and brick landing and paired columns replaced missing east portico elements. The original five cast-stone steps and central cast- iron railing was repaired. The brick and concrete accessibility ramp at the portico’s south end turns west several feet from the south elevation. The ramp’s west section has wide-board decking and wood support posts. A wood railing with fluted square posts and slender square balusters secures the ramp edges.

The north portico shelters the reception room’s multipane French door and the single-leaf dining room door with a paneled base and glazed upper section. Rectangular transoms surmount both doors. On the second story, the multipane French door that provides access to the north portico roof is intact. On the main block’s north and south elevations, two double-hung one-over-one wood sash light the attic. The brick north wall of the one-story wing west of the north portico contains a group of three double-hung one-over-one wood dining room sash and two smaller kitchen sash.

Although the second-story three-bay-wide and one-bay-deep north and south sunporches do not appear on J. H. Hopkins’ drawings for the Leak House, it appears that they were original. The south sunporch tops a projecting first-story bay at the living room’s south end. Paneled posts flank double-hung one-over-one wood first-story sash beneath a triglyph frieze. The second-story sunporch is executed in a comparable manner, but with single sash and square wood spandrels topped with a modillion cornice. The north second-story sunporch, which rises above the dining room’s one-story north end, is identical.

Northeast oblique

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 11 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

West elevation

A weatherboarded pantry with paneled corner pilasters projects from the kitchen’s northwest corner. To the south, an engaged porch supported by square paneled posts spanned by a wood railing with square balusters and a molded handrail facilitates access to the kitchen, center hall, and southwest corner room. Wood steps with matching railings lead to the porch. The pedimented vestibule with a single-leaf four- panel wood door and slate roof that extends from the pantry’s west elevation provides basement egress. South of the porch, weatherboards sheathe the upper portion of the southwest corner room’s west elevation, while vertical boards cover the wall below two windows. The area beneath the room is an open two-bay garage.

The weatherboarded gabled wing’s west elevation comprises two double-hung one-over-one wood first- story sash, two smaller matching second-story and attic sash, three multipane wood-casement second- story stair hall windows, and three twelve-over-twelve double-hung wood second-story southwest sunporch sash. Twelve-over-twelve and ten-over-ten sash fill the sunporch’s weatherboarded south elevation. Below those windows, a first-story sunporch with two double-hung one-over-one wood sash connects the main block and the southwest room. The main block’s south elevation includes two double- hung one-over-one wood first-and second-story sash and two smaller attic sash.

Two rectangular brick chimney stacks extend above the main block’s slate roof ridge, while a tall exterior stack rises at its northwest corner. Aluminum downspouts empty original internal gutters. Roofing sheathing materials on the porticos, projecting bays, and rear wing include TPO, standing-seam metal, and asphalt shingles.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 12 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Interior

Dining room, looking northeast

First Floor

The Leak House is characterized by a finely crafted but unpretentious interior. The floor plan is intact and primary rooms possess original volumes and finishes. The first floor comprises a central stair hall flanked by a northeast reception room, northwest dining room, southeast living room, and southwest bedroom. The kitchen and pantry are west of the dining room. A sunporch, southwest room, bathroom, and restroom are west of the bedroom. The restroom entrance is on the south side of the short corridor at the central hall’s west end, which leads to the rear porch and the kitchen corridor.

Original interior finishes include smooth plaster walls and ceilings, tongue-and-groove oak floors, tall baseboards capped with molded trim, and molded wood cornices and window and door surrounds. Single- and double-leaf raised-panel wood doors and wood-framed multipane French doors and transoms retain original hardware. Tall eight-panel pocket doors separate the reception room and living room from the center hall. The living room and dining room feature coffered ceilings and brick fireplace surrounds with segmental-arched fireboxes, brick hearths, and wood mantel shelves.

Paneled wainscoting sheathes the lower three-quarters of the dining room walls. The built-in cupboard north of the fireplace has a base cabinet with two double-leaf paneled doors and two flat-front drawers, a mirrored central serving shelf, and three shallow upper shelves backed with beadboard. A swinging six- panel door at the west elevation’s south end leads to a narrow corridor and the kitchen. Two original beadboard-backed cabinets remain on the kitchen’s east elevation and a wood-shelf-lined pantry projects from its northwest corner. New cabinets were installed on the kitchen’s south and west elevations in 2019.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 13 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

Living room, looking southeast (above), and center hall, looking west (below)

The staircase at the center hall’s northwest corner features slender turned balusters capped by a molded wood handrail that terminates in a spiral around the turned newel post at the bottom. Original railings with turned balusters, molded wood handrails, and square newel posts secure the stair landing at the second-story hall’s west end.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 14 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Shallow closets flank the southwest bedroom fireplace, which comprises a segmental-arched firebox, brick hearth, and wood mantel shelf. A built-in four-shelf bookcase spans the north wall between the north closet and central corridor doors. A double-leaf French door at the south end of the bedroom’s west elevation leads to a narrow sunporch with a small built-in bookshelf beneath the window at the south wall’s east end. Vertical-board wainscoting covers the lower walls elsewhere in the room. A wood step at the porch’s west end mitigates the difference in elevation between the main block and the southwest room and bathroom, which are above the garage.

First floor, southwest bedroom, looking northeast (above), and rear room, looking north (below)

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 15 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Second Floor

The second floor encompasses a center hall, four simply finished rooms, a restroom, and north, south, and southwest sunporches. Plaster walls, oak floors, two-vertical-panel and French doors with brass hinges and glass knobs, and molded wood cornices, door and window surrounds, and baseboards are intact. Wide multipane single-leaf sunporch doors facilitate light transmittal. All of the woodwork is painted. The second floor plan was slightly modified in 2019 by the removal of two closets at the center hall’s east end to provide additional space in the northeast room, which now serves as a conference room, and create a narrow corridor that allows egress to the southeast room. The northwest corner restroom was enlarged by removing a wall and enclosing a portion of a secondary corridor’s west end.

Second floor, southwest bedroom, looking southwest (above), and northeast room, looking south (below)

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 16 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

Center hall, looking west (above) and southeast room, looking southeast (below)

Third Floor

An enclosed staircase rises in a straight run between the second and third floors. A wood railing comprising posts with turned finials, square balusters, and a molded handrail secures the opening. The attic originally contained a wide L-shaped hall, northeast corner bedroom, and two rooms on the hall’s south side. Oak floors, paneled doors, molded baseboards, and wood window and door surrounds remain. In 2019, the third floor was finished to encompass four offices, a restroom, and a mechanical room. New door openings replicate original openings and feature salvaged paneled doors.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 17 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

Basement, east room, looking south

Basement

A straight run of wood stairs leads from the kitchen corridor to the basement’s center. The utilitarian basement has concrete floors and brick walls in what originally served as boiler, coal storage, general storage, and laundry rooms. Two doors on the west elevation allow exterior egress. Small rectangular windows on the north, west, and south elevations illuminate the rooms. Two coal chutes pierce the north wall. HVAC, electrical, and plumbing system components have been installed.

Rehabilitation Scope of Work

The original floor plan is substantially intact. Existing plaster was repaired and repainted. Where sections of plaster were deteriorated beyond repair due to factors such as water damage, plaster was removed and gypsum board installed. All walls that were originally plastered have a smooth, painted surface that emulates plaster. Original ceiling height was maintained and ceilings were repaired and repainted.

Original woodwork was repaired, prepped, primed, and repainted as necessary. Missing molding was replicated based on surviving molding. Pine floors were repaired and refinished. Original doors and hardware were repaired and salvaged doors and hardware installed.

The stair originally turned at a central landing and continued east to the central second-story corridor. West of the stair, a low turned-baluster railing with paneled newels secured a narrow area that initially served as a sunroom. By 2017, a south section of the sunroom railing had been removed and the handrail hinged to create a pass-through to the central landing. In 2018, in order to connect the west landing to the center hall, the portion of the stair’s upper run between the first and second stories was enclosed beneath oak floorboards installed at the second-story level. A short run of steps now rise south from the central landing to the newly created portion of the second-story landing. A section of the upper railing was

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 18 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 removed and the newel, balusters, and handrail carefully reinstalled at the new steps and second-floor landing. The west railing’s paneled newels were removed, the balusters and handrail repaired, and a square newel that matches the other second-story newels added to anchor the railing’s south end. Original railings with turned balusters, molded wood handrails, and square newel posts secure the landing at the second-floor hall’s west end.

Second-floor landing, looking west

The electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, and fire detection systems were replaced in a manner that is compatible with the building’s historic character and is in compliance with current code. Interior HVAC equipment and ductwork is housed in the basement and unfinished attic space accessed at the third-floor hall’s west end. Accessible bathroom and restroom fixtures were installed.

The narrow aluminum utility-line chase that rises on the south elevation from between the first-and second-story sash to the attic was constructed. HVAC system equipment was installed on concrete pads adjacent to the south elevation. Exterior plumbing work included replacing terra-cotta-pipe connections to the municipal sewer system with PVC pipe.

Rafters, decking, roofing, and downspouts were repaired, replaced, and supplemented as needed utilizing comparable materials. Spray-foam insulation was added in the attic.

North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service staff confirmed in 2020 that the scope of work complies with the Secretary of the Interior’s rehabilitation standards.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 19 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Historical Background

Fisher Park Development

Speculative residential construction proliferated in North Greensboro during the late-nineteenth century, driven by entrepreneurs including real estate speculator Basil J. Fisher and Edward Payson Wharton, whose namesake real estate company bought, sold, erected, and leased numerous Guilford County properties. Wharton’s company platted a portion of what would become Greensboro’s Fisher Park in 1890, creating 107 lots between Worth (now Eugene) Street and Green Hill Cemetery, and West Fisher and West Bessemer avenues. The company marketed adjacent tracts for Basil J. Fisher from the 1890s through the early twentieth century. In March 1901, Wharton announced Fisher’s development of a four- hundred-lot subdivision flanking North Elm Street. He also facilitated Fisher’s donation of fourteen acres at the neighborhood’s center to the city to serve as a public park. During the early-twentieth century, commercial and industrial expansion and city infrastructure improvements created thousands of new jobs, resulting in population increases that fueled housing demand and provided unprecedented development opportunities for speculators including Fisher Park resident James Edwin Latham. Dwelling construction escalated in the 1910s with the availability of regular streetcar service and continued at a rapid rate through the 1920s.22

Frank and Minnie Leak

Greensboro’s industrial sector prospered in the 1890s, prompting concerns including plug tobacco manufacturer Leak Brothers and Hasten of Kernersville to move to the booming city. The company, headed by William H. Leak, his brother and bookkeeper J. N. Leak, and sales manager J. W. Hasten, occupied a five-story brick factory on Buchanan Street in March 1895. William’s son Frank Leak was a clerk. After the company ceased operations in late 1898, W. H. Leak returned to Kernersville. J. N. Leak remained in Greensboro, becoming a partner and store manager at Sample Brown Mercantile Company, which also had a Reidsville Store. Frank was a bookkeeper for Cone Export and Commission Company. He rented a room at 433 West Market Street in 1899, but in 1900 was one of two boarders at the home of Sample S. Brown, Helen G. Brown, and their four children at 120 Mendenhall Street.23

Frank Leak’s employer, Cone Export and Commission Company, was established in 1891 to market fabric for southern companies. The concern was a selling agent for many North Carolina businesses. Brothers Moses H. Cone and Ceasar Cone of Baltimore were the family’s first textile manufacturers, beginning with their 1887 investment in what became Asheville Cotton Mill in 1892. The following year, the Cones sought to streamline the textile production process by creating Southern and Warehouse Company, which bleached, packed, and shipped fabric to vendors nationwide, thus filling a niche market previously dominated by Northern manufacturers. In 1895, the Cone family took advantage of the cotton fields, gins, warehouses, and railroad lines available in Greensboro at

22 Guilford County Plat Book 53, page 570; “Aldermanic Doings,” Greensboro Patriot, February 27, 1901, p. 4; Greensboro Telegram, March 7-13, 1901; Marvin A. Brown, “Fisher ParkHistoric District,” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1991. 23 “Leak Bros. and Hasten,” Greensboro Patriot, December 18, 1895, p. 7; “Leak Bros. and Hasten,” News and Observer, April 5, 1896, p. 30; Greensboro Patriot, January 11, 1899, p. 1; “Greensboro Telegram, January 21, 1899, p. 4; “The Company Incorporated,” Greensboro Telegram, August 8,1899, p. 2; Maloney’s 1899-1900 Greensboro, N. C. City Directory, 178; U. S. Census, population schedules, 1880, 1900.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 20 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 minimal cost to establish Proximity Manufacturing Company, which wove . In 1899, the concern introduced a very finely woven , produced by its Revolution Cotton Mills in Greensboro.24

Frank Leak may have met Minnie Robinson Lyon through her father Thomas A. Lyon, who began his Greensboro career as a tobacco auctioneer, became a traveling salesman for New York-based shoe manufacturer Endicott Johnson Company, and speculated in real estate. T. A. Lyon also had connections to the Cones. He erected townhouses on Summit Avenue property purchased from Ceasar Cone and his tenants included Cone Export and Commission Company employees. The Cones built adjacent rental housing.25

Frank Leak and Minnie Lyon were active participants in Greensboro’s social scene. Minnie, who had attended Greensboro Music School, played the violin in local performances and frequently hosted gatherings at her family’s home at 231 Lindsay Street.26 Accounts of the couple’s large September 11, 1901 wedding at First Presbyterian Church were published in newspapers throughout the state. Dr. Egbert W. Smith conducted the Wednesday evening ceremony attended by two hundred guests. The wedding party comprised Minnie’s sister Hettie as maid of honor, eight bridesmaids, eight groomsmen, and four ushers. Raleigh caterer Dughi provided food for the reception at the Lyons’ home, after which the couple traveled by train to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.27

Frank Leak gradually assumed greater responsibility at Cone Export and Commission Company as its textile production burgeoned, serving as head bookkeeper before being promoted to cashier in January 1905. The company’s 270-loom White Oak denim plant opened that year, its Revolution Cotton Mills bleachery commenced operating in 1909, and its Proximity Print Works began manufacturing multicolored printed fabrics in 1912. Cone Export and Commission Company garnered a contract to supply Levi Strauss and Company with denim in 1915 and, two years later, became the first manufacturer to utilize dyes other than indigo to create denim in colors other than blue. During the 1920s, the company responded to changes in the textile industry by absorbing smaller operations. North Carolina acquisitions included Salisbury Cotton Mill in 1920, Eno Cotton Mill in Hillsborough in 1926, and, in 1927, two Rutherford County concerns: Cliffside Mills in Avondale and Haynes Mills in Cliffside.28

24 “The Proximity Mill at Greensboro, N. C.,” Manufacturers’ Record, February 7, 1896, pp. 25, 32-33; “Trailing Yard of Denim Through World’s Largest Denim Mill,” Charlotte Observer, March 2, 1928, pp. 10, 12; “The Cone Mills in North Carolina, “Forty Years of Textile Progress,” Cotton, October 1938, Series 4.4.1, Cone Mills Corporation Records, UNC-CH; Cone Export and Commission Company, Half Century Book, 1891-1941 (Greensboro: Cone Export and Commission Company, 1941), unpaginated; Julien Elfenbein, “The Cone Story: Part One,” Linens and Domestics, May 1953; Alex Coffin, “The Cone Family,” The North Carolina Century: Tar Heels Who Made a Difference, 1900-2000 (Charlotte: Levine Museum of the New South, 2002), 133; Beatty, Alamance, 147. 25 “Star Warehouse,” Greensboro Patriot, April 17, 1884, p. 3; Greensboro Patriot, March 3, 1897, p. 4, November 10, 1897, p. 3, and August 13, 1902, p. 1; Greensboro Telegram, November 15, 1897, p. 4, February 14, 1898, p. 4, and July 25, 1899, p. 4; “First Shoemaker Also a Drummer,” Greensboro Daily News, August 26, 1906, p. 16. 26 “Greensboro Music Hall Recital,” North State, April 2, 1891, p. 8; “A Happy Occasion,” Greensboro Telegram, October 12, 1900, p. 1. 27 “An Interesting Wedding,” Durham Sun, August 29, 1901, p. 2; “The Leak-Lyon Nuptials,” Durham Sun, September 12, 1901, p. 1; Greensboro Patriot, September 18, 1901, p. 1. 28 Cone Mills Corporation remains the exclusive supplier for denim used in Levi’s 501 jeans worldwide. Cone Mills Corporation, A Century of Excellence: The History of Cone Mills, 1891 to 1991 (Greensboro: Cone Mills Corporation, 1991), 25-26; Elfenbein, “The Cone Story: Part One;” Julien Elfenbein, “The Cone Story: Part Two,” Linens and Domestics, June 1953.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 21 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Frank and Minnie Leak resided at 227 Lindsay Street until 1907, when they moved to 214 Summit Avenue.29 The couple had two daughters: Mildred, born in 1904, and Mary, born in 1910. The Leaks began acquiring property on North Elm Street in September 1911, first purchasing a lot from L. J. Duffy and R. P. and Lydia L. Dicks. In June 1912, they paid $1,171.20 for an adjacent parcel owned by R. H. and Fannie V. Brooks. Construction of a dwelling designed by J. H. Hopkins soon commenced. The builder is unknown, but many have been W. C. Bain, whose company had erected townhouses for Minnie’ father. The Leaks occupied the house in late 1913 and subsequently hosted myriad social events including the November 1917 wedding of Frank’s sister Daisy and T. B. Apperson. On April 20, 1927, Mildred married jeweler Harold Anthony Schiffman, known as Arnold, whose father Simon had established Schiffman’s Jewelry Company in Greensboro in 1893. The couple resided in . Frank and Minnie began leasing rooms to boarders during the late 1920s. In 1930, tenants included attorney Ammie A. Webb, tool salesman Billie Withers, and railroad company chief clerk John P. Nichols and his wife Ada.30

Minnie and Mary traveled to Vancouver in 1930. After completing her studies in Greensboro, Mary was a stenographer at Cone Export and Commission Company. She wed Arthur Moore Caine, a United Kingdom native who lived in Vancouver, at First Presbyterian Church in Winnepeg, Canada, on October 5, 1933. The couple resided in Vancouver, where their daughter Anita was born on September 23, 1934.31

Frank and Minnie Leak held leadership roles at many local civic organizations and First Presbyterian Church. Minnie’s contributions included serving as Greensboro’s Girl Scout commissioner (1927-1929) and Y. M. C. A. board president, while Frank was an active Civitan Club member. He was promoted to the position of secretary-treasurer at Cone Export and Commission Company by 1930 and served as the concern’s assistant secretary until his 1934 retirement. Less than two years later, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that resulted in his March 17, 1936 death at the age of fifty-seven. Mary and Anita Caine returned to Greensboro around 1943 and lived with Minnie. Mary directed Greensboro’s Civil Defense Office until World War II’s end. After Minnie sold the house to John and Jessie Berry in July 1952, the family resided at 2306 Princess Anne Avenue. Minnie died on September 22, 1955.32

John V. and Jessie D. Berry

When the Berrys moved to 909 North Elm Street in 1952, John served as vice-president and general manager of Berry Coal and Oil Company. His father William N. Berry was the concern’s president, his mother Elizabeth its treasurer, and his brother Joseph its secretary. John, born in Middlesboro, Kentucky in 1911, was one of thirteen children. After graduating from Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg,

29 Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1903-1904 (Greensboro: Hill Directory Company, 1903), 159; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1907-1908 (Greensboro: Hill Directory Company, 1907), 252. 30 Guilford County Deed Book 234, p. 55; Deed Book 238, p. 528; “New Homes to Be Built,” Greensboro Patriot, February 15, 1912, p. 2; “Property Transfers,” Greensboro Daily News, June 20, 1912, p. 8; “Leak-Apperson,” Greensboro Daily News, November 29, 1917, p. 6; Schiffman’s, “Our Story,” https://schiffmans.com/our-story (accessed in May 2020); U. S. Census, population schedules, 1910, 1920, 1930; 31 “U. S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S., 1895-1960,” Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, RG 85, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; marriage register; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1933 (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1933). 32 “Frank Leak Passes at Residence Here,” Greensboro Daily News, March 17, 1936, p. 1; “Mrs. Leak’s Funeral Set for Today,” Greensboro Daily News, September 22, 1955; “Mrs. Mary L. Caine,” Greensboro Daily News, January 26, 1981, p. A6; death certificates; U. S. Census, population schedules, 1930-1940; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1943 (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1949), 87; Guilford County Deed Book 1444, p. 280.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 22 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Maryland in June 1932, he was a salesman at the family business until enlisting in the U S. Navy in August 1942. In January of that year, he and Greensboro native Jessie Madeleine Douglas wed at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Greensboro. Jessie, born in 1918 to Margaret Wharton Douglas and Martin Francis Douglas, was the granddaughter of entrepreneur Edward Payson Wharton and jurist Robert Martin Douglas. A 1938 Greensboro Woman College graduate, she earned a Masters in Fine Arts from Columbia University in New York City in 1940. After John’s February 1946 discharge from the navy, he returned to Berry Coal and Oil Company as general manager. He assumed the role of vice-president by 1949, president in 1966, and treasurer in 1968. While living at 909 North Elm Street, the Berrys had three daughters and a son who survived to adulthood, as well as twin sons who died shortly after birth.33 The couple conveyed the house to Ray Cox and Associates in August 1978.34

Preservation Greensboro Connections

Mary Leak Caine and her daughter Anita were staunch historic preservationists. Mary became Preservation Greensboro’s first president in 1966. Anita attended Chatham Hall and Duke University before marrying textile executive James Simpson Schenck III in 1954. Her historic preservation advocacy included chairing the boards of Preservation Greensboro and the Greensboro Historical Museum, serving as president of the Blandwood Guild and the Belle Meade Society, and completing four terms on the Guilford County Historic Properties Commission.35

On February 10, 2017, Preservation Greensboro Development Fund, Inc. (PGDF), a non-profit corporation that serves as a historic preservation revolving fund, purchased the Leak House from the estate of Betty Ware Wentz (1926-2015), whose son James I. Wentz Jr. had acquired the property in 1989. The house suffered significant deterioration as a result of deferred maintenance, partial apartment conversion, and lengthy vacancy during Wentz family ownership. Due to the dwelling’s pivotal status in the Fisher Park Historic District—based upon its architectural significance and prominent North Elm Street location—PGDF bought the house in order to avert demolition. PGDF placed protective covenants on the property at the time of its June 5, 2018 sale to Lehrer Properties, LLC, developers with demonstrated rehabilitation experience. Contractors began work on June 10, 2018. The current owner, Giraffe Neck, LLC, purchased the property on April 25, 2019 and oversaw the rehabilitation’s completion.36

33 Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1933 (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1933), 77; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1949 (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1949), 74;Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1951-1952 (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1951), 63; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1966 (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1966), 55; Hill Directory Company, Greensboro, N. C. Directory, 1968 (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1968), 56; “Tar Heel is a Winner,” Charlotte Observer, June 9, 1932, p. 4; “Mrs. Berry Urges Coin-A-Day Plan,” News and Observer, May 11, 1942, p. 9; “John ‘Jack’ Berry,” News and Record (Greensboro), January 22, 1990; “Jessie Madeleine Douglas Berry,” News and Record, October 17, 2002, p. B5; marriage register; death certificates. 34 Guilford County Deed Book 2949, p. 65. 35 “Anita C. Schenck,” https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/greensboro-nc/anita-schenck-6486820 (accessed in May 2020). 36 Guilford County Deed Book 3710, p. 1872; Deed Book 7903, p. 1218; Deed Book 8055, p. 116; Deed Book 8147, p. 1745.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 23 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Bibliography

Arnett, Ethel Stevens. Greensboro, North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1955.

Baltimore Sun

Chattanooga News

Brown, Marvin A. “Fisher Park Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1991.

Charlotte Daily Observer

Charlotte Observer

Daily Workman (Greensboro)

Durham Sun

Greensboro Daily News

Greensboro Patriot

Greensboro Telegram

Guilford County Register of Deeds. Deed and Plat Books, Greensboro, N. C.

Hill Directory Company. Greensboro City Directories. Greensboro, N. C. and Richmond, V. A.: Hill Directory Company, 1903-1968.

Maloney Directory Company, Maloney’s 1899-1900 Greensboro, N. C. City Directory. Atlanta, G. A.: Maloney Directory Company, 1899.

Manufacturer’s Record

Moore, Alice. “Latham-Baker House.” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1982.

Morning Post (Raleigh)

North State (Greensboro)

News and Observer (Raleigh)

News and Record (Greensboro)

Phillips, Laura A. W. “Downtown Greensboro Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1984.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 24 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

“Schenck, Anita C.” https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/greensboro-nc/anita-schenck-6486820 (accessed in May 2020

Schiffman’s. “Our Story.” https://schiffmans.com/our-story (accessed in May 2020).

Sheffield Daily Enterprise (Alabama)

Sheffield Weekly Enterprise (Alabama)

Tripp, Gayle Hicks. Greensboro, Volume II, Neighborhoods. Charleston, S. C.: Arcadia Publishing, 1998.

Union Republican (Winston)

“U. S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S., 1895-1960.” Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, RG 85, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.

United States Census. Population Schedules, 1880-1940.

Weaver, C. E., compiler. Sketches of Greensboro, North Carolina, U. S. A. (Richmond: Central Publishing, 1917.

Wilmington Morning Star

Wilson, Richard Guy. The Colonial Revival House. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2004.

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 25 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Designation Parameters

Giraffe Neck, LLC, is seeking local historic landmark designation for the entire Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak House exterior and interior in order to recognize the property’s historical significance. Character- defining features are enumerated below.

Exterior

● two-and-one-half-story side-gable-roofed brick main block with a two-and-one-half-story gabled frame west (rear) wing and a one-story hip-roofed brick and frame rear wing that includes a central engaged open porch ● main block’s slate roof ● internal gutters ● modillion cornices ● classical porticos ● pedimented dormers ● soldier-course lintels ● projecting header-course window sills ● wood window and door trim ● original one-over-one and multipane double-hung wood sash and casement windows of various sizes ● paneled pilasters, single-leaf two-panel wood door, rectangular transom, and sidelights at east entrance ●multipane French doors

Interior

First Floor

● smooth plaster walls and ceilings ● tongue-and-groove oak floors ● tall baseboards capped with molded trim ● molded wood cornices and window and door surrounds ● single- and double-leaf raised-panel wood doors and wood-framed multi-pane French doors and transoms with original hardware ● tall eight-panel pocket doors in the reception and living rooms ● coffered ceilings and brick fireplace surrounds with segmental-arched fireboxes, brick hearths, and wood mantel shelves in the living and dining rooms ● paneled wainscoting and built-in cupboard north of the fireplace in the dining room walls Central hall staircase with slender turned balusters, molded wood handrail, and turned newel post ● two original beadboard-backed cabinets on the kitchen’s east elevation ● wood-shelf-lined pantry

Second Floor

● smooth plaster walls and ceilings ● tongue-and-groove oak floors ● tall baseboards capped with molded trim ● molded wood cornices and window and door surrounds ● two-vertical-panel and French doors with brass hinges and glass knobs

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 26 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020

Third Floor

● enclosed staircase between the second and third floors ● wood railing comprising posts with turned finials, square balusters, and a molded handrail that secures the opening ● tongue-and-groove oak floors ● tall baseboards capped with molded trim ● wood window and door surrounds ● single-leaf raised-panel wood doors

Landscape Features

● granite wall and steps fronting North Elm Street

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 27 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Boundary Description and Justification

The nominated property consists of Guilford County tax parcel #4416, PIN 7865606972 (0.43 acre) as well as the public right-of-way containing the granite retaining wall bordering the North Elm Street sidewalk as indicated by the heavy red lines on the following map. The boundary encompasses all of the property historically associated with the Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak House at 909 North Elm Street in Greensboro and provides an appropriate setting. Scale: one inch equals approximately forty feet.

2014 aerial from Guilford County GIS

Frank and Minnie Lyon Leak Local Historic Landmark Designation Report 28 Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / May 2020 Fisher Park Historic District National Register Boundary (solid line) Leak House, 909 North Elm Street, Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina

1925 1925

1917

1921

Heather Fearnbach, Fearnbach History Services, Inc. / April 2019 Base map courtesy of North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office at http://gis.ncdcr.gov/hpoweb/ N