We first examined the locally unusual gambrel-front house at 1007 Washington Street here. Built for William Hines as investment property, the house’s early tenants included Howard M. and E. Courtney Plummer Fitts and Oscar and Nora Reid. When I passed the house recently, the front door stood open, and I took a peek inside.
The front door opens into a vestibule. A staircase rises at immediate left, reaches a landing and turns toward the second floor. I did not venture upstairs. A door into a front room lay to the right, and the door visible below led to a series of at least two directly connected rooms.
The linoleum covering the floor of the entry way may be original to the house.
In the front room, an original brick mantel and fireplace surround.
Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, January 2022.
Is this house salvageable? Will it ever be for sale? It seems to sturdy with quality features.
It’s hard to say. There are signs of renovation here and there through the neighborhood, but the blighted outweigh the inhabitable for now. Many of the houses are quite small by today’s standards, though many are quite charming.
My grandfather, John Battle owned 1200 Queen Street in Wilson, North Carolina. My grandmother Gladys Battle, children, Parker and Grace lived in that home until the age of 11 during the 1920’s 1940’s