1838 Greek Revival, Yanceyville, NC – $149,900

10 thoughts on “1838 Greek Revival, Yanceyville, NC – $149,900”

1. A terrific little house, full of good surprises. Sensitively restored, it would be a beauty, but it’s a house that needs an owner who knows not to overdo things; its beauty is in its small details — which could easily get lost under a heavy hand.

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2. Yeah, like too much paint! What is between the walls that we see with the arched doorway and windows? I have never seen this design before now. Are there shelves separating the walls or a corridor?….

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   • Every inch of woodwork was originally painted. Sadly, some of it has been re-painted again, and again, too many times. The sheen of the paint and the flash photography aggravate the effect, but some of the crispness of detail has been lost.

     The window detail in the best room is odd, but it shows up in 18thC and some early 19thC houses, particularly in the Virginia Tidewater and Mid-Atlantic. The windows are set into open closets of a sort; the resulting single plane of the fireplace wall was sometimes considered more elegant than an encroaching chimneybreast — especially in fully panelled end walls. The nooks that frame the window openings almost never communicate with other spaces; sometimes they may be big enough for a chair, often they have some storage shelves tucked away out of sight.

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     • I am revisiting this house — was fascinated the first time I saw it. I wonder if that chimney/alcove/fireplace wall isn’t the one that is behind the “front” porch?? There is a chimney over the gable…?

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3. These pics do a good job of hiding the fact that the house is located right on a main road and across the street from an Exxon station. But I suppose that’s why it’s so reasonably priced, too. Lots of great old details here. I love the arched recesses on either side of that one fireplace. You see that in a lot of high style Georgian houses in New England as well. Here’s a variation on that theme from a Readfield. Maine home that Kelly posted a while back.
   http://oldhousedreams.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/219nickerson21.jpg
   In this house, it looks like going through the window set into the recess on the right side of the fireplace is the only way to get to that front porch. Looks like the window was modified into a gib door of some sort. And that elaborate front door looks out of place there.

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   • Yeah, there’s a lot of “process” that went on in this house. Besides the odd jib door thing, and the different campaigns of decorative woodwork and subsequent alterations, I wonder if the house isn’t at core older than stated. Look in the second photo at the weird, ragged roofline, and all the evidence of patched brickwork, one semi-exterior and one interior chimney, the removal of some sort of porch at the facade (extending at least over that grandly remodeled front door and to the right, probably) — none of which is a complaint: I like the place because there are so many different things at work, all of which happened within a few decades early in the history of the house.

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4. Where is the front door? That late 19th-century porch doesn’t have an exterior access (steps) and only one interior access. The old part of the house is to the right with the door floating in mid-air. Its porch is gone and would have extended from the right corner of the house all the way to under (and over!) the first window (the one that isn’t a door) under the “silly” “new” porch. You couldn’t restore the original porch without tearing down the “new” porch (which, quite frankly, I think is the way to go here). The problem then becomes the magnificent boxwood alley. The boxwoods are centered on the porch, and they are too old to move. I couldn’t find an LC HABS entry for this house. Is there one? I guess it wouldn’t matter anyway; the house was in the 1930s like it is today…

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5. Interesting house. However, that old rim lock would look a bit more authentic without the phillips head screws. The kitchen is out of touch, period-wise, with the style and age of the house but seems like there are still some nice original interior details to work with. At 2,500 sq. feet its manageable for most people but it does have a 1.65 acre lot which may not seem like much unless you have to go mow it in the summer. I believe the front porch could be extended so you don’t have a doorway that opens right on to a staircase. One could probably just use the existing porch/portico for design elements and proportions for an extension leaving the triangular pediment as the focal point. I agree most of the old woodwork has always been painted but one might want to do so careful detective work to determine if it was not original faux grained painted to look like expensive or exotic woods. The period between 1800 and 1860 was the major period of popularity of the faux grained painted wood phenomenon with examples of it even appearing in the most expensive mansions of that time.

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6. I was just looking at pics of North Carolina homes on Flickr when I ran across this page. Since I remembered seeing this house on OHD before, I figured I’d add this to the comments…for future readers or whatever. It pretty much explains the odd fenestration and conflicting styles seen on this house.
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncccha/sets/72157625331390068/with/5154601818/

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7. Nice place. Would love to see the upstairs rooms. The nooks by the fireplaces are quite common on early NC and VA houses.

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