Two Sisters Constructed This Double House As Income Property

Constructed around 1922 for sisters Minnie and Lillie Wilson, the double house at 675 Percy Street features mirror-image residential units that share a common party wall, and today provides an historic home with urban style.

Minnie and Lillie Wilson were never married and enjoying the middle years of their life when they purchased a tract of land on Percy Street and constructed their double house as an investment property. The sisters rented to several occupants over the duration of their ownership, including Fawnie and Roy Clemmons (Salesman at T&H Motor Company), Paulina Kinney and Mary Gainey (both nurses), and Henry and Lula Brooks (a field supervisor). Minnie and Lillie both lived into their 70s, and upon their deaths the house was sold to Ruth and Mont C. Wagoner, who owned the building for nearly 50 years as a rental property. Mont grew up in the neighborhood on Park Avenue, and served as a postal carrier for much of his life.

This Craftsman-style double house resembles a single-family American Foursquare from the street. Foursquares are ubiquitous across the country and feature a low pyramidal roofline, an oversized dormer window centered above the main entryway, a symmetrical two-story façade, and a front porch. The handsome house to the right of the Wilson Sister’s House at 681 Percy Street is an excellent example of a Foursquare.

Interior appointments are simple, but reflect the high quality of building materials available at the time. Heart pine flooring, harvested from stands of Southern Yellow Pine, graces the first level. Hand-toweled plaster walls are topped by picture rails from which hung wall art…as an alternative to driving picture hooks into fragile plaster.  Other notable features include original brass lighting fixtures with decorative frosted shades, glass doorknobs throughout the house, and an original medicine chest in the bathroom! The house was sold from Mont Wagoner to Mebane Ham in 2000, who has completed several upgrades such as a new deck to the rear of the house, new kitchen cabinetry, and upgrades to windows and the bathroom.

BE SURE TO LOOK FOR:

• Original brass light fixtures that have been restore
• Heart pine flooring throughout the unit
• Simple Craftsman-inspired stair balustrade and brick mantel
• Common entryway that links the two individual residences.

This home was featured on Preservation Greensboro’s 2011 Tour of Historic Homes May 21 – 22 in the Fisher Park and Aycock Historic Districts.