National Preservation MOnth

Saved ~ The Jones-Lee House In Greenville NC ~ National Preservation Month

In honor of May’s National Preservation Month. OHU50K is showcasing houses that need a savior or have been saved. This one is the latter.

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The landmark Jones-Lee House on Evans Street in Greenville, North Carolina. was packed up, loaded on a flat bed and was moved to Greene Street last summer. The lovely Victorian house sat at 802 S. Evans St. for almost 124 years. For the last 30 years, it sat restored.

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Built in 1895, the house was originally the home of James E. Jones, a farm machinery salesman, and his wife Jessie. They lived there with their three children, Robert, Julius and Rosa.

In later years, the Lee family owned the beauty, and in 2001, Candace Pearce, chairwoman of the Greenville Historic Preservation Commission and a retired contractor, remodeled the house to use as her office.

The Jones-Lee House was first threatened with demolition in the late 1970s and early 1980s during Greenville’s urban renewal. Although it was the last house standing where  once stood a row of similar houses, somehow #802 Evans St. managed to withstand the test of time. That is until 2019, when demolition was imminent again as downtown Greenville continued to spread.

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So in January of 2019, the house was moved to 302 S. Greene St. next to a “sister” house, the James L. Fleming House. Both houses are listed on the U.S National Register of Historic Places, and both are listed as having the same architect.

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The new owners, Jeremy and Kimberly Law, have big plans for the historic home. Hearing it was to be demolished, the couple sold their 11-acre farm in Wilson, North Carolina to purchase the Jones-House Lee and make it a restaurant with a bar and 40 tables.

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New owner, Mr. Law.

Here’s the home with a new paint job. I’m glad it was saved from demolition, but I prefer the before paint job. And where is the gingerbread in the top gable? What do you think?

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New paint job.

 

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