Southern Elevation
Download the Brookland Landmark Report
Excerpt:
Brookland is significant in the area of architecture for being representative of high style Federal, early Greek Revival, and Colonial Revival styles dating from 1836 through the early twentieth century, reflecting the changing needs of the owners through the years. Brookland is also significant for its contribution to the overall social history of Henderson County from the early decades of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century as an important estate located in an enclave of summer homes, built by wealthy families from the low country of Charleston and other coastal areas, in Flat Rock, known as the “Little Charleston of the Mountains”. The remaining large estates of these families are located in Flat Rock, but Brookland is the only one of these located within the current city limits of Hendersonville.
Northern Elevation
202 South Washington Street
The Reese House is a Queen Anne style house located in North Carolina's southern region of the Appalachian mountains. Hendersonville, the county seat of Henderson County, is host to the well-crafted house. Located southwest of the central business district, the circa 1885 house occupies an almost square lot at the intersection of South Washington and Allen streets. The house is situated close to the corner, with narrow strips of grass separating the front (west) and south side elevations from the sidewalk. A short driveway leads off Allen Street to the back yard featuring mature hardwoods shading a grass lawn.
The Reese House is a T-shaped, weatherboarded, two-story frame, Queen Anne style house with a small single-level rear ell. The asymmetrical main (west) elevation is dominated by a single projecting bay that is covered by an intersecting gabled roof. The C elevation is further distinguished by its ornate wraparound porch. Two internal brick chimneys flank hallways and reveal themselves from the interior portions of the structure.
The elaborate Victorian porch is covered with a low hip roof that is supported by chamfered posts. Each post features a boxed base, neck molding, ornamental brackets, and a smaller scroll bracket or console. A saw-tooth pattern stretches between the chamfered posts. The balustrade connecting the chamfered posts displays turned balusters and molded handrails. Ornamental brackets also appear under the eaves of the second-story roof. The second level of the asymmetrical facade contains double-hung two-over-two sash windows set in simple molded wooden surrounds and sills. Sheltered by the porch's hip roof, the first-level windows are floor-to-ceiling, double-leaf casement with transom.
Despite minor alterations, the exterior of the house has remained largely intact. After the death of William P. Reese, his son James undertook some alterations in the 1920s including the construction of a small shed addition to the rear ell to accommodate additional kitchen and pantry space. Other minor alterations include concrete block underpinning, storm windows, and gutters with downspouts. All of the exterior sawn detailing has remained intact, including circular gable vents, eaves brackets, and handsome cornice returns.
The main block of the house is arranged in a center hall plan. On the first floor, pairs of rooms flanking the center hall are close in size and separated by interior chimneys accommodating a chimney in each of the four rooms. In the 1920s renovation a partition was removed between the center stair hall and the front parlor, but a clear separation between these spaces remains defined by the rising ceiling that follows the staircase. At the same time, a stairway was constructed at the rear of the center hall to access the basement, possibly replacing an exterior entrance. The rear ell and its accompanying shed addition are positioned on the north end of the rear (east) elevation and accommodate the kitchen, pantry, and bathroom. The second story contains two bedrooms positioned on the north end of the house, and a third bedroom south of the staircase and center hall with the only second-floor fireplace.
Like the exterior of the house, the interior finish is largely intact. The walls and ceilings are still covered with their original plaster, including a simple rosette or patera on the parlor ceiling. The majority of the baseboards and picture molding survive throughout the house. Plain board surrounds at many of the doors and windows appear to be replacements. In many parts of the house, carpet has been placed over the wooden floors. On the first floor, handsome mantelpieces of simple wooden pilasters and shelves supported by decorative consoles front the four fireplaces in the three rooms of the main block and the east room of the ell. Each of these fireplaces displays distinctive characteristics including sawn friezes and ceramic tile. A plainer mantelpiece in the south bedroom of the second floor consists of wooden pilasters and a shelf. The open-string staircase, which rises on the north wall of the center hall, features a simple square newel post with a cylindrical knob, a molded handrail, turned balusters, and elaborate Queen Anne detailing on the exposed stringer.
According to a copy of an unrecorded deed, in May of 1881 Turner Williams deeded Harriett Louisa Williams property, located on what is now South Washington Street, as her share of her father's estate. Family history relates that in the same year Harriet Louisa Williams married William P. Reese who had served as a drummer in the Civil War. A few years after the marriage, the couple's first child, James Reese, was expected. The news of the impending birth prompted William P. Reese to commission local builder James Brown to build a Queen Anne-style house for them on the property his wife had inherited, a tract along the waters of Mud Creek and located near Hendersonville's first school.
James Reese grew up in the Hendersonville house, and after his father's death he continued to live there with his mother and wife. James Reese was a skilled plasterer and made his living contracting for jobs in Hendersonville. At his death in 1953, James Reese had resided in this one house for sixty-eight years.
The house continues to be maintained by the descendants of Harriett Louisa and William P. Reese and is one of Hendersonville's few 19th-century houses remaining in the family of the original owners. Today, this fine example of the Queen Anne style and Hendersonville's earliest residential construction is a restaurant.
(Excerpts from the National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form 4.25.95)
219 Stoney Mt. Road
Summary & Setting: The Clough H. Rice House is located on a two-thirds acre parcel of land one and a half miles to the north of the center of Hendersonville, the county seat of Henderson County, in the mountainous western region of North Carolina. The property sits on the south side of Stoney Mountain Road, less than one tenth of a mile west from the intersection of Stoney Mountain Road and Asheville Highway. A short gravel drive leads form Stoney Mountain Road to the house, running up a slight hill in a northwest direction paralleling Stoney Mountain Road. The house sits on top of the hill and is visible from the road below, though partially concealed by trees along the northeast edge of the property. The property consists of the Clough H. Rice House and a non-contributing single-story garage on the rear, northwest edge of the property.
The property is visually divided by a row of massive boxwoods that were planted in front of the Clough H. Rice House, parallel to the facade. These plantings obscure the first story of the house from view as the house is approached from its private drive. The house and garage are on the west side of the boxwoods and to the east of these bushes is an open, grassy area framed by a massive magnolia tree next to the gravel drive and a ring of hydrangea bushes on the opposite side of the lawn. The gravel drive follows the north property line to just beyond the boxwoods and then turns to the southwest and runs between the boxwoods and the house.
Since its construction circa 1875, the Clough H. Rice House has undergone modest changes and stands today as Hendersonville's most intact example of a rural 1-house constructed in the latter years of the nineteenth century. For the purpose of this nomination the facade is the east elevation, the rear is the west elevation, and the side facing Stoney Mountain Road is the north elevation.
Exterior: The Clough H. Rice House is a weather board, single-pile, two-story, side-gable 1-house with a bay window on each of the side (north and south) elevations and a two-story, gable-roofed rear ell. The foundation is a rubble masonry wall of fieldstone under the main block and a pier and curtain wall under the ell, with stone piers at the ell and brick piers underneath the porch along the south elevation. Granite blocks are laid with a grapevine mortar joint between the piers. This same detail is found on the south porch and on the ell's west end. Windows are predominantly two-over-two wood double-hung with exterior storm windows, trimmed with flush wood surrounds, with a drip molding across the top, and plain wood sills. All outside corners are finished in flat corner boards with caps converging on a three-quarter round molding at the outside edge. Comer boards run from the top of the drip edge above the sill to the underside of the tall flat cornice under the eave. While the bay windows are roofed in wood shingles the rest of the house and its porches have metal roofs. Two stone interior chimneys with corbelled caps, one on the ell and one on the south end of the main block, serve seven fireplaces.
The balanced three-bay facade faces east and is dominated by a full-facade single-story hipped roof porch with a central single-bay front-gabled second-story porch. The roof of the single-story porch is supported by square wood columns on square wood bases with molding. While these columns are modem replacements, the original chamfered pilasters remain. The porch is finished in tongue-and-groove wood flooring and a bead-board wood ceiling. Under the protection of the porch is a center single-leaf paneled and glazed wood entry door with rectangular transom, and a single window to each side of the door. Between square columns of the second-story porch is a simple railing with square balusters. The gable is finished in vertical bead-board siding with a centered louvered gable vent consisting of two narrow round-arched vents protected by a drip mold. As below, the porch roof protects a paneled and gazed door with transom leading from the second-floor hall to the porch. A tall flat cornice board runs below the facade's eave and returns on the gable ends of the main block. The side (north and south) elevations of the main block are identical with a bay window on the first story, a centered window in the second floor and a gable finished in vertical bead-board siding with a centered gable vent.
The two-story ell projects off the southwest corner of the main block. A single-story L-shaped porch (enclosed in the 1920s) fills the inside comer created by the main block and the ell. This hipped-roof enclosed porch repeats the comer board details found on the main block. On its north elevation is a smaller two-over-two double-hung window, believed to be added when the porch was enclosed. The enclosed porch's west elevation has one two-over-two double-hung window in its north/south leg. This window was most likely originally on the first story on the rear (west) elevation of the house and moved to the outside wall when the porch was enclosed. On the west elevation of the east/west leg is a smaller, fixed window with recently installed stained glass. On the rear (west) elevation of the main block the tall cornice board is repeated under the eave and above the single-story enclosed porch are two-over-two double-hung windows. These details are carried around to the north elevation of the ell, where a small twoover-two double hung window is on the first story and three two-over-two double-hung windows are located on the second-story. The end gable located on the west elevation of the ell is finished in weatherboard siding and void of the decoration found on the front and side gables of the main block. On the south side of the ell is a single-story hipped-roof porch that runs the length of the ell and ends at the bay window on the south elevation of the main block. This elevation also repeats the tall cornice board under the eave that is found on the main block and the north elevation of the ell. At the west end of the porch is an enclosed storage room, accessed from the porch through a paneled wood door on the room's east elevation. The storage room's small window on its west elevation is partially obscured by the metal shed roof of a small grade-level enclosed room attached to the storage room's west elevation. This enclosed room with exposed rafter tails is entered through a paneled wood door on its south elevation. A wide set of wooden steps under a shed roof with chamfered posts and an exposed roof system rise from the west to the east, terminating at the west end of a porch with a slab floor supported by a granite foundation wall and sheltered by a shed roof supported by square chamfered wood posts. The porch floor and roof match those of the porch on the facade, the porch ceiling is flush. A paneled and glazed wood door with transom lead from the porch to the living room at the east end of the ell and a second, shorter paneled and glazed wood door leads to the mudroom inside the west end of the ell. Between these two doors are paired two-over-two double-hung windows. Above the porch in the second story are three two-over-two double-hung windows.
Interior: The interior is a typical 1-house plan with a wide center hall flanked by a room on each side, in this case a parlor to the south and a dining room to the north. To the west beyond the dining room and center hall is an L-shaped kitchen in the enclosed rear porch. After the porch was enclosed in the 1920s it was divided into three small rooms, one of which was a bathroom. These changes have been removed within the last five years and the porch, while still enclosed, is now one room that serves as the kitchen. To the west (rear) of the parlor is the living room, with a small laundry room and bathroom beyond in the west end of the ell. A door on the north wall of the parlor leads to a closet under the stair, as does a door on the east wall of the living room located on the north side of the fireplace.
A quarter-tum stair with closed balustrade rises to the south along the west wall of the center hall
to a landing, then turns to the east and rises to the second-floor hall. The second-floor hall runs in a north/south direction with a bedroom at each end and a third bedroom off the west side of the hall. A door leads from the hall to the second-story porch on the fa9ade. On the west side of the intermediate stair landing is a door that leads to a short flight of stairs rising to the west to the master bedroom and bathroom, located in the second floor of the ell The chimney that serves the fireplaces in the south bedroom and the master bedroom is enclosed between the west and east walls of these rooms respectively. The balance of the space between these two walls provides a closet for each room, accessed by a closet door on the south side of the fireplace in the master bedroom and the same on the north side of the fireplace in the south bedroom.
The floor, wall, and ceiling finishes of the house are for the most part original, although some significant deterioration has occurred due to water damage, resulting in the replacement of some finishes. Original flooring exists throughout the majority of the house. Original random-width pine floors are in the center hall, the living room, and the new laundry room and bathroom in the western end of the ell. The parlor floors were significantly deteriorated and had to be removed. Plywood subfloor has been installed and new pine flooring that matches the pine flooring in other areas of the house will be installed in this room. The dining room floors are oak over pine, and new pine floors exist throughout the kitchen. Original pine floors are throughout the second floor. The original plaster walls with horse hair remain in the center hall, dining room, kitchen, living room, stairway walls, and second-floor bedrooms and bathroom. The parlor walls are sheetrock. Original plaster ceilings remain in the center hall, living room, laundry room and bathroom, and upstairs bedrooms and bathroom. The plaster ceilings in the parlor, dining room, upstairs master bedroom and bathroom in the ell were deteriorated beyond repair and have been replaced with bead-board ceilings. The bead-board ceiling in the kitchen (former porch) is original The plaster medallion in the center hall is original The medallions in the parlor and dining room have been added.
The interior doors and the majority of the woodwork are also original Tall wood baseboards with small cap mold are intact throughout all rooms. The original bead-board wainscot remains in the center hall and dining room, with the original chair rail in the center hall and a new chair rail in the dining room. (The original dining room chair rail was removed years ago when the walls were covered with sheets of (paneling.) The walls in the north part of the kitchen have retained their horizontal bead-board paneling. The center hall door openings are trimmed with original molded door casings, plinth blocks, and bulls-eye comer blocks. The door casings in this space are interrupted by a molded block installed as part of the casing where the chair rail butts into the side of the casing. Throughout the rest of the house the door and window casings are flat and void of plinth and comer blocks. The one exception is the door casing and comer blocks at the door leading from the living room to the side porch. In this case the casings are fluted and the comer blocks are much smaller with stars, most likely a later addition. In rooms where wood ceilings have been installed a new dentilled crown has been added to conceal the joint between the walls and the ceiling. The interior doors are original four- raised-panel doors. Most of the door hardware is original, including the hinges. The front door and master bedroom door are both hung with German hinges. Rectangular transoms are located over the doors leading from the center hall to the dining room and kitchen, and from the kitchen to the living room.
Throughout the Clough H. Rice House are seven fireplaces with original stone hearths and fireboxes, and mantels with capped flat pilasters. The most elaborate mantel is in an unusual location, the center hall, and displays its original over-mantel. The mantel shelf is supported by paneled and chamfered pilasters. The other six fireplaces are located in the dining room, parlor, living room, master bedroom, and north and south second-floor bedrooms; each has a plain mantel shelf supported by sawn brackets in pairs at the first floor mantels and single brackets at the second floor mantels.
The interior stair in the center hall is highlighted by a square newel post finished in bead-board paneling with applied diamond-shaped wood moldings on the sides of the post. The post is capped by stacked graduated square wood blocks. Bead-board wainscot runs along the stair on the adjacent west and south walls. The solid bead-board balustrade is capped with a rounded handrail. While the actual date of the newel post and balustrade are unknown, they are not believed to be original to the center hall. The stair itself is finished with stained treads and painted risers.
Statement of Integrity: The Clough H. Rice House is a well-preserved example of a late nineteenth-century rural 1-house in Henderson County. When the present owners purchased the house it was significantly deteriorated due to water damage. The restoration has been undertaken with great respect for the repair and preservation of original materials and is in keeping with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. The original interior plan has also been kept intact while incorporating modem conveniences, such as additional bathrooms and a modem kitchen, into earlier spaces. Overall a significant degree of architectural integrity has been retained.
Archaeological Potential: The structure is closely related to the surrounding environment. Archaeological remains, such as trash pits, wells, and structural remains which may be present, can provide information valuable to the understanding and interpretation of the structure. Information concerning patterns of land use, social standing and mobility, as well as structural details, is often only evident in the archaeological record. Therefore, archaeological remains may well be an important component of the significance of the structure. At this time no investigation has been done to discover these remains, but it is likely that they exist, and this should be considered in any development of the property.
783 North Main Street
The Waverly, a three-story frame Queen Anne style inn, sits on a narrow city lot at 783 North Main Street, on the west side of the street just north of the Claddagh Inn and separated from that inn by a paved parking lot that the two inns share. The handsome building was erected shortly after 1898 as a two-and-a-half story hotel with a one-story porch. Following a fire about 1910 that did extensive roof damage, the walls were extended up to create a third story, where the multiple dormered windows had been, and the original deck on hip roof with its two projecting interior brick chimneys was repaired. At this time, a second story porch was added above the main facade porch in the same gay Queen Anne design.
With the exception of the c. 1940 addition of a one-story frame wing containing four additional guest rooms; an upstairs bath added outside the main block above this wing; the removal of the railing around the roof deck and on the south side or the porch; and the enclosure of the porch bay adjacent to the dining room wing, the exterior of the Waverly has undergone no changes since the post-fire remodeling and is in remarkably pristine condition. The inn rests on a high quarried stone basement, is covered in plain siding, and has a pressed tin roof on the main block and porches. Windows are one-over-one sash with wide plain surrounds with a molded drip cap. Those on the main facade have louvered shutters (replacements of earlier louvered shutters). The main entrance, in the center bay or the main (east) elevation, is the original double paneled and glazed door, set in an ornamental surround with fluted pilasters with applied floral jigsawn trim and a central jigsawn impost block with an applied three-leaf clover motif on the lintel over the door. The first story porch wraps around the north side to a one-story dining room wing. The central bay is pedimented, with paired turned posts with quarter-fan shaped brackets, and at the corners the posts are tripled. The entire porch has a railing with turned balusters and plain rails. The second story porch, three bays wide, echos the main porch. Above the main entrance, a single door with a transom and sidelights opens out onto the second story porch.
The interior of the Waverly is equally well-preserved. On the first floor, rooms are arranged around a wide center hall with an arched spindle screen opening into the cross hall, which angles to the south, housing a magnificent Eastlake style stair, which rises against the back wall of the transverse hall in two flights with a landing. The dark stained balustrade has pointed arch motifs on top of turned spindles, with massive square newel posts with intricate moldings and a turned ball termination. The closed string is decorated with latticework panels. Beneath the staircase is the original registration desk. The parlor is located in the north front corner, and the dining room is behind it. Twenty-one guest rooms, with seventeen bathrooms, are located on the south side of the first floor, off the wide center hall on the second floor and third floor, and in the added rear wing. All of the original symmetrically molded door surrounds, similar to that of the front door, survive, and vary slightly on each floor. The first floor door surrounds have corner blocks with triangular caps with circular and fleur-de-lis applied motifs, the second floor has simpler versions of the first floor, and the third floor has bullseye corner blocks. Doors are original, with five raised panels and transoms. Several of the first floor rooms are connected with pocket doors. The original bathrooms are located at the rear of the second and third floor halls, but on the second floor a bath has been added in each guest room. On the third floor, each original large guest room has been subdivided into two smaller guest rooms. The weather lock at the hall entrance, the halls and stairs, and the dining room all display narrow beaded, vertical beard wainscotting. All rooms are furnished with molded baseboards and picture rails. Guest rooms have secondary louvered doors. Rooms adjacent to the two chimneys have coal fireplaces with simple bracketed late Victorian mantels. The parlor mantel is embellished with colonnettes. The fireplace covers are brass.
On January 1, 1898, J. F. Maloney and wife J. T. sold the less than one acre lot in Hendersonville to Maggie Anderson for $5,375.00 (Henderson County Deed Book 38, p. 50). She constructed the building soon afterward, calling it the Anderson Boarding House. Sometime after 1910, the upper one-and-a-half stories were damaged by fire. The repairs changed the Waverly to its current appearance. A documentary shows the hotel as originally 2½ stories with a row of gabled dormers circling the hipped roof and a single tier porch. The Anderson Boarding House became the Waverly before 1915, since the Hendersonville city directory of that year lists it by that name at 783 N. Main Street.
On November 26, 1926, Maggie Anderson sold half interest in the property to her sister, Bessie A. Egerton. The sisters were among the numerous victims of the Depression, losing the hotel on the courthouse steps on February 1, 1930. It was bought by the Vacar Realty Company of Richmond, Virginia for $10,000.00. Four years later on September 22, 1934, this same company sold it back to Maggie Anderson and Bessie Egerton. George B. Killen and wife Louise bought the Waverly for $10.00 and the assumption of an $8,200.00 note held by The Home Owners' Loan Corporation on June 26, 1938. The Waverly had several subsequent owners, one of which, M. U. McCurry, also owned Chewning House, which is located next door and separated by a parking lot. The current owner, John S. Sheiry, Jr., bought the property on June 13, 1988. He continues the Waverly's tradition of service as an inn to visitors and residents of Hendersonville.
(Excerpts from the National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form 12.28.88)
541 Blythe Street
The house was built in 1935. Erle Stillwell lived in the house until his death in 1978. Since that time some cosmetic changes, including the addition of carpeting, interior storm windows, and the removal of the mantel shelf in the living room, took place. No structural changes have taken place in the house since its construction. The current owners have restored original floor finishes, renovated the kitchen (in the style of the period), and are in the process of restoring all windows.
The Erle Stillwell House located at 541 Blythe Street is significant for its association with prominent Henderson County and North Carolina architect Erle Stillwell. It serves as an intact representation of an architect's residence, exhibiting a high degree of craftsmanship and design detail. It is also significant for the time period it represents, clearly a definitive phase in the career of Stillwell.
Stillwell began work in Hendersonville in 1905, confining most of his work through the 1920s to Hendersonville and Henderson County. The Depression brought with it changes for Stillwell's practice, with a clear delineation between his earlier work then and his later work from the 1930s through the 1970s. During that period, Stillwell continued some work in Henderson County but also designed numerous projects all over the state, including theaters, schools, residences, churches and civic buildings. This house is also associated with Stillwell in the time he was a founding partner in the Asheville firm Six Associates, Inc.
The Earl Stillwell house is located at 541 Blythe Street, at the western edge of the city limits of Hendersonville. It is set within a heavily wooded lot at the corner of Blythe and Iowa Street, facing south towards Iowa Street. Notable landscape features include the rock work retaining walls along Iowa Street, slate paths, and the original patio extending along the full width of the rear facade with a curvilinear retaining wall.
The one-story Craftsman style brick house, with some Tudor Revival and Classical detailing, was built in 1935 by Stillwell as his second residence in Hendersonville. The house has an irregular floor plan, primarily an inverted U-shape with an attached garage on the west and a large wing to the northeast. Architectural features of the exterior include a multi-gable roof, multi-light casement windows, brick quoins, and a prominent recessed entry porch with a series of heavy-timbered arches projecting to the front and curved rafters. There is a one-story frame outbuilding, ca. 1940, at the northwest corner of the property, which, according to the current owner, was Erle Stillwell's workshop.
The interior of the house is comprised of a living room, kitchen, two baths, three bedrooms (one of which was formerly a den adjoining the former maid's room), a study (former maid's bedroom), attached garage, and basement. It exhibits a high degree of craftsmanship and architectural detail, much like Stillwell's first house. While not documented at the present time, it contains many details similar to the work of Hendersonville builder Albert Drake, who built several houses in the 1930s and 1940s in the Craftsman style. A main hallway runs east-west all along the front of the house, with a secondary hall running north-south on the east side. Windows are multi-light casement, deeply recessed, with slate sills. Doors are two-panel with original hardware, floors are pegged oak tongue and groove, and walls and ceilings are plaster. Notable features include the wavy plaster ceiling, knotty pine paneling, built-in shelves, and original granite fireplace surround with cast iron doors in the living room, original light fixtures, and the v-board front door with cast iron viewfinder.
The neighborhood where Stillwell built his two houses is located west of downtown Hendersonville. It was developed in the mid-1920s and was platted as Pinecrest, but Stillwell bought a large lot there previous to this in 1920, which extended from Pinecrest Street on the north to Iowa Street on the south. He built his first home in Hendersonville on the northern half of this lot in 1926. The Stillwell house which is part of this local designation report is the second home designed and built by Stillwell, in 1935, also as his own residence. Stillwell served as Hendersonville's primary architect beginning in 1905. He lived in his first house from 1926 to 1931, the time period when he designed many significant buildings, primarily in Hendersonville and Henderson County. He lost this house in the Depression but never sold the southern portion of the lot, where he later built the house at 541 Blythe Street.
Erle Gulick Stillwell was born in Hannibal, Missouri on August 29, 1885, the son of Amos John Stillwell and Frances Anderson Stillwell. He attended the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, and then studied at the University of North Carolina, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his academic studies, Stillwell traveled extensively in England, Scotland, France, Italy, and Greece. He visited Hendersonville in 1905 and decided to stay. In 1907 in Hendersonville, he married Eva Douglas Smith. Eva Smith was the daughter of William A. Smith, the developer of Laurel Park just outside the city limits of Hendersonville. In 1916 Stillwell opened an architecture practice. He became a member of the American Institute of Architects in 1916, and served as Treasurer/Secretary of the North Carolina Chapter from 1917 to 1921, and again from 1934 to 1937. Stillwell also served as president of the North Carolina Chapter from 1922 to 1923, and again from 1942 to 1944. In 1942, he became a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects. Stillwell continued in private practice until 1942, when he became a founding partner in the Asheville-based firm, Six Associates. Only the larger firms were being granted government work at the time, so Stillwell joined with Charles E. Waddell, a civil engineer, and architects Henry Irven Gaines, Anthony Lord, William W. Dodge, and Stewart Rogers to form the company. The company was, and still is, located near Biltmore between Asheville and Hendersonville on Highway 25. Stillwell continued for thirty years as part of Six Associates, retiring in 1971. In addition to his architecture practice, Stillwell was an active member of St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville, along with several clubs including the Masonic lodge, the country club, and the Kiwanis Club. Eva Stillwell died on November 12, 1971 and Erle Stillwell died on October 22, 1978.
Erle Stillwell's early practice of architecture took place during one of the most economically rich times in the history of Hendersonville. Among his clients were some of the most prominent businessmen and women in the city. In Hendersonville and the surrounding area, Stillwell designed the Michael Schenk House (ca. 1910), an addition to Rosa Edwards School (1912), the Queen Theater (1915), a bungalow for Dr. J. L. Egerton (1917), the Kantrowitz bungalow (1917), St. James Episcopal Church (ca. 1917-1919), the Gillican Residence (1919), the F. A. Ewbank Residence (1920), the Brownlow Jackson Building (ca. 1920; 1926), First Bank and Trust Company (1922), State Trust and Citizen's Bank (1923), First Baptist Church (1923), Hendersonville High School (1926), Blue Ridge School for Boys (1926), the A. Patterson Residence (1926), the A. A. McCall Residence (1926), alterations to the R. P. Freeze Residence (1926), bungalow for F. S. Wetmur (1926), Hendersonville City Hall (1927), Etowah Grade School (1927), Citizen's National Bank (1928), Edneyville Grade School (ca. 1920s), Flat Rock School (ca. 1920s), Fletcher Elementary School (ca. 1920s), Mills River District Public School (ca. 1920s), the Tuxedo School Building (ca. 1920s), W. M. Sherard Residence (ca. 1920s), the Hafford Jones Residence (date unknown), a showroom and service station for Hendersonville Brick Company (date unknown), the Ewbank & Ewbank office building (date unknown), a store building for Ewbank Brothers (date unknown), and the E. W. Ewbank Residence (date unknown).
The 541 Blythe Street house is more directly associated with the latter part of Stillwell's career, when he still worked some in Henderson County but also became active all through North Carolina and the southeast, especially in the design of numerous Art Deco and Art Nouveau theaters, and was a founding principal in the firm Six Associates, based in Asheville.
Since Stillwell's death, the property has changed hands several times. Stillwell willed the house to his niece, Helen G. Rake, and her husband Lorraine P. Rake. The Rakes sold the property on December 20,1978 to Jennifer F. McConnachie. Jennifer McConnachie sold the property to William H. and Joan L. Bell on June 1, 1979. The Bells sold the property on November 15, 1982 to Patrick L. McNutt. Patrick McNutt sold the property to David S. Cowan on June 26, 1986, and Janet and James Johnson bought the property from the Cowans in 1999.
(Excerpts from the Local Historic Property Designation Report 4.25.01)