Historic Graham house set to be demolished

Three University presidents, a former U.S. senator and even a semi-pornographic film have had a home at 115 Battle Lane in the last 100 years.

Edward Kidder Graham, the ninth president of the University, built the two-story colonial-inspired house in 1908 while he was an English professor.

More than a century later, the house is condemned and set to be demolished in September.

“If the termites let go of their hands, this place would fall down,” said Ernest Dollar, executive director of the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill.

The demolition order comes from the Chapel Hill Historic District Commission and is part of a 2006 town ordinance known as demolition by neglect. It was created to require owners to either fix their buildings or to tear them down.

The Graham house has become a death trap, Dollar said.

A tarp covers a massive bay window, plywood and a bicycle lock serve as a front door, and a once-graceful staircase is infested with termites.

The local preservation society and Preservation North Carolina have searched since 2007 for a preservation-conscious buyer to bring the house to the historic district’s standards, said Cathleen Turner, regional director of Preservation N.C.

Preservationists are fighting to save it because of its ties to the University’s history, she said.

“There is a great tradition of wonderful North Carolinians who went through those doors,” Turner said.

The house is owned by Sherman Richardson. He was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Graham is credited with attracting liberal professors to enlighten the South and with spreading education across the state, Dollar said.

Frank Porter Graham, Edward Kidder Graham’s cousin, the 11th president of the University and a U.S. Senator, lived in the house until he finished law school in 1909, along with roommate and future University President Kemp Battle.

Edward Kidder Graham and his family moved out in 1914 when he became president of the University. Dollar said the house stayed in Graham’s family until the University bought it and rented it to Alpha Gamma Delta sorority in the 40s.

Jean Snyder Hicks, who lived in the house as a sorority member from 1946-1948, remembers sitting on the front porch with dates and singing rush songs about the house.

“At the time we had no idea about the background of the house and who had lived there,” she said.

A 1948 fire led to the University selling the house, and it was in the hands of one private owner for 50 years. Richardson bought the house in 1998.

Relatives of Graham and the University have shown no interest in saving the house, said Dollar.

The University has acquired other historic properties, like the Love House on Battle Lane. But Wendy Hillis, UNC’s historic preservation architect, said the University does not plan to buy the Graham house.

“The Edward Kidder Graham house is just way too much money. There also isn’t a use for a space like that,” Hillis said.

The house is listed for about $850,000 and Dollar estimates restoration costs of $720,000. After state tax credits for upkeep of historical property, he said the total price is comparable to other houses in the Rosemary-Franklin historic district. A similar house on nearby Senlac Road recently sold for $2.2 million dollars, Dollar said.

“It is right across the street from where the University began,” Turner said. “It could be a wonderful home once again.”

Since its efforts to find a preservation-conscious buyer, Dollar has showed the house to about 15 interested buyers.

Dollar said he will remain hopeful until the bulldozers roll down Battle Lane.

“This house has dodged many bullets, but September is its last one.”



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.