In 1899, prosperous saloon owner J. W. Hamill moved a small, one-story weatherboard 1891 home from the front to the rear of this lot, where it still stands today. In its place, he built a much larger Italianate home with steep Victorian front and side gables and a wraparound front porch. The larger home was divided into apartments in 1967 with seven small rooms located one after the other in the central hall.
The home’s current owner, Historic Salisbury Foundation, commissioned a top-to-bottom rehabilitation in September 2008. The home’s original heart of pine floors were saved except for the hall, which is 200-year-old cypress from a demolished New Orleans home. Floors throughout were raised, leveled and stabilized. Many of the deteriorated double-hung windows were rehabbed for a new life of service. Rooms include a kitchen with new ceramic tile floor and new painted cabinets; a back bedroom; a hall bath in black and white tile with original footed tub; a dining room; a formal parlor with original pine mantle; master bedroom with new full bath, a sunroom; an office with its original pine mantle; a side porch and a restabilized 1950s carport. The highly decorative front doors were salvaged from the house next door after a 1992 fire.
This is a must-see rehabilitation that exemplifies the mission of Historic Salisbury Foundation. Like the McCubbins-McCanless House from the 2006 OctoberTour, this home is for sale.