INC NEWS - House move draws a crowd (Herald-Sun, Endangered Durham, ABC-11)

[John Schelp]

Tate House draws a crowd
By Monica Chen, Herald-Sun, 19 May 2008

It felt like half the Old West Durham neighborhood
came out to witness the move of the historic Tate
House on Sunday morning. 

There was John Schelp, the neighborhood organizer who
had sent an alert earlier that week for folks to keep
their cars clear of the area. There was Ellen
Dagenhart, president of Preservation Durham, who
snapped away shots of the century-old house as workers
prepared it for the move. 

And there were Charlie Delmar and Gary Ray, who camped
out in chairs with a table of cranberry juice and
baked goods between them, looking on at all the
commotion as Delmar's car blasted banjo renditions of
Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" from behind them. 

"This is the most documented move of a house ever,"
joked Gary Kueber. The blogger behind the
history-obsessed Endangered Durham Web log also came
with his camera to record the momentous event. 

CLICK HERE for video of house move...
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6150361


Because let's face it, how often do you see a
1,000-square-foot house get jacked up on steel beams
and wheels and get pulled up Ninth Street behind a
truck? 

The yellow and white Tate House, so named because its
first occupant was one W.G. Tate, is estimated to date
back to the 1920s, if not the turn of the century,
according to current owner John Martin. 

Before Martin, the house at 1704 Markham Ave. by the
Dollar General was owned by Jeff Monsein, owner of The
Aluminum Company of North Carolina. According to an
e-mail Schelp sent out that was documented on
Endangered Durham, the house had been approved for
demolition in 2007. 

But Monsein earlier this year offered the house up for
free to anyone willing to move it, along with $5,000
to help pay for the move. 

Enter Martin, who has experience with renovations and
happens to love old houses. 

"I teach history for a living and it seemed a shame to
lose the house," he said. 

After getting the OK from a number of city
departments, Martin paid $30,000 to Kountry Boys House
Moving & Recycling to move the house on Sunday. 

The first section with the kitchen moved without a
hitch around 8:30 a.m., but workers hit a snag with
the main body of the structure when a front wheel of
the truck backing it out of its lot fell into a ditch.


After an hour of jacking up the truck itself and
laying metal boards under the wheel, the house finally
began its three-fourths-of-a-mile journey west on
Markham Avenue, north on Ninth Street, then west on
Englewood Street and finally south on Edith Street to
its new home, nestled in the middle of other historic
homes. 

"It's all about context," Dagenhart said. "We wanted a
place where it would fit, in terms of shape and size.
With preservation, you don't want to put McMansions
where Victorians are." 

Along the way, workers crouched on the open top of the
house, pushing traffic lights, power lines and tree
branches out of the way. Taking advantage of a
beautiful sunny day, kids pedaled on bicycles and
adults out with their dogs walked alongside it. The
sight of a house slowly inching along also drew
surprised and curious stares from people enjoying
brunch at Elmo's Diner. 

PHOTO CAPTION: John Martin (second from right) makes a
toast after the historic Tate House was moved from
Markham Avenue to Edith Street in Old West Durham on
Sunday. The move drew quite a turnout. Martin plans to
renovate the house. (photo by Christine T. Nguyen)


Martin is planning to keep the existing windows,
doors, floors and woodwork in the house, and is
considering removing the yellow vinyl and taking it
back to wood siding. The house also only had one
bathroom. Martin will add a porch enclosure for an
additional bedroom, bathroom and breakfast area, he
said. 

Working with David Parker of Riverbank Custom Home
Builder on the renovations, Martin will also rebuild
the two chimneys in the house, which were dismantled
recently. The Tate House could nearly double in size
to about 1,900 square feet when all is said and done. 

At least one person watching the move on Sunday had
connections to the house. 

Billy Cotter, co-owner of the downtown restaurant
Toast, lived there off and on when he was a teenager,
he said. He split his time between his mother's place
in southern Durham and there, where his father lived. 

On Sunday, as Cotter looked on, old neighbors came up
to him and shared their memories of the good times had
there. 

"It takes a village to move a house," Schelp said. 


SEE GARY KUEBER'S photographs of the move here on
Endangered Durham...
http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2008/05/1704-markham-makes-its-move.html