Patterson-Palmer House, Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina
This description is largely from the notes available at the Historic American Building Survey (HABS).
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| Front Elevation (HABS photo) |
Prints of the architectural plans are available at the Historic American Homes eBay store.
The wood and brick Palmer House (before 1800), in Orange County, North
Carolina, resembles the Williamsburg houses. Its interior is spacious
and elegant.Unlike the typical southern plan with a central hall stretching from front to back of the house, it has an unusual lateral front hall. Built over a brick
raised basement the house itself is wood framed with clapboard siding.
The principal floor has two large rooms and a small room, in addition to
the large entry hall. The attic with dormers is at present two large
rooms.
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| Entry Hall (HABS photo) |
There are some indications that the house may not be all of a piece and may have been enlarged once, with the south-east portion being the older part. Built over a full basement constructed of brick, the main body of the house is a braced timber frame. There are two brick chimneys.
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| Main Floor Plan - Patterson-Palmer House |
The plans divide simply, with two principal rooms on each floor.
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| Attic Floor Plan - Patterson-Palmer House |
For those of you interested in building a historically inspired house, these plans could easily be adapted to a flat to moderately sloping site. The first floor could be arranged a number of ways, depending on your needs. The small room could serve as a kitchen alcove off of a family room. Or it could be kept separate and used as a small first floor bedroom. The attic could comfortably accommodate 2 bedrooms and 1 to 2 bathrooms. On a sloping site a ‘walk out’ basement could provide additional living space. Its exterior dimensions measure roughly 34’x45’-6”. This compact, efficient house, with the appearance of being a single story, would be equally comfortable in town, suburb or country setting.
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| Building Section - Patterson-Palmer House |
Printed copies of the HABS plans are available at my eBay store.
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| Details - Patterson-Palmer House |
The first purchaser of the lot was Francis Nash, a Revolutionary War hero. Nash, a lawyer, rose to the rank of brigadier General during the war and died on October 7, 1777, from wounds he received at the Battle of Germantown, on October 4th. The towns of Nashville, TN and Nashville, NC, as well as Nash County, NC were named in his honor.
Other prominent North Carolinians associated with the home were James Patterson, William Waters, James Palmer, and Peter Mallett. Behind the house there were various buildings including a grist mill and a saw mill and the area was known for a time as "Mallett's Old Mill". By 1924 all those buildings had disappeared.
I found this photo dating from around 1900, of the river and one of the old mill buildings, at this site.
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| Eno River at Mallett's Old Mill |
Prints of the architectural plans are available at the Historic American Homes eBay store.
