Clairmont Drive – Druid Hills Historic District Walking or Driving Tour

Clairmont Drive – Druid Hills Historic District Walking or Driving Tour

Starting from the log cabin on Meadowbrook Terrace, go left. Take the right fork, up the hill on Clairmont Drive.

The historic neighborhood doesn’t start until the corner, but two of my favorite houses are not quite in the neighborhood.

Odd numbers are on the right. Even numbers are on the left.

1811 Clairmont Drive

This house was built in 1927 and there is no record that it was ever remodeled.

1749 Clairmont Drive

This house was built in 1943. The garage was added in 1945. There is no record that either was ever remodeled. I love this house.

Now you are in the historic neighborhood.

William M. Gregg House

1728 Clairmont Drive
Built approximately 1930s

One-story house with side gable roof and knee braces.
Eyebrow dormer over front door.
Walls are German siding.
Windows are six-over-one and four-over-one, mostly double and triple.
Stepped shoulder on chimney on north side.
Granite slab driveway and walkway.

The garage is also contributing and was built at the same time as the house.

The residents are artists and open their home and studio for the Artist Open Studio Tour of Henderson County.

Artist Open Studio Tour of Henderson County >

This is not a historic house

Doesn’t it look like a historic house? It is a modular. Really! We watched a crane set this house down.

Garland model by Palm Harbor Homes >
The floor plan and more information about the Garland Modular Home >

James T. Fain House

1721 Clairmont Drive
Built approximately 1925

Unusual vernacular Bungalow style one-story house with eyebrow dormers and French doors on either side of a front chimney opening onto a front patio.
Walls are the original lapped wood siding.
Clipped gable roof.
Wing on the north side.
Windows are two-over-two, and front doors are the French doors with sidelights.
Walkway and stairs lead to the recessed entry at the northeast corner of the house.

James T. Fain   was probably the first owner of the house. He was an editor with the Hendersonville Times-News.

This house was absolutely falling down. Someone bought it and completely restored it.
The people that live there now drive a DeLorian.

The one-story gable roof Garage was built at the same time.

Lillian B. Gulledge House

1717 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

This house is considered non-contributing because they enclosed the front porch. The house used to be red brick when I moved here. I was kinda horrified when I saw they were painting the brick. But, when they were finished, it made the house look better.

One-story bungalow with a hip roof, brick veneer walls, and one-over-one windows.

Lillian B. Gulledge, widow of James Gulledge, a bank president for State Trust Company, is believed to be the first owner, living in the house from ca. 1927 to 1990.

Susan Patton Shepherd House

1711 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

One and one-half story bungalow with a cross gable roof, knee braces, and German siding.
Hip roof on rear portion of house.
Full width attached porch has fluted square posts on wood piers which are covered with German siding.
Solid balustrade covered with German siding.
Windows are four vertical-over-one, and the multi-light front door has sidelights.

Mrs. Susan Patton Shepherd, widow of Milas Monroe Shepherd, bought this house for $3,300 in 1930 for herself and her children. The original owners were summer residents from South Carolina. M. M. Shepherd was the owner of one of the earliest general stores on Main Street and was mayor of Hendersonville from 1913 to 1915. The Baker photo studio was located on the second floor. M. M. Shepherd died November 21, 1929.

The garage apartment in the back was built at the same time.

Ella Ross House

1704 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

One-story bungalow with a hip roof and a basement level at the rear.
Wing at the rear projects to the northeast.
Engaged wraparound porch has a projecting front gable over the entry area.
Porch details include square posts on brick piers and a simple balustrade.
Wood siding on the upper level, brick on the basement level walls.
Front gable end at the porch has paneled v-boards, possibly a replacement of the original.
Windows are six-over-one and the front door is six-light-over-panel.

Miss Gladys Ross and Ella Ross, widow of Henry C. Ross, lived in this house from 1937 through 1944. Gladys Ross continued to live in the house through at least 1949.

Campbell L. Boyd House

1516 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

Two-story Tudor Revival with a side gable roof and a sweeping front-gable-roof projecting bay at the west entry corner.
One-story wing on the east side was originally an open porch, now enclosed.
A one-story garage wing is on the west.
Two-story wing at the rear.
Windows are double and triple six-over-six and the front door is arched.

Campbell L. Boyd, owner of Boyd’s Service Station, and wife Helen M. lived here from 1941 until at least 1949.

This is where the Little Library is.

Little Library on Clairmont Drive >

Leslie K. Singley House

1649 Kensington Road
Built by 1926

Spanish Colonial Revival style two-story house with a hip roof covered in tile.
Attached one-story garage with a tile roof on the south side.
Walls are stucco, windows are eight-over-eight double hung, and multi-light casement.
Arched front doorway with tile roof.
One-story attached porch with a tile roof on the north side with a fanlight over the porch windows.

House was occupied by Leslie K. Singley, high school principal and wife Mildred P. Singley from 1937 to 1944. The Ethelbert H. King family lived in the house in the late 1940s. King was a salesman.

This house was so sad when I moved here. You could see where there were holes in the roof and the big arched window was broken. I saw someone working on it and he told me the house was purchased by a woman from New York. He repaired the window and they put on a new roof.

Can you tell? The roof is metal. Then nothing happened. No changes. I wondered whatever happened.

Well what happened is the woman vanished! Finally, seven years later, her heirs sold the house. A neighbor bought it and completely restored it.

More about the Leslie K. Singley House, Druid Hills >
Photos of the restoration and more about the people who used to live in the house >

Sherwood Hodson House

212 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

Two-story bungalow with a cross gable roof-line and exposed rafter ends.
Attached front porch at the northeast corner of the house with square columns.
Porch has had screen added.
Windows are triple, six-over-one.

Mrs. Irene Hodson, widow of Sherwood Hodson, was listed as living her in 1941 to 1942.
Benjamin J. and Jane G. Roe lived here from 1945 until at least 1949.

The two-story, hip roof garage with casement windows is also a contributing structure. It was built at least by 1954, but was probably added soon after the main house was completed.

Thomas D. Hunter, Jr. House

205 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

One-story at front, two-story at rear house with a side gable roof.
Projecting front gable wing at the southwest corner.
Recessed entry is at the southeast corner.

Thomas D. Hunter, owner of Hunter Chevrolet, and wife Mary lived here from 1941 to at least 1949.

Crawford A. Smith House

121 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

Unusual Spanish Eclectic style one-story plus basement house with a flat, parapet roof.
Front “facade” wall of protruding brick, with two arched openings.
An arched multi-light door framed by arched multi-light windows opens onto the patio inside the screened porch.
Arched, double, three-vertical-over-one windows on the front facade wall.
Rear of house is covered with a rough-textured stucco.
Front door is multi-light over panel.

Crawford A. Smith, a traveling salesman, and wife Mary lived here from 1941 to 1946. Beginning in 1948, Hugh Eady and wife Louisa lived here. Mrs. Eady was a nurse.

Cebrun D. Weeks House

115 Clairmont Drive
Built approximately 1925

Two-story plus basement Tudor Revival house with a steeply pitched hip and clipped gable roof.
Projecting pyramidal roof wing at the southwest corner, and a front gable roof over the front entry.
Pyramidal roof dormer on the southeast corner.
Brick veneer walls.
Patio wraps around the house at the southwest side, with a tile floor and brick balustrade.
Windows are multi-light casement, and doors are multi-light over v-boards.
Central brick walkway to the front door.

Cebrun D. Weeks, of Ewbank, Whitmore and Weeks, and wife Anne lived in this house from at least 1926 until 1944. They were probably the original owners of the house.
Dr. Cecil G. and Donna Stillinger lived here from 1945 to 1946.
Henry H. and Laura B. Meares lived here in 1948 to 1949.

Robert D. Suttenfield House

112 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926

One-story-plus-attic Tudor Revival house with a steeply pitched clipped gable roof.
Pyramidal roof dormers face the west and north sides of the house and a sweeping front gable bay projects from the house at the northwest corner.
Front entry is through an arched opening in this projecting bay.
Windows are four-over-four. Walls are brick veneer.

Robert D. Suttenfield, an employee with Southern Bell, and wife Kathryn D. lived here from 1941 until at least 1949.

Scott J. Hunter House

Forget-me-Not Florist
104 Clairmont Drive
Built by 1926.

Four-square style two-story house with a hip roof, wide overhanging eaves, and a hip roof dormer on the north side.
One-story wing on the south side.
Windows are four-vertical-over-one.

Scott J. Hunter, a part-time resident of Greensboro, NC, lived here from 1941 to 1942.
From 1945 to at least 1949, Marion L. Walker, manager of Walker Hardware Company, lived here.