Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House

Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House
Front and northeastern side
Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House is located in North Carolina
Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House
Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House is located in the United States
Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House
Location619 S. Main St., Salisbury, North Carolina
Coordinates35°39′44.6″N 80°28′32.9″W / 35.662389°N 80.475806°W / 35.662389; -80.475806
Area0.378 acres (0.153 ha)
Built1897
Architectural styleSecond Empire
NRHP reference No.14000264[1]
Added to NRHPMay 22, 2014

Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House is a historic home located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. It is a three-story, three-bay by four-bay, Second Empire-style dwelling with some Colonial Revival features, faced with rusticated granite. It has a rounded corner tower and a steep, concave, mansard roof sheathed in decorative slate shingles. Also on the property is a one-story, granite-veneered brick outbuilding believed to have been the kitchen.[2]

History

Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless

Napoleon B. McCanless (1851 Gold Hill, Rowan Co. – 1920 Salisbury) was a prominent entrepreneur in the region, president of the Halifax Cotton Mill Co., and held interests in agriculture, manufacturing, construction, banking, and mining (the granite used for the house's facing representing his involvement in the last).[2][3][4] Other commercial projects he was involved with in and around Salisbury include Vance Cotton Mill, Kesler Cotton Mill, North Side Cotton Mill, the Doggin (or Coggin) Mines Co., Yadkin Finishing Co., Harris Granite Co., Salisbury Savings Bank, Peoples National Bank (later Security Bank and Trust), Salisbury Electric Light & Street Railway Co., Salisbury–Monroe Railroad, the Washington Building, Central Hotel, and the Empire Hotel, among various other businesses.[2][3][5]

His home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.[1]

In June 2019, Historic Salisbury Foundation purchased the house for $160,000 from Livingstone College, which had once planned to use the house for a culinary school later housed at a former Holiday Inn.[2] It was one of four remaining significant houses on South Main Street. The house had been worked on for a restaurant by a series of owners, before the college, in what has been described as "an aborted remodeling effort" that may have done more harm than good[2] The by time of the foundation's purchase, it was in poor shape and cleanup work would be needed before another restoration.[6] Plans for that work seem not to have come to fruition, as the foundation put the property up for sale for $225,000 in "as-is" condition in 2021.[7]

In January 2021, Historic Salisbury Foundation entered (despite efforts to sell the property) into a three-year partnership with the Ghost Guild, a registered nonprofit organization that investigates alleged ghost sightings, to explore reports of unexplained activity in and around the property. The Ghost Guild says it examines the Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House several times per year and presents its findings as part of the Historic Salisbury Foundation's annual October Tour.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties. National Park Service. May 30, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e Phillips, Laura A. W. (November 25, 2013). "Registration Form: McCanless, Napoleon Bonaparte, House" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior. Retrieved October 15, 2024 – via North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.
  3. ^ a b Young, Diane M. (October 29, 2004). "Registration Form: McCanless, Walter, House" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior. Retrieved October 15, 2024 – via North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.
  4. ^ History of North Carolina. Vol. IV. Lewis Publishing. 1919. p. 135.
  5. ^ Lilly-Bowyer, Karen C.; Meyers, Sean (April 2021). "A man and his house: Enterprising Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless built a legacy worthy of his name". Salisbury: The Magazine. Retrieved October 15, 2024 – via Issuu.com.
  6. ^ Wineka, Mark (June 20, 2019). "Historic Salisbury Foundation becomes proud owner of Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House". Salisbury Post. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  7. ^ Bowers, Michelle (February 20, 2021). "Historic House Listings: The Napoleon Bonaparte McCanless House, Circa 1896. One acre in North Carolina. $225,000". The Old House Life.
  8. ^ "Historic Salisbury Foundation". TheGhostGuild.com. The Ghost Guild Inc. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2024.

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