Houston-Redfearn House – 506 S. Church Street 1874

Photo by Tim Buchman for Preservation North Carolina

“The earliest portion of this house was apparently constructed ca. 1874 by B. F. Houston (1821-1897), a prominent Monroe businessman and early land 
developer, probably in the Italianate style. At the time of his death in 1897, Houston was no longer living in the house, which he willed to his daughter Mary Houston Redfearn, wife of Randolph Redfearn (1865-1932), a businessman and real estate developer. 

Elizabeth Lingo Grey Houston 1785-1842
Mother of Benjamin F. Houston

Randolph Redfearn 1865-1932

The Redfearns, who were married in 1887, may have been living in the house when it was remodeled in 1892. They certainly were responsible for remodeling and expanding the house about 1905. The earliest portion of the house appears to have been a T or L-shaped, two-story frame Italianate house with a hipped-roofed, single-pile front section and hipped rear ell.

“The cornices on the south elevation retain their Italianate brackets. With the 1905 remodeling came a full-width, colossal portico with widely-spaced, fluted Corinthian columns set on brick pedestals. Centered in the hipped roof of this portico is an unusual dormer with flanking sheetmetal domed turrets topped with urns and finials set on pedestals. The entablature of the portico has a variety of mannered ornament, including paired consoles over the central columns and paired stubby pilasters over the corner ones. Underneath the porch, the entrance has stained glass sidelights and transom and flanking Palladian windows with stained glass. On the second floor under the porch is a shallow balcony with a single door that has stained glass sidelights.

“At the north side of the house is an Ionic-columned porte cochere with swag-ornamented frieze. Also on the north elevation is a two-story, three-sided bay with a dormer and cornice similar to that of the front portico. This bay has a beveled, leaded glass window. At the rear of the house is a two-story wing with a sleeping porch on the second floor. There is also a jerkin-headed rear dormer, a hipped-roofed one-story kitchen wing and, on the southwest corner, a one-story sunroom.

“Garage - Rear of 506 S. Church St. ca. 1920. Two-story frame double garage with standing seam tin roof. Rear of garage has gable and shed-roofed wings.

“Small barn - Rear of 506 S. Church St. ca. 1900.
Gable-roofed frame barn with shed wing and attached cold frame.”

Houston

Benjamin Franklin Houston was born March 9 1824 in Mecklenburg County to William Houston (1782-1870) and Elizabeth Lingo Grey (1785-1842) who died in Waxhaw. His grandfather William was born in Pennsylvania in 1750 but came to Mecklenburg County.

B.F. Houston married Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Hudson on December 21, 1865. She was the daughter of William Hudson and Permelia Andrew Winchester. B.F. and Mary Houston had William Cyrus (1867-1965) married Nina Adams, Mary Elizabeth (1868-1930) married Randolph Redfearn, and Florence May Houston (1870-1904) married William Baxter Pfifer.

In the 1860 Union County Census, 36-year-old B.F. Houston was recorded with farmer William Houston 78, E.A. Armfield 20, W.H. Phifer 17 and D.F. Armfield 19.

1870 census: B.F. Houston and family were noted in Sandy Ridge, Union County, post office Wolfsville; B.F. 46, Elizabeth 27, Cyrus 3 and two-year-old Mary.
Redfearn
Randolph Redfearn (1865-1932), husband of Mary Houston, married 1887, was manager of Monroe Hardware Company. Randolph was the son of Townley Redfearn,of Anson County, and Permilla Austin of Union County. According to Stack & Beasley, “Mr. Redfearn studied at Wake Forest College and came to Monroe in 1883. He is of good business judgment and fine integrity. Within recent years he had put much money in real estate, having constructed more than fifteen houses at a cost of from $2,500 down, for rent in the town.”