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| Death Certificate |
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| WWI Registration 1918 |
“The center hall features a grand stair which rises in two flights beginning front-to-back along the southeastern wall. The string carries a handsome wave molding and each tread supports three turned balusters beneath a molded handrail. The handrail descends into a spiral terminating in a newel which repeats, at larger scale, the profile of the balusters.
“Trim throughout the house is finely executed. The first and second floor principal rooms contain tripartite Adamesque mantels, paneled window and door architraves, molded baseboards, and excellent hardwood floors. On the first floor a molded dentil cornice encloses the main rooms Surrounds in these rooms include raised-paneled lintels with decorative diamond-shaped center blocks; the outlines of these diamonds recall the diamond-shape design of the exterior parapet.
“The formal first floor front rooms contain mantels of particularly high quality. The western parlor mantel includes a mottled marble surround, flat-paneled tapered pilasters supporting a tripartite frieze. The frieze bears a center panel ornamented with a bas relief of birds, urn, and floral spray. Above is a flat-paneled overmantel which matches the large flat-panels trimming the parlor walls. The mantel is flanked by French doors leading to the side porch. The eastern parlor mantel, similarly, includes a marble surround and fluted columns supporting a tripartite frieze with a flat-paneled center block.
The small adjoining sun porch contains a stuccoed chimney breast with a recessed arched shelf. Green, blue, and terra-cotta tiles, their smooth surfaces contrasting with the roughly textured white stucco, are set into the fireplace surround in quasi-Art Deco geometries.
“Marble tubs, tile bathroom floors, and extensive kitchen shelving are all intact. The second floor includes a side hall connected by an enclosed back stair in the first floor kitchen. The finished third floor attic, like the cellar, is sheathed in thin beaded siding.
“The John C. Sikes House is an exceptionally fine Neo-Classical house; it is clearly among the most skillful essays in the style in Union County, and, with its handsome grounds provides much-needed green space in an increasingly congested urban area.”
Statement of Significance:
“The John C. Sikes House, built in 1926-1927 to designs of Charlotte architect Louis D. Sutherland, is a handsome two-and-a-half-story brick Neo-Classical Revival mansion set in a landscaped park of nearly four acres. The house possesses both architectural and historical significance. Lavishly detailed, well crafted and maintained, the Sikes House is surely the most sophisticated house in Monroe, the seat of Union County and is among the best known houses by Sutherland. Its historical significance derives from the prominence of its builder, John C. Sikes (1880-1938), and its third owner—and the great-nephew of the builder—Henry Hall Wilson (1921-1979). Sikes, a Union County native who achieved considerable local prominence, practiced law in Monroe from 1901 until the mid 1930s, was twice elected to the North Carolina General Assembly, and served as mayor of Monroe from 1917 to 1919. His continued activity and prominence in local and state politics in the 1920s and 1930s, when he was also involved in a number of business houses in Monroe, was cut short in 1932 when he suffered a debilitating stroke, ending hopes for his candidacy for governor.
“The house was occupied by Mrs. Sikes from Sikes’ death in 1938 until her death in 1966. In 1973 the house was acquired by Sikes' great-nephew, Henry Hall Wilson. Wilson, like Sikes, was a native of Union County, practiced law in Monroe and served in the North Carolina Legislature. Following his work for Terry Sanford and John Kennedy in their successful campaigns in 1960, Wilson joined Kennedy's staff as the liaison between the White House and the House of Representatives in 1961 and served in that position until 1967 when he resigned to serve as president of the Chicago Board of Trade. In 1973 Wilson resigned from the Board of Trade and moved back to North Carolina, purchased the Sikes House, and May of that year announced at the house his candidacy for the Senate seat vacated by Senator Sam Ervin. Although his candidacy was unsuccessful, Wilson remained in Monroe and lived in the house until his death 23 July 1979. His widow sold the house to the present owners in 1980.
“The John C. Sikes House, the most sophisticated Neo-classical mansion in the city of Monroe, embodies the distinctive characteristics of its period, type, and high quality of construction. The house was designed by Louis D. Sutherland, an architect working the Charlotte office of C.C. Hook, and remains perhaps the best known and most accomplished of Sutherland’s work.”
Genealogy (MFW Research)
John Cuthbertson Sikes was born 31 Aug 1880 at Longs Store, Gooseneck Township, Union County, NC to John Cuthbertson Sikes (1836-1906) and Matilda Jane Austin (1839-1909), married in Union County in 1857. J.C. Sikes Sr. was the son of Enoch Sikes (1794-1844) and Hannah Cuthbertson (1798-1853). Enoch’s parents were Joshua Sikes (1760-1856) and Mourning Brown. Joshua’s father Joshua was born in Halifax, Virgina in 1740 and died in New Hanover County, NC in 1803.
J.C. Sikes Jr. married Margaret “Maggie” Harwood Crowell in Union County in 1906.
Their children: Margaret Dixon Sikes (1907-1994), Louise Crowell Sikes (1908-1930), Jane Austin Sikes (1911- ) and Beatrice Lee Sikes (1913-1965).
John Cuthbertson Sikes died 4 Sept 1938 at Appalachian Hall, Asheville, NC and was buried in Monroe.
