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closeAfter a lengthy search and a series of squabbles with neighbors, the city has found a new spot for a long-planned visitors center at Mordecai Historic Park.
A two-story home next to the park became available after its owner, antiques dealer Arthur Danielson, died last year at 81. The City Council authorized negotiations to buy the half-acre property for $600,000. A final vote is still needed to use the property for a center.
Situated on Wake Forest Road across from the Mordecai chapel, the home would become a public space for interpretive displays, offices, a gift shop and educational programs.
Neighbors say they are relieved the city found a new location.
“Reusing an existing building makes ultimate sense,” said Tina Govan. “It’s not going to be blocking the view of the house. It’s much better than adding a building.”
An earlier proposal involved using part of the park’s main lawn for a contemporary, window-lined building to house the center. Opponents saw a threat to the historic charm of the park, home to Raleigh’s most significant antebellum plantation.
Danielson was a supporter of the park and would be pleased with the new role for his residence, said Thom Swindell, the executor of the estate.
The late owner ran an antiques business on the ground floor and accumulated a vast inventory of furniture and accessories.
New use for ‘treasure’
Built in the 1920s, the home was the first in the Mordecai Place development, which explains why it sat on a prominent corner lot, according to Matthew Brown, historian for the Society for the Historic Preservation of Oakwood.
An early occupant, Joseph Dozier Boushall, served on the Raleigh Board of Aldermen, now called the City Council, and in the state House.
His wife, Mattie, was the daughter of Jonathan Heck, developer of much of the Oakwood and Idlewild neighborhoods.
In the late 1930s and ’40s, the place was called The Tour Inn because it served as a tourist home similar to a bed-and-breakfast, said Troy Burton, site manager of Mordecai Historic Park.
Wake Forest Road sat along U.S. Route 1, a highway from New York to Florida. As a halfway point, Raleigh was a popular place for travelers to stop for the night.
The house, Brown said, reflects the last phase of the Neoclassical Revival period with a semi-elliptical portico supported by Corinthian columns, a balcony and beveled glass windows.
“I hope that if you must alter the house or landscape, that you do so in a way that preserves its historic character,” Brown told city officials at a recent neighborhood meeting.
