Shelby family restores historic Seven Gables home

For nearly a century, the elegant brick house with the seven gables has perched high atop a hill on Marion Street welcoming generations of friends and families through its arched doorways.

Built beside the former Cleveland Springs Hotel in 1929, the very year it burned down for the third and final time, it is being restored to its full and former glory by Jeremy and Elizabeth Champion.

The Tudor Revival-style house with its seven steeply pitched gables, hence its name "Seven Gables" similar to the classic work of fiction "House of the Seven Gables" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was built by Franklin Ernest Hoey and Delle Wilson Harrison Hoey in the roaring twenties.

Hoey was a pharmacist and was a manager and partner of Cleveland Drug Company and his father managed The Cleveland Star newspaper.

An addition was added in the 1970s, and the red brick house was painted a pale cream color, which it remains to this day.

Now, Elizabeth and Jeremy Champion are in the process of renovating and restoring the home and hope to its original glory and want to continue its long legacy of hosting events, fundraisers, get-togethers and parties.

“I fell in love with the history of the house,” Elizabeth Champion said. “We just want to take it back to the original blue prints. We like to think of it as a no-demo reno.”

She said the home was designed by Franklin Gordon out of Buckhead, Georgia, and remarkably, she still has the original blueprints.

Champion said 100 years ago, Franklin Gordon was in Buckhead and his firm designed all the Tudor Revivals in his hometown before he moved to Charlotte.

He was contacted by the Hoey family, and Mrs. Delle Hoey worked hand in hand with the architect to design the home with the intention of creating a place to entertain people and host parties.

The house has been home to three of Shelby’s influential families, first the Hoeys then Gardners and then the Williams.

After Delle Hoey died in 1963, her husband sold the beloved home to Carrie and Ralph Gardner. Ralph was the son of O. Max Gardner, former North Carolina governor. Carrie Gardner carried on the tradition of using the home as a place to gather people together and frequently hosted events at Seven Gables. The Williams became the third residents of the home in the late 1970s.

“It’s such a love story, all these women poured into this house,” Champion said.

She said even today, people approach her and share memories of attending parties at the house and she said one woman even told her that her grandmother had met her grandfather at a pool party at Seven Gables.

The house, formerly shrouded by overgrown vegetation and trees that have since been cleared away, sits at an angle above Marion Street and slopes down to a fountain original to the house that is still functional and will eventually be back up and running. Cleveland Springs Hotel was next door and the narrow driveway goes right down to the Columns neighborhood.

There is a midcentury pool in the backyard, and the house is backed up to the 18th hole of the Cleveland County golf course.

There are many original features remaining, including the beautiful wooden arched front door, metal work around doors and chandeliers. Outside hanging up under the side eaves are metal plaques which used to signify to the fire department that they had insurance.

The house has the original slate roof, and many of the hand blown windows are still intact.

Elizabeth Champion, who said she and her husband have been together since high school, have called Cleveland County home for many years. Jeremy Champion comes from generations of Cleveland County residents, and Elizabeth has been here since she was 12 when her family moved from Texas.

“Our roots are here,” she said.

She said they closed on the house May 4 and began renovations in July.

At the time the house was built, Cleveland County was in the midst of an economic boom, and the city seat of Shelby was growing fast, pushing people out further from the city center.

“You get to live a vacation in the city,” she said was the motto at that time.

An art studio was built beside the house that the Champions may continue to use as a studio, or for art classes, art camps or as a guest house. She said they are holding their plans loosely and staying flexible at this point.

Ultimately, the plan is to have the upstairs as living space and the downstairs for fundraising event, teas, cooking classes, bridal photos and other events.

“We have amazing venues in the area, and I don’t want to compete. I want to stand alongside them,” Elizabeth Champion said.

She said Mrs. Hoey held a lot of local teas and other fundraising events, and the Champions hope to carry on that tradition in some capacity.

“There’s so many rich memories,” she said. “There’s so much life in this house.”

The inside of the house is airy and bright with high ceilings, brass and crystal chandeliers, crown molding, gorgeous tile fireplaces with mantels and the original handcrafted hardware on the doors. Beautiful, original wrought iron railings curve up the staircase to the second floor, and arched doorways are all throughout the home.

“I love this house, and I’m an advocate of this house,” Champion said. “I’m just a caretaker of it. We have what we have because of the people who came before us.”

Although built pre-World War II in 1929 during a very Victorian era, Champion said a fire damaged the structure in 1935 and when it was repaired and remodeled a lot of Art Deco influence was added. Although much of the house was damaged by the fire, miraculously the original architectural drawings were salvaged.

Taking the house back to its original appearance based on the blueprints has been an act of labor and love.

The Champions want to preserve the piece of history not only for themselves, but for future generations.

“She’s like a little old lady. She has to be treated with care,” Champion said.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Local family preserves and restores Seven Gables