Webbley mansion up for auction
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One of Shelby’s historic homes has gone into foreclosure and will soon go to auction.
Built in 1850, the home at 403 S. Washington St. would come to be known as Webbley.
Once the home of O. Max Gardner, whose career included service as a state senator, as the state’s youngest lieutenant governor (1916-1920), and later as governor from 1929 to 1933, Webbley was never actually owned by Gardner, according to a previous Star article.
The home was his wife’s parents, Judge James L. Webb and Kansas Love Andrews Webb. It was named for her father who, along with her uncle, Judge E. Yates Webb, formed the first generation of the renowned Shelby political dynasty.
According to a legal ad in The Star, the home has gone into foreclosure. It was most recently owned by O. Max Gardner III and Victoria Harwell-Gardner.
The property and mansion have a tax value of $1.04 million, according to the county's mapping system.
The property previously was put up for sale in 2013 for $1.6 million, according to realtor.com.
In the early to mid 1900s, South Washington Street was a center of activity as dignitaries visited Webbley, the home of N.C. Gov. O. Max and Fay Webb Gardner, and the homes of other politicians who lived in the neighborhood.
Included in the Shelby Central Historic District, Webbley is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Besides being the home of two great political families, Webbley comprised the setting for a segment of Thomas Dixon’s “The Clansman” and for D.W. Griffith’s classic movie “The Birth of a Nation.”
The auction will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 14, in front of the Cleveland County Courthouse, 100 Justice Place, Shelby.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Historic property set for auction
