1255 South Main Street
Wake Forest, NC, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Purefoy-Chappell House and Outbuildings (Wake County MPS)

Statement of Significance:

The Purefoy-Chappell House stands in the former village of Forestville (now a part of Wake Forest) in Wake County, North Carolina. The original section of the house was constructed for James S. Purefoy in 1838 on a one-acre lot in the burgeoning village of Forestville where a railroad depot for the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad had just been established. As an early nineteenth-century one-room house with a rear shed room, the Purefoy-Chappell House in Wake County represents an early common, vernacular regional house type found in North Carolina. The Purefoy-Chappell House represents the continuation of this form into the fourth decade of the nineteenth century, as well as the upper end of the form, with the main room, loft room and shed room all being fully finished spaces, each with a fireplace fitted with a stylish mantel. A detached kitchen/dining building was also constructed ca. 1838, and has now been incorporated into the main house. A ca. 1838 smoke house stands south of the house and is also well- preserved.

In 1862, Dr. Leroy Chappell and his wife Eliza purchased the property and shortly thereafter constructed a two-room doctor's office. This building retains its apothecary shelves and is an unusual surviving example of this building type in the county. During the late 1890s, a two-story addition was built onto the south end of the original house, and is a good example of late nineteenth-century vernacular design with Greek Revival-stylistic influences and a hall and parlor plan. The barn on the property was also built at that time, although it was remodeled in the mid-twentieth century and is therefore non-contributing. A ca. 1945 concrete block well house and a small twenty-first-century greenhouse also are located on the half-acre lot and are considered non-contributing.

The Purefoy-Chappell House and Outbuildings meet National Register of Historic Places Criterion C in the area of architecture. The antebellum house and outbuildings, including the ca. 1862 doctor's office, are rare survivors of once common forms. Although the Purefoy-Chappell House and Outbuildings are not discussed in the Historical and Architectural Resources of Wake County, North Carolina (ca. 1770-1941) (NR 1983), they meet the registration requirements established for antebellum houses (F 141-142) and for outbuildings (F 124). The period of significance for these locally significant buildings is ca. 1838 for when the original portion of the house, the smoke house and kitchen/dining building were constructed, ca. 1862 for the building of the doctor's office, and ca. 1895 for the construction of the two-story wing.