Teddy
and Meekins purchased the Sperling House on December 14,
2000. The partners began extensive renovations,
succeeding in restoring the home to its former grandeur.
In fact, the firm nominated the restored home for
recognition by the National Register of Historic Places.
On December 31, 2001, the National Register added the
Sperling House to its prominent list of significant
American properties.
The George Sperling House sits on a large lot of five
acres on the west side of Fallston Road (Highway 18), at
the edge of the city limits, northeast of Shelby, North
Carolina. The large, two-story, yellow brick
Neoclassical Revival style house (1927) faces east, with
a grouping of eight associated early twentieth century
outbuildings located to the rear of the main house. The
nominated tract was historically part of the eighty
acres originally associated with the house. Remaining
acreage has been sold through the years, once the
property was no longer used as a working farm. The
outbuildings on the property, most of which pre-date the
main house, were built Ca. 1909-1920, as part of
the original farmstead surrounding the simple frame
farmhouse which the current house replaces. The barn,
built Ca. 1927, replaces the original barn and dates
from about the same time as the current house. These
outbuildings are set in a cluster close to the rear, or
west, of the main house. Open fields are located to the
west beyond these buildings. These buildings and
structures include a two-story gambrel roof mule barn
with German siding; one-story corn crib with metal roof;
one-story hog pen; one-story wood house with
weatherboard siding; two-story granary with weatherboard
siding and a pressed metal roof; one-story smokehouse
with weatherboard siding; one-story generator house of
rusticated concrete block; and tack house which appears
to be identical to the generator house. Notable
landscape features include circular driveways, mature
hardwood trees, and remnants of a formal garden to the
northwest of the house. Foundation plantings around the
house are primarily newer materials, with a few
scattered older boxwoods. Flat land located to the south
and west of the house is the only remnant of the
original farming area. Woods rim the property along the
western edge.
The historic property consists of nine contributing
resources, including the main house, the barn, the corn
crib, the hog pen, the wood house, the granary, the
smokehouse, the generator house, and the tack house.
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