Filed Under Early Twentieth Century
Mordecai Whitehall
Sears catalog kit houses populate several 1920s suburbs in Raleigh, particularly Mordecai Place. This modified Foursquare is the Sears Whitehall model, which sold from 1912 through 1926. The 1921 price for a full kit to build the Whitehall was $1,614.00. Virginia Newsom Nowell (1892-1960) built it as spec development in 1924. The News & Observer noted that “she engaged in extensive building and real estate operations” before going into debt in 1928. Additionally, Virginia Nowell was often in the Raleigh newspaper for a variety of reasons, including lawsuits, arrests, and associations with authors ranging from Erskine Caldwell to Thomas Dixon Jr. Private residence.
Date: 1925