Date: 1880
215 S. Academy Street, Cary
Designated 10/30/2008
Cary National Register Historic District
Although known locally as the Guess House, this prominent South Academy Street dwelling had many owners throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Railroad “roadmaster” Captain Harrison P. Guess and his wife, Aurelia, purchased the land on which the house sits from Frank Page in 1880 and built the original house, which I said to have been a two-story I-house, a common vernacular house type throughout Wake County, embellished with modest Greek Revival detailing. The house also had a rear ell. John White, a local Baptist minister, bought the house from the Guess’ in 1896 and substantially remodeled and expanded it. He transformed the house into a Queen Anne structure by adding a three-story tower to the façade, a front bay window, and much decorative woodwork, all of which are quintessential elements of the Queen Anne style. Local tradition states that Reverend White added the tower so that he could look out over the town while he wrote his sermons. Mr. and Mrs. N.G. Yarborough, parents of Dr. Frank W. Yarborough, are said to have owned the property for many years. The property has had several owners in the late twentieth century. Carroll and Sheila Ogle bought the property in 1997 and restored it.