John B. Burwell built the North Carolina Victorian house, then located at 540 North Blount Street, c. 1890. In 1899, former Raleigh mayor William M. Russ, and his wife, Henrietta, purchased the house. In 1903, they moved the house to their back yard, turned it to face East Peace Street, and built a larger house for themselves at 540 North Blount. In c. 1970, the State of North Carolina converted the house from a residence to a laboratory for the Board of Health. In 2008, the house was moved again, this time to 415 N. Person Street, as part of the Blount Street Commons project. The house then sat vacant until the State finally allowed bids on the property and a sale to the current owners was finalized in 2018.
Exterior rehabilitation included adding new water and sewer taps, rebuilding the front porch, and adding stairs, repairing all exterior wood siding and trim, installing a new asphalt roof, and adding landscaping, fencing and a gravel driveway as well as a path to the front porch stairs.
Interior work included repairing all historic weight and pully windows, restoring doors with original hardware, restoring the stairs, restoring, or replacing the original trim work, preserving, and refinishing the extant original heart pine floors on both levels, and installing reclaimed pine flooring in the living area where the original pine flooring no longer existed.
Modern updates included installing new sheetrock to replace unsalvageable plaster, installing all new plumbing fixtures, tile, and hardware in the kitchen as well as three- and one-half baths, adding new cabinets, fixtures, and appliances in the kitchen, installing a mix of updated antique lighting and modern lighting fixtures throughout the house, adding new closets to the two large upstairs bedrooms and a walk-in closet to the first-floor master suite. Interior Plantation Shutters were installed as window treatments on both floors. Thanks to these preservation efforts, this long vacant and neglected property has become a new star on Person Street.
The Board of Directors of Capital Area Preservation, Inc. is pleased to present a 2022 Anthemion Award to Joseph Nunnery & Darcia Black; Christopher Tallman; The Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood Revolving Fund for the Residential Rehabilitation of the John B. Burwell House, 415 North Person Street, Raleigh.