Located in Fuquay-Varina on what was the once the main road from Raleigh to Fayetteville, the J. Beale Johnson House is one of the most impressive houses built during the early twentieth century in southwest Wake County. On the National Register of Historic Places as well as a Fuquay-Varina Historic Landmark, the J. Beale Johnson House is an elegant Neoclassical Revival style structure built around 1906, featuring an imposing two-story Doric portico and refined classical architectural elements throughout. The house is appropriately sited on a hill overlooking the spectacular Johnson Pond, enhancing its image of grandeur. Designed at the beginning of the twentieth century by prominent Raleigh architect Charles Pearson, the house was built as a wedding present for the bride of J. Beale Johnson, an influential Wake County entrepreneur.
J. Beale Johnson learned early that his fortune lay in lumber and commerce. In 1900, he launched his career in sawmilling by securing the timber rights to vast tracts of virgin longleaf pine. As the need for timber increased, so did Johnson’s wealth. As he prospered, Johnson became a director of the Commercial National Bank in Raleigh, a position he held for twenty-five years. In 1906, at the age of thirty-four, Johnson had earned enough money to build his house free and clear of debt. Unfortunately, the crash of 1929 and the onslaught of the Great Depression cripped Johnson financially. After Johnson’s death from pneumonia in 1931, his family lost the house which had been pledged as collateral in investments that failed. In 1935, The North Carolina Rural Rehabilitation Corporation purchased the property and sold much of the land to small farmers at low interest rates over many years to satisfy the mortgage. The Johnson House itself was used as a home for “wayward” girls and for the elderly during much of the 1930s and 1940s. In 1949 the State of North Carolina and the NCRRC gave the remaining property and the house to American Legion Post 116. This organization used the house as a meeting facility, but allowed it to suffer years of abuse, neglect, and vandalism before selling it at a public auction in 1965 to Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Turner. From 1965 to 1970, the Turner’s undertook an exhaustive restoration of the house and grounds, saving it from almost certain destruction.
In October 2020, Rich and Cher Levert purchased the property from the Turner estate and took on the task of rehabilitating the grand house for the first time in 50 years, updating much of the interior to meet modern living standards. The house was repainted on both the interior and exterior, an HVAC system was installed for the first time, and the kitchen and master bathroom received a modern makeover while preserving all the historic architectural elements. Attention was paid to the grounds and outbuildings, adding a brick paver driveway under and around the porte cochere, new landscape lighting and plantings. A pool area and pavilion were added to the rear of the property, complimenting the classical elements found throughout the house. Wood garage doors were added to the 1967 garage that blend in perfectly with the context of the house. The board and batten barn used for storing milled wood by Mr. Johnson was restored and given a much-needed face-lift. The cook’s house, which dates to the same year that the main house was built, was restored on both the exterior and interior with a new screened-in porch added for the purpose of an in-law suite.
Much like the Turner family before them, the Levert family’s work to restore and preserve the J. Beale Johnson House has been a family affair. Thanks to their efforts, the old house’s place as one of the of the most impressive Neoclassical residences in all of Wake County is secure for the twenty-first century.
The Board of Directors of Capital Area Preservation, Inc. is pleased to present a 2023 Anthemion Award to Rich & Richere Levert; Kiper Landscaping Designs LLC; Cherie Barbeau; Trevel Construction Company; ARC Electric, LLC; Bleu Maple Carpentry, LLC for the Residential Rehabilitation of the J. Beale Johnson House, 6321 Johnson Pond Road, Fuquay-Varina.