For the Commercial Rehabilitation & Adaptive Reuse of the Gulley-Mackie House, 340 North Main Street, Wake Forest
Constructed circa 1890 in the Queen Anne style by William Royall Powell, the Gulley-Mackie House at 340 North Main Street in Wake Forest has experienced a transformation and restoration to its original form. Powell sold the house, shortly after its construction, to Dr. Needham Y. Gulley, the founder and first Dean of the Wake Forest School of Law. After Dean Gulley’s death in 1945, Dr. George C. Mackie, Sr. a physician and professor at the Wake Forest College School of Medicine, purchased the house and converted it from private residence into offices for his medical practice. Dr. Mackie’s changes included sealing off the first and second floors from each other; dividing the main floor into eight examination rooms, a laboratory, ex-ray room, and two separate waiting rooms for patients; and converting the large upstairs bedrooms into four apartments.
The house continued to be used as a doctor’s office until 2009. In 2010, James Wilson Mackie, son of Dr. George Mackie and Kathleen Mackie-Lake, inherited the property and donated it to the Wake Forest College Birthplace Society, Inc. to be used for the benefit of the Wake Forest Historical Museum. The following year Cookes Restoration, LLC purchased the house and initiated a top-to-bottom rehabilitation with the aim of restoring some of the house’s original grandeur while transforming it into a suitable headquarters for the family business. Sult Architecture provided design services and Gould Development & Historic Restorations was general contractor and Utility Service Agency, Inc. moved into its new home in late 2012.
On the exterior, the team reproduced and restored the fine sawn work balusters on the front and side porches and removed the aluminum siding to reveal the shadows of decorative architraves above the windows. All original elements, based on physical evidence and documentation, were restored to their original condition. On the interior, the team restored the original room configuration on both floors, leaving some walls open to adapt the space for its planned use; restored and reused original flooring where possible; and reopened the second floor to the first with the installation of period-appropriate stair case elements in the main hall.
The Board of Directors of Capital Area Preservation, Inc. is pleased to present a 2013 Anthemion Award to Utility Service Agency, Inc., Sult Architecture, and Gould Development & Historic Restorations for the Commercial Rehabilitation and Adaptive Reuse of 340 North Main Street, Wake Forest.