Date: c. 1905
416 Morson Street, Raleigh
Easement Acquired 3/16/2004
Oakwood National Register Historic District
Oakwood Local Historic District
The Wesley A. Putney House was built c.1905 and is a two-story, front-gabled, Italianate dwelling. It was built by Wesley A. Putney, an assistant pressman at the Raleigh Evening Times newspaper. Originally located at 420 Bloodworth Street, the Putney House was listed as a contributing structure the East Raleigh-South Park National Register Historic District. This district was historically a working/middle class residential area in downtown Raleigh. The uniqueness of the house is revealed in its mismatched doors, windows, mantels, moldings. The combination of hand-hewn, band-sawn, and radial-sawn floor joists indicate that the house was constructed on a limited budget with salvaged materials. The use of such salvaged materials alludes to the working-class status of Mr. Putney. The Putney House was an especially fine, ornate, and large home in its original district, attesting to the aspirations and consumer patterns of the Putney family. Mr. Putney passed away shortly after the completion of the house, leaving it to his wife and three children. Through the next decade, they rented it to various African-American working-class citizens who were employed at businesses nearby. In 1916, Rev. John Walker, minister at the Raleigh District AME Church, bought the house. Later owners included Wake Forest College and the Sanders family. In the 1990s, it served as multi-family housing until the City of Raleigh bought it in 1999. CAP purchased the house and its current lot on Morson Street from the City of Raleigh in March 2004. CAP placed an easement on the house and sold it to David Maurer, who resold it to Raleigh-Durham Construction Company. RDCC moved the house and restored it in its new location at 416 Morson Street in the Oakwood National Register Historic District. The relocation and subsequent rehabilitation preserves a locally rare example of a two-story, frame, Italianate-style dwelling that characterized a downtown Raleigh working/middle class neighborhood in the early 1900s.