by Alison Miller, photos by Torrey Ferrell

West End Doors Provide Views into a Colorful History

When Jenni Mowery and her family moved to Winston-Salem three years ago, she knew exactly what she wanted in a home. The Mowery’s had always chosen to live in historic neighborhoods, and more specifically, she had fallen in love with the Craftsman-style bungalows.

Mowery’s real estate agent drove her past the historic Harry H. Davis house in West End, and framed in the center of its ample front porch supported by tapered columns, the simple and unassuming front door caught her eye. “When our agent showed us the home, I asked her if I could be the one to open the door. As soon as I felt the heaviness of it, it felt like I was home. Shortly after we moved in, I had my sons’ portraits made in front of that door,” said Mowery. While four styles of homes dominate West End—Queen Anne, Neoclassical, Colonial Revival, and Craftsman—each house is completely unique, and with it, its front door. Clare Fader is also a resident of West End, and serves on the board of the West End Neighborhood Association.

“The personality of the homes, and even the owners, are reflected in the doors,” said Fader. “The front door is the first impression for the home. It definitely makes a statement.” Fader chose to live in West End not only for the quality of life—she pointed out she and her family can play in the park and grab a gelato on the same walk—but also for its sense of history. For example, every year her family and neighbors gathers for an Easter egg hunt that dates back to the 1920s. West End is 229 acres of curvilinear streets that blends beautiful homes with the topography of the area. It was designed in the late 1800s, at a time when Winston-Salem was the largest city between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. The Twin City’s tobacco and textile industries were flourishing, and the wealthiest residents called West End their home.

It is most noted for being North Carolina’s first streetcar suburb, and though the trolley line disappeared a few decades later, the integrity of the West End neighborhood remains. Maintaining the homes, and their original doors, has been a labor of love for West End residents. “West End still reads today like a turn of the century neighborhood. The fenestration (arrangement of windows and doors) of the homes is still very much intact from the time that it was constructed,” said LeAnn Pegram, Historic Resource Officer with the Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission.

“You really are stewards of the home. You have to take care of it, as if it were a person you love,” said Mowery.

[Show as slideshow]