James M. Davis House
National Register Listing
Street Address:
2763 Old Hwy. 14 S., Pelham, SC (Spartanburg
NRHP Nomination Form
Record Number:
S10817742063
Description and Narrative:
The James M. Davis House is significant at the local level for its association with prominent local merchant and community leader James Marvin Davis. Davis, a Pelham native, built this large modified American Foursquare home ca. 1915, locating it on a shaded hill, across the street from his general store. He operated Davis Mercantile, one of the only general stores to serve the Pelham Mill Village area, from ca. 1905 until his death in 1943. The Davis family home is the last remaining historic resource associated with James M. Davis because the general store was torn down in 2007. The store was originally a two-story building but burned sometime in the late 1920s and was rebuilt with a smaller one-story store in the same location. After Davis died his children kept the store open. The house was not only the center of the Davis family life, but also was important to the community's social history. Often, teachers who taught at local area schools boarded at the Davis House during the school year. In addition, Lila Davis, a retired registered nurse who had worked for the Greenville Hospital system, served the medical needs of the Pelham community for many years. The house is a two-story, wood-frame, central hall dwelling with a pyramidal roof with wide overhanging eaves, a hipped front-facing dormer, two symmetrically placed internal chimneys, and a one-story, full-width porch that wraps partially around both sides of the house. The house and a landscaped yard including a stacked stone wall contribute to the nomination. There are two noncontributing buildings and one noncontributing structure: a ca. 1950 detached garage, a ca. 1950 wood-frame playhouse, and a ca. 1915 stone well surrounded by a ca. 1950 stone-faced pergola. Listed in the National Register June 7, 2010.
Period of Significance:
circa 1915;1943
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Commerce
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
2010-06-07
Date of Boundary Increase:
No Boundary Increase
County:
Spartanburg County;Pelham
