A Doctor’s House Rebuilt Post-Fire
Published March 2016
Price: Free (must be moved)
Location: Guntersville, Alabama
Contact: Roy Bryant, 256-558-5828; roydbryant@charter.net
The history: As a prominent local physician, L. D. Lusk would have needed a house that could double as an office. So when he built his family home, around 1880, he erected an elaborate center-hall Colonial Revival, which no doubt would have instilled a sense of confidence in visiting patients. In 1915, he passed away, leaving the home to his daughter and son-in-law. That house burned down in 1931, but when the family, apparently quite fond of the original, decided to rebuild, in 1939, they erected a near-replica on the same site, this time opting for fire-resistant brick in place of wood siding. The house stayed in the family for several generations—until Lusk’s great-great-granddaughter sold it and the surrounding parcel to an adjacent church, in 2013. Now, the church would like to build on the land and is offering the house for free to anyone with the means to move it.
Shown: The spacious house boasts five bedrooms and three bathrooms. The graceful exterior features elongated sunburst-fan details over the first-floor windows.
(Mostly) Original Divided-Light Windows
Why save it? The house has a classic symmetrical design and is flanked by matching enclosed porches. A simple portico over the entrance is supported by Doric columns. The interior retains a number of original details, including wainscoting and a wood mantel.
Shown: Wherever the house is moved, it’s sure to draw in plenty of light, thanks to its exceptionally tall divided-light windows, most of which are original.
Pro Tip: The multipaned sash windows on this Colonial Revival are a hallmark of the style. As This Old House Magazine has noted, Colonial Revival borrows a number of elements from its predecessors, including “portico entryways, fanlights, transoms, sidelights, gable and gambrel roofs, and multipaned sash windows. Often these features are enlarged, exaggerated, and grouped in ways they never would have been on the original houses they mimic.”
Handsome Wainscoting in the Dining Room
What it needs: Moving the 3,417-square-foot house will be a sizable project, though the structure is in good condition. Guntersville is a small town of 8,200 about 70 miles north of Birmingham. The town is perhaps best known for its 69,000-acre recreational lake, where $22,000 will buy a half-acre waterfront parcel that could be a perfect new site for this gem of a house.
Shown: Simple but handsome wainscoting lines the dining room; the entry is one of the home’s many French doors.
Pro Tip: The house has a remarkable story of resilience. As a prominent local physician, L. D. Lusk built the original family home around 1880 as an elaborate center-hall Colonial Revival that doubled as his office. When that house burned down in 1931, the family—apparently quite fond of the original—rebuilt a near-replica on the same site in 1939, this time opting for fire-resistant brick in place of wood siding. The handsome wainscoting and French doors seen throughout the home reflect that careful 1939 reconstruction.
Pilaster Details for the Living-Room Mantel
A painted wood mantel in the living room is adorned with fluted pilaster details.
Light-Filled Side Porches
Divided-light windows and French doors are common to both enclosed side porches.
Pro Tip: French doors like these have deep roots in the South. As Amy R. Hughes wrote in This Old House Magazine, “such windowed doors first became popular in the 18th-century French Colonial era along the Gulf Coast, where they hung in the exterior walls of virtually every room of Creole cottages and plantation houses. Swung open, French doors helped maximize ventilation and provide comfort in the region’s hot and humid” climate—a function these Alabama porches were clearly designed to serve.
