This month’s Hometown Heroes are two local businessmen who are in the process of literally saving a local home on Hampton Street from demolition. The Gahagan House was built around the turn of the century and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This rambling one-story frame house has brick piers and a hip-roofed dormer with three windows. The porch wraps around the sides of the house, which has a symmetrical five-bay facade typical for a house of this era. The house fell into disrepair and was condemned and targeted for demolition by the City of Walterboro.
Joshua Taylor of Carolina Motor Sales and Wesley Nettles of WN Construction stepped in and purchased the historic property with a front porch view of the Watertower Park. Taylor spoke about how the opportunity came along: “The project started because I knew Mr. Gahagan. He said the City was on him to redo the house, and then it got to the point where they said fix it or get rid of it. The city condemned it and were actually going to tear it down. After that fell through, Wesley and I talked and ended up teaming up to buy the place.”
The house has a long history in town. Taylor adds, “It was built in 1880 and added onto a few times. The Gahagan family bought it in 1925, and it's been in their family ever since until we bought it.”
Nettles, a contractor, spoke about the plans going forward for the home, “We're going to fix it back up and bring it back to its original days. Fix all the rot around it, and it'll be a brand-new house when we get done. As well as bring the entire structure up to current code.”
This Hampton Street house is one of two on the lot, with a second structure that was actually moved onto the site in the 1980’s from the First Baptist Church parking lot. Nettles adds, “We will begin work on the Carn Street house first; this house was actually very close to the Gahagan print show and was at risk during the print show fire. We're going to put roofs on both houses and then rehab the Carn Street house and bring it back to its former days. After that, we're going to finish the Hampton Street house.”
One of the striking features of the Gahagan House is the beautiful woodwork
Even in its current state of disrepair, the woodwork is evident, from the porch columns to the staircase, which is reported to have come from an old hotel, to its iconic dental molding along the roofline; the detail in this house is remarkable. The house is in the historic district and will meet all of the historic requirements during renovation.
Asked why they wanted to renovate the properties, the team said, “We wanted to do this because it is a historic contributing house on the national registry, and we wanted to bring it back to its original glory, and not see it torn down.”
They added, “It’s the only house in Walterboro with the view of the water tower from the front porch.”
This will be a year-long project with an emphasis on bringing he home back to its former glory. This landmark on Hampton Street is going to continue on into the next century and not just be torn down because it fell into disrepair.
