Fernihurst

Contributors:
Henry Irven Gaines, architect (1930s); Luther L. Merchant, contractor (1930s)
Dates:

ca. 1875; 1930s

Location:
Asheville, Buncombe County
Street Address:

Victoria Rd., Asheville, NC

Status:

Standing

Type:

Residential

Note:

As related by Gaines in King’s Maelum, in the depths of the Great Depression, Mr. and Mrs. John F. Curran commissioned him to expand and remodel a Victorian residence they had recently acquired—a welcome project when he had no other work. He transformed it with a portico and other Colonial Revival elements. Gaines recalled that he “moved a drafting board out to the Curran house, and while Mr. Merchant [the contractor] proceeded with his work I was busy with the plans. We . . . worked out a sequence of work, listing the plans and details in the order in which he would need them. In this way I managed to keep ahead of the construction workers.”