Max and Claire Brombacher House

Contributors:
Wright Brothers, traditionally attributed stonemasons
Dates:

1939-1940

Location:
Brevard, Transylvania County
Street Address:

571 E. Main St., Brevard, NC

Status:

Standing

Type:

Residential

Images Published In:

Laura A. W. Phillips and Deborah Thompson, Transylvania: An Architectural History of a Mountain County (1998).

Note:

The distinctive rustic residence features stonework different from the Wright Brothers’ typical work, with the walls of dark, jagged stones stacked vertically with scarcely any mortar visible. The house features many elements of the Arts and Crafts style including hammered hardware and rustic log elements. Erwin Galloway and C. R. Sharp are cited as the contractors. According to interviews with neighbors, the Brombachers began with a house with well-matched stonework representative of the Wright brothers’ usual work, but Mrs. Brombacher insisted on starting over to create a house that would “look like it grew there,” with irregular corners and no visible mortar. She cited the Grove Park Inn in Asheville as a model. The house is firmly credited to the Wright Brothers. By the time of its construction ca. 1940, the elder brother William was deceased, but the younger brothers James R. Jr. and Joe were still alive and working with Fred Mills.