Wineka column: Foundation regains ‘sentinel’

The Bernhardt House is like the son who finishes college, goes off on his own, loses his job and comes back home to regroup.

Meanwhile, Historic Salisbury Foundation officials Jack Thomson and Gwen Matthews are like the parents who have prepared the guest room for their child’s return, not knowing how long his stay will be.

They tend to finish each other’s sentences.

”This beautiful house has gotten socked in the eye,“ Thomson says.

”More than once,“ Matthews adds.

”But it’s truly one of the landmarks in the city,“ Thomson finishes.

In a deal closed June 24, Historic Salisbury Foundation has become the owner — for a second time — of the 1882 Bernhardt House at 305 E. Innes St.

Previously, the foundation had been given the property in 1990 and spent considerable funds stabilizing the house until selling it to builder Eddie Beaver, who did a credible restoration in 1999.

Beaver converted the 4,000 square feet into 10 rooms for offices that included his contracting headquarters, First Carolinas Realty and a display center for Anne Marie Isherwood’s Exquisite Interiors.

But hard times hit Beaver’s business. Foreclosed on, the Bernhardt House eventually became the property of two banks, Community One and First Bank.

The house also fell victim to a highway project.

When the new bridge over the railroad tracks was built in the middle of the decade, it created a new elevation, putting the house in a hole below street level and cutting off its vehicle access from East Innes Street.

In recent years, the house has stood empty attracting trash, vandals and homeless people who found ways to get inside and set up camp. The house began returning to the condition it was in when the foundation was owner the first time.

The banks tried to market the property without success, leading Thomson and Matthews to start negotiating for a way to return the property to the foundation.

”They recognized they were in the banking business, not the real estate business,“ Thomson says of the banks.

Thomson often describes the Bernhardt House as a sentinel to the downtown, standing guard at a post next to the railroad tracks.

It’s better, he says, than any billboard could be in announcing one’s entrance into the historic central business district. The Bernhardt House is a landmark itself, having been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

”It’s special in so many ways,“ Matthews says, describing the Victorian architectural features outside and the original ceilings, floors and doors inside; rebuilt fireplaces; period wallpaper; and an impressive staircase.

In a way, the Bernhardt House is the last and first — the first noteworthy house leading into what people consider historic Salisbury and the last pre-20th century house left between the railroad tracks and I-85.

The house was built for Paul and Mary Jane Leake Bernhardt in 1882 and remodeled to its present appearance in 1902. Various members of the Bernhardt family lived in the house until 1947, but the most notable probably was George Bernhardt, a man who, Charlie Peacock once told me, epitomized Southern gentility.

George Bernhardt, who died in 1947, was bookkeeper and vice president of Salisbury Hardware Co., and his obituary said his politeness was ”legendary.“

People said the house was a monument to the man’s civility.

His house came to be known as ”Old Cinder Sides“ because of cinders thrown against it from passing steam locomotives.

The Rufty family bought the house in 1948, when a back section was added for extra kitchens and dining rooms and the place was converted to apartments. Rufty heirs conveyed the property to the foundation in 1990.

If the Bernhardt House goes through another reincarnation, what could it be?

Thomson says it’s a commercial property that he thinks would work for an ”appointment-driven“ business, such as an attorney, counselor, doctor or accountant.

The back parking lot, which has access off East Fisher Street, is big enough to accommodate those types of businesses, Thomson says.

Matthews has an even broader vision. Even with vehicle access a problem in the front, she thinks the house offers opportunities as a restaurant, small hotel or bed and breakfast.

She is intrigued by the notion of transforming it into a outfitters’ or sporting goods store, where people could rent bicycles, cross the bridge and take off on a bike trail through historic Salisbury.

It offers great pedestrian access from the front, which could even make it retail intensive for something such as an ice cream shop, Matthews says.

The Bernhardt House faces a lot of challenges, of course. It’s in bad shape now.

”We wouldn’t want to put it on the market today,“ Thomson says.

A driveway on the railroad side of the house that used to connect with East Innes Street now stops in mid air. Matthews says it probably will have to be removed. A lot of cosmetic repairs also have to be made inside and out.

It’s difficult for potential buyers not to see the below-street elevation as a minus, and today’s economy is tough for an ambitious project like the Bernhardt House.

Any other negatives?

”There’s the train,“ Matthews says of the close proximity to the tracks.

”But this is a railroad town,“ Thomson adds quickly.

There they go, finishing each other’s sentences again.

As parents tend to do.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com.