Mayer House
(ca. 1908)
Noted American author Carson McCullers began writing her acclaimed debut novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in Dilworth’s Mayer House.
311 East Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203
One of the older houses in Dilworth, Charlotte's first streetcar suburb, the Mayer House was originally built for Robert Andrew Mayer (1875-1969) and his wife, Mina Caldwell Brem Mayer (1874-1943). But the house is perhaps most historically significant as the home where noted American author Carson McCullers (1917-1967) began writing her critically acclaimed debut novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940), ranked seventeenth by the Modern Library publishing imprint on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
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Educated in the Charlotte schools, Major Baird's School for Boys, and Trinity College (later Duke University), Charlotte native Robert A. Mayer returned to his hometown to work in his father's wholesale grocery business. He eventually left to become an agent for the Travelers Insurance Company, joining his father-in-law’s firm. Robert remained active in the insurance business for fifty-seven years. Mina Mayer was born in Morganton, North Carolina, the daughter of Walter and Hannie Caldwell Brem. She moved to Charlotte with her parents when still an infant. Her father worked primarily as an agent for Travelers Insurance, and her mother was a daughter of North Carolina Governor Todd R. Caldwell of Morganton. Mina was educated at the former Charlotte Female Institute (a forerunner of Queens College), Miss Carey's School in Baltimore, and Pratt's School in Brooklyn, New York.
Robert and Mina were married in 1903 at the Trinity Methodist Church on Tryon Street. The newlyweds took up residence in the house at the corner of East Boulevard and Cleveland Avenue, just four doors from Mina’s parents. Some four years later, the Mayers decided to build the 311 East Boulevard bungalow just two doors east of the house they were then occupying. They remained in the house until 1916, when they decided to build in the newer Myers Park neighborhood. The house changed hands several times until purchased in 1937 by Walter T. and Janie M. Branson. To make ends meet in those economically difficult times, the Bransons rented out furnished rooms in the house. One of their first tenants was the newly married couple of J. Reeves and Carson McCullers.
A new job for Reeves with the Retail Credit Corporation drew the couple to Charlotte. The McCullers occupied a two-room apartment in the East Boulevard bungalow for two months as Carson began writing her first novel. They moved into another apartment in a house at 806 Central Avenue (no longer standing) for six months, when Reeves was transferred to Fayetteville. Before leaving Charlotte, however, Carson had completed the first six chapters of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and a detailed outline of the remainder of the novel.
In later years, the Mayer House has been used for both residential and commercial purposes, including for several restaurants.