Moore-Golden House
(ca. 1910)
The English Cottage-styled Moore-Golden House is associated the well-known author, journalist, and humorist Harry Golden.
1701 E 8th St, Charlotte, NC 28204
The Moore-Golden House is a rare local example of the English Cottage architectural style. The Elizabeth Heights home was erected and sold by the Charlotte Realty Company in 1910 to local physician Dr. Baxter S. Moore and his wife Caroline Brevard Moore, the daughter of Robert J. Brevard who was a multiple-term Mayor of Charlotte. The Moores occupied the house for only one year, moving to Fulton County, Georgia, while retaining the house as a rental property until 1919.
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Norman and Mary Cocke rented the house from 1912 to 1915 before moving to Myers Park. A young attorney who worked for the Southern Power Company (predecessor to Duke Power Company), Norman Cocke was already well established in the business community at that time. He eventually became president of Duke Power and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Duke University. Lake Norman is named for him.
The newly formed congregation of the Hawthorne Lane Methodist Church completed their new sanctuary in 1916. Located across the street from the church, the Moore-Golden House was a convenient structure for the congregation to rent as a parsonage for its first two ministers, Reverend Robert D. Sherrill and Dr. T. F. Marr. Reverend Sherrill and his wife Eliza made it their home until 1918, and Dr. and Mrs. Marr lived there the following year. Dr. Marr later became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Duke University and of the Childrens’ Home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The house changed hands several times between 1919 and 1973, when it was purchased by Anita Stewart Brown and thereafter became associated with its most renowned resident, the internationally known author, journalist, and humorist Harry Golden. Golden had lived in the Elizabeth neighborhood since 1952 when, in 1973, his home on Elizabeth Avenue was slated for demolition to make way for Central Piedmont Community College parking lot. A close personal friend of Golden’s for many years, Brown suggested that he consider moving into the East 8th Street house, knowing his fondness for the Elizabeth neighborhood. Although he had already purchased a house on Kenilworth Avenue, Golden decided to accept the offer. He moved into the house in July 1973 and lived there until his death in October 1981.
The author of several books, including the 1958 best-seller Only in America, and the editor of the weekly Carolina Israelite newspaper for twenty-four years, Golden maintained close personal associations with such well-known persons as John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Carl Sandburg (about whom Golden wrote a biography), Eleanor Roosevelt, and Edward R. Murrow. Golden’s personal papers were donated to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, but Brown managed to salvage several items from Golden’s Elizabeth Avenue house before it was demolished – including the double front doors, a mantlepiece, and a stained-glass window – which she added to the East 8th Street house during its renovations.