Scott-Hoke House
(ca. 1901)
The Scott-Hoke House was the longtime home of noted psychologist, professor, and Presbyterian minister Dr. Roy Hoke.
1717 Cleveland Ave, Charlotte, NC 28203
In the latter half of 1900, Claudsley M. Scott (1858-1930) and Idris Belle Repass Scott (1863- 1934) moved their daughter and three sons from Bland County, Virginia, to Charlotte. Claudsley purchased the Cleveland Avenue lot in Dilworth from the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company (also known as the 4 C’s) to build a two-story, nine-room dwelling. The family’s move to Charlotte was prompted by Claudsley’s occupation as a salesman of heavy machinery. He established his business on West Fourth Street, where he managed the southern branch of the Good Roads Machinery Company and served as the local agent for the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company.
Property Quick Links
The family’s Queen Anne style home was completed in May 1901. The family joined the Westminster Presbyterian Church on South Boulevard, where Claudsley was a deacon and Idris served as a leader of the women of the congregation. One of their children, Byron Carlisle Scott (1896-1937), became an important figure in the automobile business, first as an associate of C. C. Coddington (1878-1928) who held the exclusive distributorship rights in the Carolinas for Buick Motor Company. Byron later founded and served as president of Scott Buick Company. Another son, Kenneth McCoy Scott (1899-1918), was described by the local press as “one of the most popular young men of the Dilworth section,” a recognition rendered tragic when Kenneth died in the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918. The Scotts’ third son, Wallace Wayne Scott (1893-1956), worked for the Westinghouse Corporation for forty-four years.
Claudsley and Idris’ sole daughter, Jessie Repass Scott (1888-1946), married Kemp Plummer Battle (1872-1922), manager of the Charlotte Country Club who later worked at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. Following her husband’s death in 1922, Jessie returned to the house on Cleveland Avenue, residing there until her death in 1946. During the final years of her occupancy, Jessie rented rooms in her deceased parents’ home to a series of boarders.
In May 1946, Dr. Roy Edward Hoke (1896-1975), a native of York, Pennsylvania, and his wife Erma R. Hoke (1899-1992) purchased the Scotts’ house. Dr. Hoke, an ordained Presbyterian minister, received a Ph.D. in psychology from Johns Hopkins University and taught at several academic institutions – including Birmingham Southern College, Emory and Henry College, and Davidson College – before moving to Charlotte in 1946. In his 1972 doctoral thesis, Dr. Hoke redesigned the standard configuration of typewriter keyboards, proposing a new solution given serious consideration by the makers of Smith-Corona typewriters (the company eventually selected a different design). In Charlotte, he founded the Psychological Service Center, a private counseling enterprise, and maintained an office in the Dilworth home. Dr. Hoke was very active in the Charlotte community. He authored a weekly Sunday column in the Charlotte Observer from 1946 through 1959. He also hosted a weekly program on the WBT radio station during the 1950s. He even served as a minister-at-large for local Presbyterian churches, substituting for ministers who were on vacation or otherwise unavailable. Erma continued living in the Scott-Hoke House until she passed away in 1992. The house has since been used as office space.