John Eli Brattain House
(ca. 1883)
The extravagantly decorated Brattain family home crafted by noted carpenter John Eli Brattain is affectionately known locally as “the Icicle Cottage.”
305 S Main St, Davidson, NC 28036
Perched for more than 140 years at the corner of South Main and Walnut Streets, the whimsically adorned John Eli Brattain House remains one of Mecklenburg County’s best-preserved Folk Victorian houses. Its unique embellishments are reminiscent of the late 1800s Carpenter Gothic and Italianate styles – as reflected in its lavish “gingerbread” bargeboard and three-dimensional pendills, decorative brackets, and ornate spandrels – earning the Brattain family’s home the “Icicle Cottage” nickname. The house is the handiwork of its original resident: noted carpenter, woodworker, mechanic, entrepreneur, and civic leader John Eli Brattain (1846-1911).
Property Quick Links
Born in Davidson County, John fought and was wounded as a 17-year-old with the North Carolina Junior Reserves during the Civil War. He fared better than his father Absalom W. Brattain (1824-1865) who, as a forty-year-old private with the 42nd North Carolina Regiment of the Confederate States Army, was captured by Union forces. The elder Brattain later died at the overcrowded Point Lookout prison camp, one of the worst prisoner-of-war camps maintained by Union forces.
In 1868, John married Mary Polly Honeycutt Brattain (1846-1926). They moved to Davidson in the 1870s, where they raised ten children. The fancy design of the Brattain House served as much as a three-dimensional advertisement for John’s construction skills as a residence. It worked, as he was soon hired by the Mooresville congregation of Coddle Creek Presbyterian Church to rebuild their sanctuary after a devastating 1884 fire. John also became active in the local community, serving as a trustee for the Davidson College Academy, one of the earliest schools in town. John was also a member of Davidson’s Board of Commissioners, Board of Aldermen, the Freemasons, and a founding shareholder of the Davidson Building and Loan Association. The house remained in the Brattain family until 1943.
In 1944, Connie Emma Williamson Gamble (1889-1969) – the widow of one-time Davidson postmaster Joseph “Joe” Gillespie Gamble Sr. (1870-1930) – purchased the Brattain House, where she raised the couple’s six children while also managing the family farm. In the 1950s, to help make ends meet, Connie also rented out rooms in the house to Davidson College students. In 1956, she sold the house to the Cathey-Hoyle Company, a local family-owned company that operated an insurance agency, funeral parlor, and 24-hour ambulance service across the street in the Knox-Sloan-Cathey House. The Brattain House was used primarily as rental property, and its tenants reportedly included pre-med Davidson College students who worked for the funeral home and as ambulance drivers. In 1958, Cathey-Hoyle Company co-owner Robert Turner Hoyle (1914-2000) purchased the Brattain House as a home for himself, his new bride Isabel Scronce Beam (1924-2023), and her three children from a previous marriage. The Hoyle family retained ownership of the Brattain House until 2023.