Oakley House
(ca. 1920)
A rare example of Prairie Style design in Mecklenburg County, the Oakley House was the home of several prominent twentieth-century Pineville families.
129 Main St., Pineville, NC 28134
This circa 1920 Prairie Style house, a rarity in Mecklenburg County, was the home of Pineville businessman C.S. Oakley, a prior resident of Ridgeway, Virginia. In what was primarily a cotton town, Oakley derived his business success from his Pineville Lumber Company. He also served as president of the Pineville Loan and Savings Bank. The house sits on what was once a four-acre lot that Oakley purchased in 1919 for $1,500. His business success proved to be short-lived, however. North Carolina banking officials closed and liquidated the Pineville bank in 1921, finding that Oakley’s overgenerous extensions of credit and bank resources had caused the bank’s demise. Oakley declared bankruptcy in 1922, forcing him to sell the house at auction. J.M. Niven purchased the house with the high bid of $7,500. According to local tradition, Oakley quickly left town after his unpleasant change of fate.
Property Quick Links
Although little else is known about Oakley, the size and unique style of the Oakley House demonstrate his community status and preeminence. Of the grand houses that once lined Pineville’s Main Street, this house was the most finely appointed and designed. Today, the Oakley House is Pineville’s sole example of an early twentieth century grand town home, exhibiting meticulous attention to architectural detail and scale. As one of the few remaining historic homes on Pineville’s Main Street, the Oakley House represents the last vestiges of the former residential streetscape of the town’s primary thoroughfare.
For over eighty years, the Oakley House was home to some of Pineville’s leading citizens. Richard Gatling Eubanks – a World War I veteran who served in the U.S. Navy – and his wife Lila occupied the house with their family from 1930 to 1971. The plant manager of Charlotte’s Southern Cotton Oil Company, Eubanks was an active community leader, serving on the Mecklenburg County School Board for ten years. Following Eubanks’ death in 1971, the house passed to his daughter Frances and her husband Charles R. Yandell, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force who was held as a prisoner of war in Stalag 1 for nine months during World War II. Upon his return to civilian life, Yandell worked as a pharmacist, later becoming a pharmaceutical salesman for Eli Lily. Like his father-in-law, Yandell was active in Pineville local government, serving for nearly fifty years in various capacities including as mayor and mayor pro-tem as well as several consecutive terms on the town council. The Yandells lived in the house from 1972 to 2002.