Leslie K. Singley House, Druid Hills, Hendersonville, NC
Driving home we saw they were working on the Leslie K. Singley House in Druid Hills. We stopped and the new owner showed us around.
Renovation Under Way – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsFront Door – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsLiving Room – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsThis room is on the other side of the fireplace in the Living Room – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsThis is the room from the outside. – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsDining Room – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsKitchen – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsUpstairs Bedroom – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsStairs – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsUpstairs Bedroom – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsLooking down into the garage from the Upstairs Bedroom – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsUpstairs Bedroom – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsAll of the closets are done in cedar – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsThe roof of the room with the great windows – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsBathroom – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsBasement Entrance – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsStairs to Basement – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsBasement – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsLeslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsSide Back – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsBack – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsStairs in Yard – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid HillsBack Door – Leslie K. Singley House, Druid Hills
The Leslie K. Singley House is at 1649 Kensington Road in Historic Druid Hills, Hendersonville, NC. It is one of the contributing houses, built in 1926.
Leslie K. Singley
The Hendersonville Historic Preservation Commission website says Leslie K. Singley and wife Mildred P. Singley lived in the house from 1937 to 1944. It says he was the principal of the high school.
Leslie K. Singley was born in South Carolina in 1896. The 1940 census lists him living in the house. He was 44 years old. His wife, Mildred was 55.
A Tryon Daily Bulletin column of November 13, 2014 by Garland Goodwin remembers Mr. Singley as superintendent of Tryon School.
…Mr. Singley who had us boys build a workshop under the gymnasium so we could have a shop class. He also taught us drafting at my request. My senior class poured concrete walks in front of the school and I chiseled “Class of 1947” into them at two places. Lula said that Mr. Singley was a true southern gentleman. He inspired us by the example he set, not by any fear of punishment.
A woodworker himself, Mr. Singley invented and manufactured in his home workshop two significant cost-saving sanding tools; a sanding disc and a sanding drum. The kind offered by tool companies required a sheet of round sandpaper to be glued to their round disk, and a sandpaper sleeve to be slipped over their drum. Both of these were specialty items that had to be manufactured to fit. Mr. Singley patented his octagonal disk and his slotted drum. Each corner of a standard sheet of sandpaper was folded over the disk and clamped, no glue required. For the drum, a standard sheet was cut into thirds, wrapped around the drum and the ends tucked into the slot. A flattened tube then secured the sandpaper in the slot just by turning it about a quarter turn with a screwdriver.
“So that he who runs may write, a manual training instructor in a North Carolina school has invented a portable typewriter case that unfolds to form its own desk. Owning on of these, a newspaperman can type his stories, and a field engineer his reports, on the spot, without waiting for the usual writing facilities. Attached to the legs are compartments for paper, dictionary, data sheets, and postage stamps, Leslie K. Singley, of Hendersonville, N.C., is the creator of the ingenious case, and the photos show it closed and open.” Popular Science Monthly, May 1927
Leslie Singley was an inventor. I found a lot of invention patent applications, including a folding toothbrush. His folding typewriter desk was featured in Popular Science.
Rod Joint Patent Application US1639009
Rod Joint
Patent Application US1639009 Filed August 16, 1927
…a device of this character which will serve to force the leg sections into engagement with one another and thus provide a very rigid structure and which, at the same time, may be very readily released.
Combined Carrying Case and Table
Combined Carrying Case and Table
Patent Application US 1661015A Filed Feb. 28, 1928
A carrying case for a typewriter and stationery for use with the typewriter, which case embodies leg structures by means of which the case may be supported for use as a table. A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide a device of this character in which the leg structures provide stationery compartments for the reception of the stationery.
Holder for Neckties or the Like Patent Application US2352741 Filed August 7, 1943
Holder for Neckties or the Like
Patent Application US2352741 Filed August 7, 1943
A device… for supporting a number of neckties or the like and which will permit of an easy and convenient selection and removal of the necktie or neckties. …which will exert a yielding pressure upon the rumpled or folded portions of the necktie or neckties to smooth or press the same.
Foldable Stand for Portable Street Signs Patent Application US2836385 Filed January 27, 1954
Foldable Stand for Portable Street Signs
Patent Application US2836385 Filed January 27, 1954
A folding stand or easel for portable street signs… sufficiently stable to resist the strongest winds likely to be encountered in service, and at the same time… capable of folding fiat and stacking smoothly.
Abrading Disc or Head Patent Application US2719389 Filed November 5, 1954
Abrading Disc or Head Patent Application
US2719389 Filed November 5, 1954 An improved sanding disc for use upon a drill press or the like and designed particularly to facilitate the use of standard square sand paper, abrading cloth and the like.
Leslie K. Singley patented even more inventions over the years.
Ethelbert H. King
Next, in the late 1940s, The Hendersonville Historic Preservation Commission website says the Ethelbert H. King family lived in the house.Ethelbert Higgins King was born in 1897. He married Mary Hunt. The site says King was a salesman. He died in 1983 and was interred at the Memorial Garden ofSaint James Episcopal Church.
I was able to find this obituary of his father that mentions him.
Click to open bigger
“Mr. King is survived by… Ethelbert H. King, also connected with David Baird & Son as a traveling representative, is now in France with the United States expeditionary forces as a sergeant in the Engineers’ Corps.” The Illustrated Milliner – Manufacturers’ Edition December, 1918
Hats from David Baird & Son Milliners
David Baird & Son was a wholesale millinery house, established by an Irish family in 1832.
The House
Leslie K. Singley House
Spanish Colonial Revival style two-story house with a hip roof covered in tile. Attached one-story garage with a tile roof on the south side. Walls are stucco, windows are eight-over-eight double hung, and multi-light casement. Arched front doorway with tile roof. One-story attached porch with a tile roof on the north side with a fanlight over the porch windows. House was occupied by Leslie K. Singley, principal of the high school (directories did not specify which school), and wife Mildred P. Singley from 1937 to 1944. The Ethelbert H. King family lived in the house in the late 1940s. King was a salesman.
According to the Hendersonville public records, the property at 1649 Kensington Rd, Hendersonville, NC 28791 has approximately 1,668 square feet, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths with a lot size of 6,970 square feet. Other places list it as 1753 square feet, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. I only saw two bedrooms.
The Roof
Hendersonville Times-News of Jan 21, 2001 carried an article about a meeting of the Hendersonville Historic Preservation Commission that approved the roofing permit for the house.
The article says the house at that time was “owned by Patricia Kislevitz, who lives in New Jersey.”
Hendersonville resident Bob Collins approached the commission last fall to get a permit to replace the roof. He and his wife hoped to move into the home. Because he wanted to place something on the roof other than the original clay tile, he was required to seek a permit, or Certificate of Appropriateness, from the commission.
Collins and the commission failed to reach agreement on a replacement roof and he decided to abandon the project.
But now another Hendersonville resident and potential purchaser of the home, Steven White, has taken up the cause of the dwelling’s preservation. Last week, he reached an agreement with the commission to replace the roof with steel material that looks like tile…
White said his first choice was to use a red, curved “carriage house” shingle product, which he said would leave him the option of placing clay barrel tile over it at some future date. But the commission felt the shingles were just not the right look for the house, which has had a red tile roof for more than 90 years.
National Register of Historic Places from the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service PDF on Druid Hills Historic District http://www.hpo.ncdcr.gov/nr/HN0060.pdf
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