210. Ray B. Diehl House (FY 1671)
701 Manly Street
Contributing, ca. 1926
Prominently located on a hilltop with a double flight of granite front yard steps, the Diehl House is an excellent example of the influences of the Craftsman and Prairie styles on the domestic architecture of the 1920’s. The two-story frame house has a low hip roof with widely overhanging enclosed eaves, groups of casement windows which increase the horizontal emphasis of the house, a broad Craftsman front door with casement windows for sidelights, and a granite front porch and front steps. After mid-century the house was sheathed with aluminum siding, but only a close inspection reveals this change. The wonderful Craftsman interior boasts a wide central entrance hall, boxed beam ceilings and high paneled wainscots in the hall and dining room, a partially enclosed stair, and built-in drawers and cabinets beneath the north side windows of the dining room.
The property was owned by Clarence T. Leinbach, vice-president of Wachovia Bank, from 1925 to the late 1960’s, but he lived on s. Main Street, and this house was for years the residence of his sister, Bertha, and her husband, Ray B. Diehl. Ray Diehl was an accountant. (TR, CD)
Garage, Noncontributing:Behind the house is a frame garage with wood panel siding, a gable roof, and an open shed. It appears to have been built after 1950.