87. Murphy-Edmunds House (FY 1583)

258 West End Boulevard
Contributing, ca. 1913


This house is virtually identical to 612 N. Broad Street (81), and the two appear to have been built at the same time. The house is a one-story pebbledash cottage characterized by irregular massing, a central pyramidal roof with intersecting gables which correspond with the various projecting bays and wings, tall interior chimneys, and a wrap-around porch with slender Tuscan columns and a plain balustrade. Typical of the setting of many West End houses, this one is located on a slight hill above the street and has a terraced yard with a handsome cut granite retaining wall and front walk steps.

In 1913 James B. Murphy, an employee of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, purchased the property and was listed at this location in the 1915 city directory. By 1926 Phoebe, Virginia, and Willie Edmunds were living in the house, and Virginia Edmunds Skeeter still resides here. (TR, CD, SM)


87.11917 Sanborn Map, page 86 at “616\624” N. Broad