239. Lorraine-Dunstan House (FY 958)
517 Jersey Avenue
by 1912; remodeled ca. 1920
Sanborn Maps suggest that the main body of this house had been built by 1912 but that it was remodeled between 1917 and 1924. It is a two-story frame dwelling of simple detail with a low hip roof, a right front projecting bay, four-over-one-sash windows, and a broad wrap-around porch with heavy Tuscan posts on brick plinths and a plain balustrade. The porch extends beyond the north side of the house to form a porte-cochere. A sun room is on the south side of the house. The house has been sheathed with aluminum siding (post 1950) and a wood deck has been recently added to the rear, but these alterations have not significantly changed the character of the house.
According to the owner survey, H. L. Lorraine, an employee of RJR Tobacco Company, built this house ca. 1913 (the house is shown on the 1912 Sanborn Hap), but the first tax listing was by RJR Tobacco Company in 1923. In 1925 R. L. Dunstan, another employee of RJR Tobacco, was living in the house, but he did not purchase it until 1932. A 1963 newspaper article relates that R. L. Dunstan was brought to Winston in 1913 to serve as superintendent of cigarette manufacturing. (The article also states that Lorraine was brought to Winston by Reynolds.)The Dunstan family owned and occupied the house until 1949, after which it changed hands several times until it was purchased by the present owner-occupants in 1974. (SH, OS, TR, CD, WSJ)