Written in the Walls

Maintaining Manteo's Historic Architectural Legacy

Most people use only their eyes to see a building, especially old ones in need of repair, but Susan Fearing uses more senses: “You have to listen to these old structures to understand their essence. They all have histories that have imbued them with more than just the wood, nails and windows that are obvious to the eye.” 

To Susan and her husband, Malcolm Fearing, this ability to see and hear into a building that’s past its prime and bring it back to glory is very well-honed. In downtown Manteo alone, they’ve restored nine businesses and one home as well as seven houses in an area on Roanoke Island called Shady Grove. Beyond Manteo, they restored houses on Hatteras Island as well.

It’s not like Malcolm and Susan don’t have plenty of other things to do. They own a thriving insurance company, a wedding venue business, an RV park and have built and operate an organic farm on Roanoke Island. But, as Susan puts it, they both feel compelled to help the island maintain its historic architectural legacy. Plus, they understand that adage made popular in the movie Field of Dreams – If you build it, they will come.

“It’s our way of marketing Manteo,” Susan says. “When visitors or folks from the beach come into our town and see all these old structures that are restored and functioning well for another 100 years, it’s refreshing. They can better understand the value of saving these structures when they see them in their restored state. Plus … they’re pretty! They really add to the overall feel of our little town.”

All the buildings they’re restored have interesting pasts that are worthy of telling so that the history doesn’t get lost.  And some of them have, well, shall we say, really interesting pasts with some stories that might be best left to the mists of time. But we’ll fill you in to an acceptable degree.

Let’s start with the first building they brought back to life, 108 Budleigh, whose name matches its address. Today 108 Budleigh is a stunning wedding and event venue; for most of its previous life it was known as the Duchess of Dare diner, run by Doris Walker. The restaurant was a Manteo landmark for more than just eating. Here, deals were discussed by town business people, newcomers were schooled on the Manteo way and service clubs held their monthly meetings. When you see 108 Budleigh today, what you see is quiet elegance, with a lot of local historic architectural elements showcased. 

When you enter 108, the first sight you’re drawn to is the sweeping staircase, where many a bride has descended and plenty of wedding party pictures have been snapped. The posts going up those stairs used to be ceiling beams from the old diner, and the wrought-iron railings came from an old structure in the historic Ghent section of Norfolk. The backdrop going up the stairs is stained-glass panels that were carefully removed from a church in Ghent. Upstairs, there’s a beautiful copper hood that came from the beloved Carolinian Hotel that used to stand on the oceanfront in Nags Head. The bathroom doors in the women’s restroom were originally from the Carolinian as well (but women complained that they weren’t long enough to provide sufficient cover, so they were replaced). The doors that go into the kitchen are out of the old Nags Head post office. 

Susan tells a funny story about the renovation of 108. The old diner was situated on the ground floor, and the family lived upstairs, but the two stories were not visually connected. One day Malcolm was upstairs and actually fell through the ceiling, opening up a big hole. Susan exclaimed, “I love that light!” And the dramatic two-level open interior was realized. (When this story is told, Malcolm cuts his eyes to the listener to see if, perhaps, there’s a look of worry for his well-being.)

If you look across the street from 108, you see the building where the Hungry Pelican now resides, 205 Budleigh Street. This structure began life as a Gulf station. It was built in 1950 and was originally owned by Malcolm’s family. Perhaps you can understand Susan’s eye for restoring when you imagine the current structure once being a greasy, partially-open-to-the-elements gas station. Since they renovated it, the building has housed county offices, a yarn shop, a yoga and massage studio and now a restaurant. Upstairs, there are several apartments.

Moving farther up Budleigh, you come to 105 Budleigh, known as the Fearing Building. While the major renovations here have been inside, Malcolm and Susan did remove an old, unattractive entrance overhang that was way past its prime. Inside and downstairs, the space feels almost historically industrial with its brick walls showing again and ceilings that are close to 20 feet high. Of all the structures they’ve restored, this one might have had the most tenants, starting with Fearing’s Department Store, Hardware and Pharmacy that was a central shopping destination for Outer Bankers and where Malcolm’s father served as the local pharmacist. Upstairs, it housed the law offices of Martin Kellogg. 

A fire destroyed a portion of 105 Budleigh in 1981, and after the building was restored, it’s been the location of the Pig and Phoenix sandwich shop; the national guidebook company Insiders’ Guides; Endless Possibilities, a fundraising and outreach component of the Outer Banks Hotline; the Deb Taylor fitness studio; a karate studio; a yoga studio; Nancy Harvey Designs; Lynn Atkins frame shop; The Nest, a fine lifestyle gift shop; The Island Shop; and the offices for Outer Banks This Week. Malcolm and Susan are currently reworking the downstairs area, and locals are curiously awaiting the news of what it will become.

Right beside the Fearing Building is 101 Budleigh, a structure that used to house two banks – the Bank of Manteo and Planters Bank. The bank vaults are still there, but today the building is home to a candy store and a coffee shop downstairs and a real estate office and massage studio upstairs. If you look up at the second story, you’ll see a stunningly crafted open porch punctuated by two graceful crane statues (artistic yet non-showy touches like these statues are hallmarks of the Fearings’ design eye). Susan explains that they added this porch initially as a potential outdoor party space with show-stopping views of the water and harbor to complement 108 Budleigh, which is across the street. To access the deck, they added an outdoor staircase that showcases restored iron gates at the bottom and an imported water fountain at the top of the stairs. You catch a European flair but one that mixes beautifully with Manteo’s style.

About a block away, you find 504 Croatan. Now a vacation rental, the building was initially constructed in 1960 as a home for the elderly, which is quite a compassionate legacy for a small island town like Manteo. Later, the space was used by the board of education and as the offices for Dare County’s public defenders.

Around the corner is 110 Ananias Dare, a private home today. It was built in 1930 and was the residence for Dr. Wallace Harvey, the town’s doctor. The clinic where he worked was next door (recently torn down to make space for the new Town Commons). For a while, this building housed a dentist practice.

If you walk over two blocks, you’re on Sir Walter Raleigh Street. The Fearings restored the building that now houses Sam & Winston, bringing in light with added windows and adding a striking red metal roof. The structure housed a pool hall in its early years and later was storage for Ras Wescott’s (of Nags Head Casino fame) pinball machines. It later became a steak house and then an antiques mall. Today’s clean, airy structure might be seen as almost the opposite energy of what was inevitably a smoky, beer-smelling billiards hall. Yet, for anyone who has known Manteo for a number of years, you can appreciate the preservation and repurposing of a building in which plenty of people spent many enjoyable hours and the fact that the architectural footprint was maintained.

Across the street, there’s another building that originally began as a gas station, this one an Esso. Today, Ortega’z Southwestern Grill offers lunch and dinner there. But, remember when I mentioned that some stories might be best left to the mists of time? Well, this is where those stories originated. Not from its current inhabitant, mind you, but from its second. Fernando’s Ale House held sway in this building for many years. It was not a place for those with delicate manners. In the years before Manteo allowed liquor by the drink (which only passed here in 2008), locals found their way to imbibe spirits by renting liquor lockers here. And what happens when you have free rein to bottles of liquor? Well, to put it mildly … rowdiness.

How rowdy? My favorite story involves a man pushing another man – who was butt naked – into Fernando’s via a shopping cart. Somehow (how on earth? you might ask …) a brawl broke out that involved plenty of patrons, a local law enforcer (jury is still out as to whether he was there for pleasure or on official duty) and this clothes-less fellow. After everyone’s aggression was spent, the story goes that they all went back to whatever they were doing as if nothing had happened. Ahhhh, the good old days.

After Fernando’s, the building housed the Green Dolphin Pub. As you might imagine, in its original form, there were very few windows, discretion being the better part of something. So when Malcolm and Susan began their restoration, they knew that was a much-needed addition. The entire east wall is mostly windows now,  but they actually aren’t windows; they’re glass doors turned sideways. They also took out the wall that separated the two main rooms in the building, one of which functioned as a pool room with a table from across the street, creating a much more spacious interior, and they added a west wall of mirrors that once provided reflection for the patrons working out at the aforementioned Deb Taylor studio.

Allison Martin, one of the Fearing’s daughters, adds a fun story from the reno. For years, the cash register stood on an elevated platform that was slated to be torn out. As they began to remove boards, Allison noticed that decades’ worth of change had collected under those planks. Despite having two other sisters, 21-year-old Alison laid claim to the bounty. “Did you share it?” I asked? “Of course not! I didn’t even tell them,” she laughs.
Up the street is the final renovation, 300 Sir Walter Raleigh. The graceful structure you see from the sidewalk is, perhaps, the epitome of how a practiced renovator with an exquisite eye for design can transform a tired, old building into a thing of beauty. When this building was constructed as a family home, it was envisioned as a smaller version of the stately Davis house next door. It sported a wide front porch, wood siding and a basic four-square design. Through the years, it became a commercial building. A brick façade was added, the front porch was replaced with a small, covered entrance, and the beauty that once shone through began to fade.

The house was on the market for many years, probably, Susan muses, because no one could figure out what to do with it. But today it’s the calling card for how these old structures can be brought back to life. A new front porch welcomes you now. A large porch has been added upstairs on the east side where the expansive view of the sound can be appreciated. And inside, the transformation is really something to behold. What had been changed into a sort of rabbit warren of smaller rooms is now bright, open large spaces that flow beautifully from one to the next. The third story, once just an attic, was turned into a recreational lounge space for their seven grandchildren. The Fearings are currently using the building as their office, but the renovation included a full kitchen, so perhaps one day it will house a (very lucky) family.

History is sometimes quietly written in books, the land and even on faces. But the history Malcolm and Susan see in the wood, windows and walls of old structures that they save is obvious for all to see. A drive-by is a quick history lesson, but a closer look tells the story of time.