John Calvin Kluttz House

08.28.11

J.C. Kluttz House.

Tudor Cottage with steep side gable roof with an exterior end chimney, plain siding and 9-over-l paired sash windows. The replacement front door has a pedimented stoop and boxed posts. A recessed comer porch has boxed posts and a plain railing.

1930 CD: John C. Kluttz occupant.

(The information below in italics is from the Historic Preservation Society of Durham Plaque Application for the John Calvin Kluttz House)

According to his obituary and the entries in the Durham city directories, John Calvin Kluttz (1870-1956) came to Durham from his birthplace in Cabarrus County. He was a real estate broker and investor and later, he was a home builder. For a time, he was also a manager at Erwin Mills in West Durham. His first wife, Sarah Anna Broadway Kluttz, died in 1915. They had nine children together. In 1926, the Kluttz family resided at 1005 Eighth Street (now Iredell Street). He built the subject house in 1927 as a speculative venture, but decided to move his large family into the house instead. It is unknown whether Mr. Kluttz built the house himself, but given his profession and age at the time, it is not unreasonable to assume that he built the house or acted as his own contractor. Kluttz remarried in 1929, and by 1930, he and his new wife, Bessie Breedlove Kluttz (1883-1954), had moved from the house to a smaller new home on a twenty-acre parcel on Cole Mill Road. 
Throughout the years of the Great Depression, the house was home to various members of the Kluttz family. By this time, all of the children were adults, many of them married. For periods, it was not unusual for Kluttz children and their spouses to live together in the house - a sign of the times. By 1939, when sisters Katherine, Elma, Ethel, and and Lillie Mae owned the house, it was occupied by Elma Kluttz, John C. Kluttz, Jr., his wife, Lucille, Paul Kluttz, and Katherine Kluttz. John, Jr., and his wife moved from the property in 1940 or 41. Paul married and moved sometime thereafter. During the 1950s and 60s, the house was home to Katherine and Elma Kluttz and Ethel and A. H. McClung. 

Elma and Ethel Kluttz were twins. Both graduated from Trinity College in 1924. Katherine Lavinia Kluttz (1903-1996) was one year their junior and consequently was among the first students to graduate from the new Duke University. (see, Chanticleer, 1924). Elma taught school at North Durham Graded School and at other Durham schools during her career. She also taught at American schools in Europe. In 1963, Elma Kluttz married a college sweetheart, Peter Herman Edwards, and they moved to Washington. Ethel McClung was also a school teacher in the Durham schools. Except for a time during World War Two, she and her husband, A. H. "Mac" McClung resided in the house during their married lives. Ethel McClung died in 1972 and A. H. McClung stayed on in the house with Katherine for a number of years. 

Katherine Kluttz also became an elementary school teacher. She taught in schools in several North Carolina communities before returning to Durham permanently around 1945. During World War Two, Katherine worked in the Department of Cryptography in Washington. She taught in the Durham schools from 1945 until her retirement in 1968. Katherine resided at 2316 W. Club Blvd. until the months immediately preceding her death in 1996. This information was obtained from Katherine Kluttz's obituary in the Durham Morning Herald, July 10, 1996, from the records of Maplewood Cemetery where members of the Kluttz family are interred, from an interview with Elizabeth Stutts Rogers, Katherine Kluttz's niece, and from written notes generously provided by Ms. Rogers and her cousin, Susan Hobgood. Ms. Rogers is the daughter of J. C. Kluttz's eldest child, Addie Jeanette Kluttz Stutts. Addie Stutts never resided in the subject property. She was married and living in her own home in 1927. Ms. Hobgood is the daughter of J. C. Kluttz, Jr., and his wife, Lucille. 

From 1996 until 2008, the house was the home of James Henderson and Janice Lee Tedder and their two sons. Mr. Henderson was and is a teacher and administrator at the Carolina Friends School in Durham. He earned his doctorial degree from Duke University. Ms. Tedder is a nurse practitioner interested in infant care. Both have published articles in their respective fields. 

The applicants, Elizabeth Peeples and David A. Davis, have resided in the property since 2008. Ms. Peeples is an instructor of English at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Mr. Davis is an engineer with Biogen - Idec. Both are graduates of Vanderbilt University. 

The house was built in 1927. J. C. Kluttz purchased the lot in January of that year. The 1927 city directory indicates that the house was "vacant." The architect is unknown; however, it is believed that J. C. Kluttz was the contractor for the construction of the house. He built many other houses in the west Durham area. 

The house is a story-and-a-half, end-gable, minimal Tudor cottage. The front elevation is dominated by a steep-roofed (90 degree) gable projection. The front entry is located in the center of the house with double sash windows arranged symmetrically on either side. A similar set of windows is positioned in the upper gable creating regulating lines that mirror the roof line. The window lights are nine-over-one. The front stoop is covered with a pediment resting on box columns. This was added during the Henderson- Tedder period. The house is clad with wide claps in shiplap fashion. The corners are mitered. The steep roof has little overhang, consisted with the Tudor style. On the east gable end there is a very tall chimney of multicolored, wire-striated bricks. A porch is engaged beneath a gable projection to the west subordinate to the end gable. With the exception of the entry pediment, the front façade, doors, windows, and siding and materials are all original. 

The Henderson-Tedders remodeled the kitchen and extended it into an addition to the rear of the house. They also remodeled the bathrooms. Otherwise, the interior of the house is essentially original. The interior casing and woodwork are in the colonial style, typical of late Tudor-revival homes in the South. The house is large, containing four bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs.