1811 Patton Avenue
Built 1954 – 1955 for Fred Davis, Sr., and wife Emma M. Davis. When he took out the permit, Davis worked cleaning railroad cars for the Southern Railway, one of Charlotte’s largest employers. In a later city directory consulted at random, for 1961, Mr. Davis was a stevadore loading trucks at Central Motor Lines.
That 1961 directory listed Mrs. Davis as a nurse at Charlotte’s Good Samaritan Hospital, one of the longest-serving African American hospitals in the U.S. Born and raised in Spartanburg, S.C., Emma M. Davis (2.25.1926 – 11.7.2009) graduated from St. Agnes School of Nursing in Raleigh, NC. “She was a registered nurse for 30 years for Good Samaritan Hospital and Charlotte Memorial Hospital,” according to her funeral program, which also noted that she was a lifetime member of Chi Eta Phi Sorority.
Architecture
This one-story red-brick house has elements of both the Ranch and Cottage styles. Its compact massing and relatively steep gable roof resemble those on other Cottage style dwellings on Patton Avenue. But there is no secondary front gable, often seen in the Cottage style. Two large picture windows, one of them a modernistic corner window, are Ranch style elements. Bands of light-colored stone flank the front door, adding a horizontal emphasis that is characteristic of Ranch architecture.
Building permits
Patton-1800-1811-permit
Date issued: May 6, 1954
Owner: Fred Davis, Sr.
Contractor: Erwin Const. Co.
Other permit info: to build residence
Building permit files, Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
First appeared in city directory
1955 – Fred Davis & Emma M.
He: Car cleaner, Southern Ry. She: No occupation listed.
In 1961 He: Stevadore, Central Motor Lines. She: Nurse, Good Sam Hospital
City directory collection, Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
Obituaries
Emma Davis obituary, Charlotte Observer, November 11, 2009. On-line at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charlotte/obituary.aspx?n=emma-m-davis&pid=135776722