Ivey-Ellington Roof Undergoes Stabilization, Re-Painting to Original Colors
Cary, NC – Visitors to Chatham Street may notice a change to one of Downtown Cary’s most historic buildings as the Ivey-Ellington House’s roof has been stripped and re-painted as part of a stabilization effort by the Town of Cary.
The Ivey-Ellington House, built around 1874, is known to most people in Cary as the site of the Downtown Cary Farmers Market. It has served as an important piece of Cary history not just because of its longevity but also because its example of older architectural features such as board-and-batten siding and pointed arch windows.
Over the past week, crews have been stripping the green paint from the house’s roof and replacing it with a metallic white paint.
“The roof has been deteriorating markedly,” said Kris Carmichael, director of the Page-Walker Arts and History Center. “We wanted to stabilize it and part of that is having the roof stripped and repainted.”
The Ivey-Ellington House as its green paint was stripped
The roof had already been painted green when the Town of Cary bought the property from the Jefferson Sugg Revocable Trust in 2011 but Carmichael said archive photos show it was originally a plain colored roof.
“We pulled outside photos from artistic archives to see how the Ivey-Ellington house looked and talked with folks who were around back then for their memories,” Carmichael said. “We decided the best course is to make the roof how it looked originally and since we couldn’t strip it all the way down to the exposed metal, repainting it the same color was the next best thing. We’re happy it’s back to its original appearance.”
Carmichael said there are no records of when the Ivey-Ellington’s roof was first painted green but said there are archive photos of it unpainted as recently as the 1980s.
Early photograph showing the Ivey-Ellington House after it was repainted green. Photo courtesy of the Friends of the Page-Walker
While the roof is now repainted, Carmichael said this is not the end of the work to preserve the historic downtown house.
“The process of stabilization is still ongoing and it will be a multi-year process,” Carmichael said.
The Ivey-Ellington House is located at 135 W Chatham St. The Downtown Cary Farmers Market occurs at the house Saturdays at 8 AM.
The Ivey-Ellington House with its newly painted roof
Story by Michael Papich. Photos by Michael Papich and courtesy of the Friends of the Page-Walker.
For a few years the Food & Flea did have part of their market there too, Veronica. The layout of the property poses a LOT of logistical issues, most notably trees and the location of signs and the porch that impedes a good vendor booth layout. Most of the land is at the back and not visible from the road, which is also a challenge for people to use that part, and usually ended up being parking for the vendors. This whole piece of property is part of the George Jordan Project (along with his building next door on the corner of Harrison and Chatham), and part of the town’s land on Academy. So anything planned here is temporary
Awesome building! Is it under consideration to incorporate this structure in the new downtown park? Seems it would be a great addition for all that’s planned there.
I’m pleased see this masterpiece of unusual architecture is being restored. According to a news article in 2016 The Ivey-Ellington house it is used to store items for the FARMERS MARKET. Is there a plausible way for the building to be used as an ARTISTIC MARKET (a small extension of the CARY LAZY DAZE) to sell hand-crafted products much like the RALEIGH large Farmers Market displays? Also can it be a part of the Cary Walking Tour conducted by Page-Walker Art and History Center?
Glad to see that this historic structure is being cared for. Kudos to Kris Carmichael and Cary historic preservationists, including the Friends of the Page-Walker, for preserving Cary’s history.