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Bivings-Converse House

Coordinates: 34°56′34″N 81°50′12″W / 34.94278°N 81.83667°W / 34.94278; -81.83667
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Bivings-Converse House
Bivings-Converse House, January 2012
Bivings-Converse House is located in South Carolina
Bivings-Converse House
Bivings-Converse House is located in the United States
Bivings-Converse House
Location1 Douglas St.,
near Glendale, South Carolina
Coordinates34°56′34″N 81°50′12″W / 34.94278°N 81.83667°W / 34.94278; -81.83667
Arealess than one acre
Builtc. 1836 (1836)
Architectural styleMid 19th Century Revival, Roman Revival
NRHP reference No.95000638[1]
Added to NRHPMay 26, 1995

The Bivings-Converse House is a historic house located at 1 Douglas Street near Glendale, Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

Description and history

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It was built in about 1836, and is a 2+12-story frame mansion in a vernacular Roman Revival (or Greek Revival) style. It has a gable roof and front and rear porches with fluted Roman Doric order columns. About 1890, two Victorian bays and a kitchen wing was added. It was the home of Dr. James Bivings (1781–1869), prominent local textile pioneer, and Dexter Edgar Converse (1829–1899), industrialist, textile entrepreneur, and founder of Converse College.[2][3]

The house has had a number of structural problems in recent decades, especially since it was vacated in around 1961.[4] The original wooden floors were replaced in the 1970s due to termite damage. The original wooden shingled roof was redone with standard asphalt in 1992, but as of 1995 the structure was vacant and had been subjected to vandalism and water damage. It has remained in a state of disrepair as recently as 2015. The shutters on the exterior have been removed and the windows have been boarded up.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 26, 1995.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ Martin E. Meek and J. Tracy Power (March 1995). "Bivings-Converse House" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places – Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  3. ^ "Bivings-Converse House, Spartanburg County (1 Douglas St., Glendale vicinity)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  4. ^ "Evins-Bivings House – Spartanburg South Carolina SC". www.sciway.net. Retrieved 2017-07-29.