{"nrhp_refnum":"96001397","name":"Wiseman, Ray, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"7540 Linville Falls Hwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Altamont","county":"Avery County","state":"NC","lat":35.99301537100007,"lon":-81.94248964199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-11-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story Craftsman bungalow of native river stone in rural Altamont, Avery County, North Carolina, built in 1941 on the original roadbed of old US Highway 221 at its junction with Bowman Road.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is an intact, well-documented example of the Craftsman style built with local materials and craftsmen, including the river rock and Avery County chestnut and oak used throughout. It is presented as the only purely Craftsman house built by stone mason Ernest Franklin and as a marker of the merger of a national style with a local building tradition.","narrative":"Built in 1941 on a one-acre rural tract at Altamont, the one-story bungalow is faced with water-polished river stone gathered from the Linville River after its 1940 flood. Local stone mason Ernest Franklin built it with a side-gabled roof, board-and-batten gables, exposed rafter ends and a stone-and-wood entry portico. The interior keeps its original chestnut millwork, hand-planed and unpainted, a post-and-lintel mantel with a brick firebox, and original light fixtures and bathroom fittings. Carpenters Clingman Franklin and Gordon Davenport worked on the woodwork. The house is regarded as a clear example of Craftsman design adapted to mountain materials and middle-class domestic life in the years before World War II. It is also tied to the nearby Crossnore Presbyterian Church, which Franklin relatives built in the same tradition. Franklin's stone work here is considered the most intact survival of his output.","period_of_significance":"1941","architect_builder":"Ernest Franklin (stone mason); Clingman Franklin and Gordon Davenport (carpenters)","architectural_style":"Bungalow/Craftsman","criteria":["C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.227216-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/77/7189/47718977/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/96001397.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001397/adfcb8b933-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001397/adfcb8b933-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Charles boyette","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ray_Wiseman_House_(1941)_at_Altamont,_NC.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Charles boyette</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ray_Wiseman_House_(1941)_at_Altamont,_NC.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718977","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Wiseman_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18159326"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/avery-county/wiseman-ray-house-96001397/"}