White Street-Valdese Avenue Historic District

Northeast of downtown Morganton, this district of about 22 acres follows parts of White Street and Valdese Avenue. It holds 45 buildings erected between about 1885 and 1936, mostly houses ranging from substantial Victorian and Queen Anne homes to small cottages and bungalows. Much of Valdese Avenue was once part of the Claywell family's Broadoaks farm, and the earliest surviving house, built about 1885 by Edward B. Claywell, still stands. Larger houses came first, followed by more modest infill, a pattern repeated in other Morganton neighborhoods. The district also includes the 1905 Colonial Revival main building of Broadoaks Sanitarium, a private hospital for nervous disorders founded in 1902 by men associated with Broughton Hospital. It closed in 1959 and has since been rehabilitated as offices. Two houses on White Street are associated with the Avery and Hennessee families, who were Black. Thirty-eight of the 45 buildings contribute to the district's character, and its architecture and development history supported its listing.