Smith, Turner and Amelia, House
Why it's listed
Built in the late 1880s on Old Stage Road in Wake County, North Carolina, the Turner and Amelia Smith House is a two-story frame I-house with a triple-A roof and a tall rear shed. It began as a single-story, gable-roofed, two-room-deep cottage on land given to Amelia Myatt by her parents in 1886, and a second story was added within a few years. Its vernacular Italianate details include round gable vents, deep gable returns, molded modillion cornices, and three-part chamfered porch posts ending in sawn spandrels. The interior keeps wide pine floors, eleven-foot ceilings, and a paneled newel post with an urn-like finial. Its finishes set it apart from the many plainer I-houses of the county, and the house is valued as one of the oldest surviving triple-A I-houses in Wake County. The Smith family farmed here until the mid-1920s.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the house is locally significant under Criterion C as a largely intact example of a vernacular Italianate dwelling, distinguished from more typical county I-houses by its finishes at the porch and second-story roofline. It also notes the house was built in two phases, with a single-story gable-roofed cottage enlarged by a second story, which produced an unusually tall rear shed.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 05000549, listed June 10, 2005. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 12244 Old Stage Rd., Willow Spring |
|---|---|
| County | Wake County |
| Listed | June 10, 2005 |
| Reference number | 05000549 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The house has been vacant for the past fifteen years, and the current owner is undertaking a rehabilitation that has removed the collapsed porch section and the rear ell. |
| Acreage | 1.9 |
| Coordinates | 35.57913, -78.69374 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 05000549.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q1732837
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.