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WE WSPO 1a•900 -a (RW.8 -86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 7 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: dMe AWMW N0.102"018 Holden- Roberts Farm Orange County, NC The Holden- Roberts Farm qualifies for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with local significance in Orange County, North Carolina as a largely intact complex representing diversified farming and specialized chicken fanning during the first half of the twentieth century. Although the land has been farmed more or less continuously since the late - eighteenth century, the remaining outbuildings depict the period from 1900 to 1950. The centerpiece of the farm complex, a handsome, well- preserved, tri-gable I -house built for Addison Holden in 1873 -1874, also has local significance and is eligible for the National Register under Criterion C for its fine vernacular architecture. The dwelling is unusual for its asymmetrical front facade that exhibits four bays on the first floor with a bank of three windows at the north end, a central double -leaf door, and two windows at the south end that mirror the placement of end windows in the bank. More typical of I- houses in central North Carolina, three second -floor windows are regularly spaced, one above the center window of the bank on the north end, one above the door, and one above the space between the windows at the south end. Machine -made mantels and newels, a center wall gable with a quatrefoil ventilator, and large impression bronze hinges are other remarkable details. One of a very few dwellings in Orange County to be built during Reconstruction, the house was enlarged with a kitchen- parlor -porch addition ca. 1900, and a wing containing a bedroom and a bath ca. 1930. Around 1970, the wing was renovated, and the house updated with another bathroom on the ca. 1900 porch. The additions and renovations have been sensitive to the original plan and fabric of the dwelling, and the Holden - Roberts Farmhouse reflects the 1873 -1874 period of its architectural significance. ARCHITECTURAL CONTEXT: Before the second quarter of the twentieth century, farmhouses constructed in the upland South were often rectangular, two- story, one - room -deep structures with gable or hip roofs and exterior chimneys that are. now called I- houses.19 The house type originated in English folk culture but its name was coined for builders who were thought to have brought the form from Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois, states whose names begin with "I," to Louisiana: ° The first I- houses had simple upward extensions of the hall and parlor plan, but by the mid- nineteenth century, a s etrical center -hall room arrangement was preferred.' The proportions and features of these dwellings changed slightly over time, offering a few concessions to current architectural fashion '2 During the late - nineteenth century, builders of I- houses in North Carolina often retained hints of the Greek Revival style through the use of cornice returns and double -leaf entry doors. They also began to utilize a prominent decorative front central wall or roof gable. This feature, when combined with the traditional gable ends, served to create a tri -gable variant that proved extremely popular throughout the state. The front gable was derived from the Gothic Revival or Downing cottage style that featured steep central gables and richly ornamented