Nearly every Monday for the past 19 months, Lee Hansley and a crew of local workers have been restoring a piece of Roanoke Rapids history.

Commonly called the Turtle House, the Double Turtleback House at the intersection of Hamilton and Third streets is a link to John Armstrong Chaloner , the founder of Roanoke Rapids, and his friend, architect Stanford White, who is famous for designing the second Madison Square Garden.

The Turtle House may stand as one of White’s more iconic pieces of work in Roanoke Rapids and Hansley, a city native and former newspaper editor for the Daily Herald, who covered Crystal Lee Sutton’s arrest, believes the work being done sends a message that old houses like it should be saved — not demolished.

(More photos can be found on our Facebook page)

Now living in Raleigh where he runs an art gallery, Hansley has always been interested in the history of Roanoke Rapids and its architecture.

“I always kept my eye on the Turtleback houses,” Hansley said, admitting his interest was in another one of the houses.

The house, like others in the neighborhood often referred to as Old Town, were built for the workers in Chaloner’s first mill effort, Hansley said.

Hansley can’t say for sure whether the house was ever to home to millworkers. He does know a viscountess from Paris owned it.

An architect for the wealthy, Hansley said White’s work in Roanoke Rapids and work he did in Niagara Falls are the only examples of houses designed for the working class.

Across the street from Turtleback is another White creation, a house that Sam Patterson’s brother lived in.

A view of the house Patterson's brother lived in across the street.

Hansley’s house, which he bought in June of 2011, was built as a true duplex, with an apartment upstairs and one downstairs. “It has been used as a single family house.”

All of White’s houses were built in 1894 and Turtlebacks were built on corners.

Between First and Fourth streets and Hamilton and Charlotte, 17 of the houses White designed for Old Town still stand. Only two pure Turtlebacks remain while another was drastically altered, Hansley said. “I don’t know why they were torn down.”

Hansley kept watch on the Turtlebacks for some 10 years and Kirkwood Adams advised the young newspaperman he should buy one.

The chance finally came as he was looking at the one he wanted and ran into a man from Charlottesville who was taking photos of the house. It turned out the man was interested in Chaloner’s history. Hansley then learned the Double Turtleback was for sale.

Milk bottle light fixture.

He negotiated and bought the house in 2011.

The lure of the house is its history. “I know John Armstrong Chaloner told Stanford White, ‘I want you to design houses for the workers and utilize space to the maximum.’”

Hansley began work on the house immediately. “There was not a single plant in the yard. Now there are 300.”

He has planted Crepe Myrtles next to the sidewalk and put up privacy fencing and will eventually enclose the picket fence so there can be no parking in the yard. “I’ve been here every Monday except for four,” he said.

Both apartments were in bad shape and the house itself suffered from a bad reputation for drug sales. “I want credit for turning it away from drugs,” Hansley said. “Friday afternoons were like a Hardee’s drive-through.”

Down the entry way.

Six weeks ago Hansley put up a sign describing the history of the house. “I wanted people to know what the house was and respect it.”

The upstairs was scheduled to be finished today. Inside are new hardwood floors, new appliances and even a light fixture made from antique milk bottles.

Hansley admits all the history is on the outside. “There’s none inside. I want it very nice inside and the outside like 1894.”

Sign noting the history.

To keep the outside like 1894, the house will be painted pale yellow with green at the top.

The message he wants to send in this restoration, he said, “Is I want the people in the neighborhood to be proud. I wanted to demonstrate what you can do with property like this. It doesn’t have to be torn down, abandoned and allowed to deteriorate. These houses are built better than modern ones.”

Hansley’s target tenants for upstairs — the downstairs renovation will begin in the spring — are schoolteachers. “It was my school, my school district and I would like to do something for my school district.”