Built c. 1853 (1853) Area 2,000 m² | NRHP Reference # 82003438 Added to NRHP 14 June 1982 | |
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Location College St., Mount Pleasant, North Carolina Architectural style Gothic Revival, Bracketed Mode | ||
The haunted lentz hotel
The Lentz Hotel, erected in 1853 and moved from its original site at the center of Mt. Pleasant in 1980, is the oldest commercial building in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. The board-and-batten exterior is supported by a timber frame of chestnut and reflects the “bracketed mode” of construction, made popular by American architect Andrew Downing Jackson (1815-1852). This “Carpenter Gothic” style includes brackets under especially wide eaves, vertical board-and-batten sheathing, and heavy lentels over the windows. The seven mantels and the staircase are of the Greek Revival tradition. The exterior siding is cypress, interior walls are pine, and the floors are made of heart pine planks. Built by W. R. Scott, the property (known as the Mt. Pleasant Hotel) was sold to John Lentz in 1863 for the sum of $1,350 in Confederate currency. The Lentz family operated the Hotel for over sixty years, spanning three generations. In 1911, an outside set of stairs was added so the upstairs rooms could be used by the female students of Mont Ameona Seminary after the school burned (it was considered unseemly for girls to walk through the downstairs rooms where men could be present).
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The Lentz Hotel was the social center of Mt. Pleasant during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth century. In fact, it was “famous for parties and social events”. Much of the Hotel’s prosperity came from the town’s dual role as a trading and educational center. The Hotel was sold outside the Lentz family in 1926, where it changed hands several times. Over the years, the Hotel served as a tenant house, with the condition of the house gradually deteriorating. Early in 1980, the building was slated to be demolished, to make room for a new building on the existing lot, which was on the town square. Mt. Pleasant Insurance Company, working with preservationists, looked at other options. The Historic Preservation Fund of North Carolina, assisted by the Daniel J. Stowe Foundation, moved the building to its current location on College Street, where it was restored to its original prominence by master craftsmen and renovators. The Lentz Hotel was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Lentz Hotel is now a private residence, owned by Sam and Resa Treadaway.