T
he walking tour through the rooms will reveal the dichotomy of a
dwelling once designed to support a lavish, aristocratic lifestyle and
the adaptive reuse of the building’s finer points, like the built-in china
cupboard used to store canned goods for the church’s Samaritan Guild.
Other relic architectural features provide insight into turn-of-the-century
family life, like the service buzzer for summoning maids, and textured glass
panel doors in the rear stair hall to ensure the family’s privacy as servants would
transit from lower to upper floors.
In the second floor family quarters, only Captain MacRae’s bathroom remains
the only room used for its original intention. Mrs. MacRae’s bedroom is now the
office of The Reverend Ron Abrams. The elliptical turret is Abrams’ library. An
antechamber, Mrs. MacRae’s sewing room, is an office for Abrams’ secretary. On
Bacon’s floorplan Bedroom No. 2, which may have been used as a nursery or Mrs.
MacRae’s sitting room, at the top of the second floor landing, is now Gornto’s office.
From French doors that open onto the second story porch, Gornto views
Wilmington’s bustling streetscape and the Cape Fear River banks.
“It ended up being much more of a restoration preservation than I ever dreamed of,”
Gornto says.
home of distinction
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WBM april 2013