MEMBERS of the Historic Wilmington Foundation stood on the steps of City
Hall in 2019 and announced the list of the year’s most threatened historic
places. Topping the list was the Richard Langdon home on Orange Street,
adjacent to First Presbyterian Church.
“A property like that, that’s a special one, there aren’t many like it left in town and once it’s
gone, it’s gone and a lot of history goes with it,” says Ashley Garner of Ashley B. Garner &
Associates, who listed the home in 2019.
Built in 1808, the Langdon home is recorded as Wilmington’s eighth-oldest. By 2019, it was
in utter disrepair. The ceilings were caving in, and its walls were crumbling. It needed someone
to rescue it from being torn down — someone willing to invest time, energy and money in a
full-scale restoration.
“I said there’s absolutely no way,” says Laura Luddy, smiling at husband Jim Luddy while
sitting in the living room of the newly restored home three years later. A framed Rehabilitation
Award from the Historic Wilmington Foundation is perched on an easel in the kitchen.
“I couldn’t see what Jim was seeing, all I saw was an old house that needed a lot of work,” says
Laura, remembering when they first toured the house.
“My wife was looking at me, it was dangerous to walk through,” says Jim. “But I really liked
the structure of the house and the layout.”
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ALLISON POTTER
Exterior paint colors: Downing Slate by Sherwin Williams (body of the home), Downing Straw
by Sherwin Williams (trim), Rockwood Medium Brown by Sherwin Williams (accent). All 90
porch pickets were painted by Laura Luddy (at right with Jim Luddy.)
ALLISON POTTER