Flowers-Spears House

Flowers-Spears House, 1980

Per the historic inventory, WW Flowers, president of the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company commissioned well-known Charlotte architecture firm CC Hook to design the house at 501 Watts St. for his father, George Washington Flowers in the early 1910s.

Rear of the Flowers-Spears House, 06.19.57

The contractor was John T. Salmon, who lived nearby at 512 Watts. St. Flowers evidently attached stipulations to the deed that the house always serve as a family gathering place.

By the 1970s, it was occupied by Estelle Flowers Spears, WW Flowers' sister. It remains in the Spears family.

The Durham Morning Herald reported on the building of the home on July 31, 1907, page 1: 

CONTRACT NEW HOME/ W. W. Flowers Will Have a New Home on Watts Street.

The contract has been given by W. W. Flowers for the erection of a home on Watts street. This will be almost opposite the home of Alderman J. B. Warren. 

It is understood that the home will cost about $10,000 and that the work is to be completed as early as it is possible to do work of this kind.

The contract has been awarded to Salmon Bros., and the contractors will begin the work the first of next week. When completed the home will compare favorably with any in that section where there are a number of fine homes.

22011