Historic bungalow needs a caretaker

Every town has its mystery house.

For generations of people in Shelby, it was the Spanish bungalow that stood out among the traditional Southern homes on West Warren Street. Instead of camellias and boxwoods, the yard was filled with yucca and cactus.

Out front, a sign read: "El Nido" -- Spanish for "the nest."

A California dream brought it to Shelby in 1921. A young doctor from Western North Carolina promised his wife they'd move to California, where she wanted to live, but only after he'd established his medical practice. When he backed away from the promise, she built the 2,800-square-foot Spanish/California style bungalow instead.

Folks who knew Dr. Emmett Gibbs, his wife, Maude, and their daughter, Evelyn Ray, say they were friendly but private. Emmett Gibbs, a family doctor, practiced in Shelby until he died in 1952.

Evelyn Ray Gibbs never married. After her mother died in 1969, Gibbs stayed in the house alone. She gardened, painted in an upstairs studio and enjoyed her collections of dolls, sea shells, matchbooks, stamps, vintage postcards and pottery. She died April 23, 2007, at age 92.

In her will, she donated El Nido to Preservation North Carolina, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that preserves and promotes buildings, landscapes and sites important to the state's heritage.

The group is looking for someone to live in the house and rehabilitate it. Under a rental arrangement, that resident will pay utilities and taxes and sign a long-term lease of up to 35 years with Preservation North Carolina. The resident must also agree to spend an estimated $150,000 on the interior. Historic tax credits will be available.

Once stabilized, El Nido will be open to the public on a limited basis. Many original furnishings will stay in the house.

Meanwhile, some of the contents -- vintage clothes, furniture, books, glassware, household goods and antiques -- will be sold at an estate auction today.

Preservation North Carolina President Myrick Howard said El Nido's architectural style is rare in the state.

"It's absolutely one of the best, if not the best, Spanish bungalows in North Carolina," he said. "It's a fascinating house. And extremely well-built."

The exterior was made of the same kind of clay tile used in 1920s skyscrapers. Floor tile was imported from Mexico.

In 1987, Gibbs agreed to open up her part of her house to Charlotte photographer Tim Buchman, who was shooting pictures for a book, "North Carolina Architecture." El Nido was the first house photographed for that project.

Shelby Mayor Ted Alexander, director of Preservation North Carolina's southwestern regional office, described Gibbs as "a kind and gentle lady."

"Her whole life story is in that house," he said. "She was very proud of it and grateful we were preserving it."

Gibbs moved into an assisted living facility about five years ago. After her death, volunteers helped inventory her belongings.

"She kept everything," Alexander said. "If something went into the house, it stayed."

The house is showing its age and the effects of being unoccupied for years.

Volunteer Tim Ware, who spent months working in El Nido's clutter, remembered the musty smell and feeling a bit sad about the condition of the house. One day he cranked up an antique Victrola with a 78-rpm record still in place. The turntable began to spin -- and El Nido filled with music.

"Music made the house come alive," said Ware, a divinity student at Union-PSCE seminary in Charlotte.

He hopes El Nido's future residents will keep the original character in honor of the owners who loved it so much.

"I hope they'll bring life and happiness to the house again," he said. "There's a spirit to this place."