Love House and Hutchins Forum to house Southern studies at UNC
Once its renovation is complete, a historic home on Franklin Street with longstanding ties to UNC will have an even closer relationship to campus.
The James Lee Love House at 410 E. Franklin St. was built around 1887 by James Lee Love, a Carolina mathematics professor, and his wife, June Spencer Love, for themselves and her mother, Cornelia Phillips Spencer. Spencer is known for ringing the South Building bell upon news in 1875 that the University would reopen after Reconstruction.
Marguerite Hutchins (Glenn Hutchins’ mother), right, reacts as she and Spencie Love, center, remove a cover from a sign at a ceremony marking the start of construction and renovation of the Love House and Hutchins Forum, which will house the Center for the Study of the American South. At left is Harry Watson, director of the center. (Photo by Dan Sears)
The Loves moved north after James accepted a job at
Harvard, and Spencer lived there alone. After she moved
out, the house and land went in and out of UNC’s
possession several times before becoming the
University’s for good in the 1940s, said UNC history
professor Harry Watson, director of the Center for the
Study of the American South. Since then, the University has
leased the house, mainly as a residence.
But soon, after renovations and a 900-square-foot addition
named for the late James A. Hutchins Jr., a 1937 UNC
graduate, the building will be called the Love House and
Hutchins Forum and become home to Carolina’s Center
for the Study of the American South.
The building’s most recent tenant was historian
Spencie Love, Spencer’s great-granddaughter. After
moving out, she helped obtain a Love family foundation gift
to the University to start the renovation.
Glenn Hutchins, co-founder and managing director of Silver
Lake Partners of New York City, donated funds for the
project to honor his father. James Hutchins studied with
the late Carolina sociologist Howard Odum, who is credited
with building UNC’s commitment to tackling social and
economic challenges in the South when he came to Carolina
in 1920.
“My family and I are very pleased to support this
important project,” Hutchins said. “The beauty
of the renovated physical structure is already evident,
reflecting the enduring values that lie at the heart of the
University’s commitment to leading the way in
tackling the social and economic challenges of the
day.”
Indeed, the seven-room, one-story house has deep porches,
wide lawns and large shade trees—a natural home for
research, teaching and public dialogue on the history,
culture and contemporary experience of the South. The
center, founded in 1992, works to further this signature
mission at UNC.
The renovated building will allow the center, now housed in
six small offices on different floors of Hamilton and
Carroll halls, to bring all its activities under one roof
and expand its services to UNC and the public.
“We are delighted that our new location will so
easily serve the larger University community,” Watson
said.
As of late September, the restoration process was ahead of
schedule. “The new copper roof is not only beautiful,
it will also be water-tight—unlike its
predecessor!” Watson siad. “We can’t wait
to move in and to welcome everyone to our
dedication.”
Spencie Love said she was thrilled to see the house’s
transformation. “It’s really a re-birth for the
house,” she said. “Now people will enjoy it for
both its old and new qualities.”
Claire Cusick*
* With contributions from L.J. Toler in UNC News Services.
The Love House and Hutchins Forum will be dedicated on
April 21, 2007.