Old home gets major facelift [The News Herald, Morganton, N.C.]

Jan. 09--RUTHERFORD COLLEGE -- Curt Abee hopes his new insurance office makes you feel like you're at your grandma's house, which shouldn't be much of a feat since it was his grandma's house.

The 1940s home at 551 U.S. 70 W. had been derelict for years, with just one or two renters occupying it since his grandmother, Caledonia Lowman, moved out.

The house was starting to deteriorate.

"I didn't want to see the building torn down," he said.

So Abee decided that when he expanded his Hickory-based Curt Abee Insurance Agency with a Burke County office, he would fix up the house and use it.

It was a daunting task, he said, and may have cost him more than if he'd bulldozed the home.

He had to replace the roof, put up new siding and drywall, modernize the plumbing and electricity, widen doorways to make them handicap accessible and make other changes to meet commercial building code.

It took at least four years to get everything done, from the rezoning to the remodeling, but it was worth it to Abee.

"It had a lot of sentimental value," he explained.

Rutherford College Mayor Jim Huffman says he appreciated the effort Abee took to renovate the house.

"It seems like a lot just tear them (old houses) down," he said. "... I hate to see old buildings go. They have a lot of history behind them."

Huffman says sometimes the costs of repairs are too much, however, and it's a lot cheaper to build from scratch.

The mayor was surprised at how good the house looks now.

"It looked like it had to be demolished and he turned it around," he said.

Abee says Huffman's not the only one to notice. Dozens have stopped by to see what Abee's done with the old Lowman place.

And Abee says he's not finished yet.

"I've got more work to do," he said. "It's just too cold."

He plans to spruce up the landscaping this spring and put down decorative stonework.

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