EMS15 - Wine Down on Main and
Blue Moon Gallery and Frame

Formerly known as the Crary Hotel, the Crary Building, and the Breese Building

History

In 1882, the land where this building stands today was a vacant lot.  On January 12th of that year the owner, James Lyon, sold it to G.F. Glazener for $65.  It's not known what he did with the property, but almost exactly 20 years later, on January 24, 1902, he sold it to the trustees of the Dunns Rock Masonic Lodge No. 267.  Its officers were Thomas S. Wood, who was referred to as  "Worshipful Master", G.W. Young "Senior Warden" and T.T. Loftis "Junior Warden".  Perhaps they had hoped to build on the lot, but there is no evidence that anything was done.

Almost four years later, on November 19, 1906, they sold it to T.B. Crary.  Crary was a contractor who, according to his advertisements, did "all kinds of brick work. Cement work, plastering, Pebble-dash and Rough Casting a specialty."  He constructed, or assisted in the construction, of many buildings around town and also had the contract for brick work on the Hendersonville courthouse. Crary was one of the original owners of the Fraternity Building (SBW12) when the lot was purchased from Siniard for its construction.

Many sources have estimated the year that the Crary building was completed.  Most say it was built circa 1910.  Transylvania County records show the "approximate year built" as 1920.  However, the newspaper of that time (Sylvan Valley News) published several articles detailing construction progress.

Only a few months after buying this East Main street property, Crary was busy at work constructing a new two-story building on the site.  By February 1907, he had already began laying stone for its basement despite several delays caused by rain. Two weeks later, he had made substantial progress.  By March 1st, the foundation was completed and he was moving on to "brick laying" and getting ready to put up the front door and window.  By April 5th, the brick work was almost finished. The structure also had a basement of stacked fieldstone and mortar.

T.B. Crary had a grocerty store about that time, and the 1911 Sanborn Map clearly shows a grocery store in the left storefront (EMS15a) of the building - most likely Crary's.  In the July 26, 1907 issue of the Sylvan Valley News, he placed an ad for Crary's Grocery Store in the "Cary Building".

A month before Clary's first ad, Duckworh & Henry moved their meat market into the recently-completed Clary Building.  Given that the grocery was on the left, it stands to reason that their store was on the right side in EMS15b.  Crary had made the ground floor out of concrete, which the local paper implied was a good thing as they left half the floor exposed.

Prior to constructing his new building, Crary lived in a cottage. By May 1908, he had completed building a residence on the second floor over his store.  He had also added a wooden second-story porch to the front of the structure. 

Crary must have lived in the apartment before he had fully finished it, because in February that year, Brevard had extremely heavy rains that caused damage all over town, particularly to his apartment. He woke up one night when a skylight crashed and fell, followed by a portion of the roof's south side collapsing and falling into the places where his family slept. Crary took his family to up the street to the Aethelwold Hotel.  

The damage from the storm costs around $100, but Clary soon had everything repaired.  

In 1909, R.S. Fuller, a grocer from Florida, bought out all of Clary's stock. While Clary and his family continued living over the store , Fuller expanded the grocery to include general merchandise. He first advertised his new business in the May 28, 1909 issue of the Sylvan Valley News, saying that his store was now "R.S. Fuller & Co." and that it was the "Successor to T.B. Crary."

December 1910 saw T.T. Loftis & Son, also grocers, move into Fuller's store.  Loftis was one of the Dunn's Rock Lodge officers who originally sold the building to Crary.

For about thirty days in the middle of the summer of 1911, the Jones-Weatherly Piano Co. rented rooms in the building to display and advertise pianos.

In July 1911, T.T. Loftis & Sons moved out, apparently going to the old Brevard Supply Company's store in the Cooper Block (WMS11).  The next month, R.S. Fuller (who owned the grocery that Loftis took over in the Crary building) bought an interest in T.T. Loftis & Sons.

A woman from Charleston, South Carolina, named S.M. Peters moved to Brevard in 1916 and opened the Hotel Crary in March. Crary had been using all of the spaces for storefronts and storage, but now remodeled it to convert it into a hotel. The front of the building now had three entrances:  on the left, you could enter the dining room and on the right was the lobby.  The center door opened to stairs leading up to rooms on the second floor. The 1916 Sanborn Map shows the two former storefronts properly labeled for the hotel.

Throughout many historical references to this building, it would seem that Hotel Crary is used interchangeably with Clary Hotel. However, there was a distinct difference as the name was likely changed in May 1918 when Mrs. John Glenn "opened" the Crary Hotel.  Regardless, people still referred to it by either name.

T.B. Crary sold the hotel to John Glenn and his wife, Fannie E. Glenn, on December 19, 1921 (deed book 47 page 37).  John had plans to convert the dining room on the left side into a "picture palace." It was said in the newspaper that he planned to move the Sapphire Theatre, which was in the Aethelwold (EMS11) into the space, but no ads for the Sapphire appeared  after May 13, 1921.  

John Glenn passed away during the next couple of years, and his widow Fannie sold the building to W.E. Breese, a prominent local attorney, on June 2, 1923 (deed book 47 page 255). Within a month, Breese had made "extensive alterations" and turned the second floor into offices.  He planned that the first floor would be used by a real estate firm and another business.

The building had only served as a hotel from March 1916 until June 1923 - just about seven years. Previously known as the Clary Building, it now became known as the Breese Building.

By February 1924, Johnson and Robinson had moved their meat market from Broad Street to this building.

Breese didn't keep the building for more than two years, selling it on April 24, 1925 to John O'Donnell and W.E. Britt.  It was later conveyed from John O'Donnell (deceased) and Mary Ida Britt (widow) to W. Charlie Murphy.  The date and deed book references are unknown.  A reference for the deed book was found to be 82/253, but it was not located in the County records.

R.L. Gash, an attorney, moved into the Breese Building in June 1926.  He most likely occupied offices on the second floor.

Although the location within the building isn't known, one or more dahlia shows were held in the building around 1933.

A.M. Case, Brevard's building inspector, and Frank Jordan, deputy insurance commissioner for the western district of North Carolina, condemned the building's front porch in August 1934.  The newspaper said "Porch on the Breese building just opposite the court house was also condemned, this to be torn away, as building regulations do not permit repairs to wooden buildings within the fire zone."

The County Agent for Transylvania was in this building in 1935, likely on the second floor.

During the first six months of 1936, R.L Gash moved out of the building and went to the Long's Drug Store building (WMS11).  W.E. Britt, the owner of the Breese building, finished his renovations of the upstairs and was beginning to rent out apartments, and the McIntosh Gift Shop (later the McIntosh Variety Store) re-opened at 29 EM, the right-side storefront (EMS15b).

At some unknown date, the Walker Insurance Agency moved into the building.  We only know this because it was announced on December 14, 1939 that the Brevard Plumbing Company was moving into the space formerly occupied by the Agency.  In August of this year, Ray's Grocery opened in the left storefront (EMS15a).  The store actually opened with the name "Ray's Grocery & Blyth Bros. Market".  Four months later, it was "Ray's Grocery & Market" and, after another four months, it was "Ray's Grocery & Meat Market".  Three months later, it became "Ray's Grocery & Market" - which it was still called when it closed in September 1942.

Like the Walker Insurance Agency, it's not known when the Down Towner cafe came to the Breese building, but we know it was there because the July 7, 1941 issue of the Transylvania Times announced that it was replaced there by the Crystal Cafe.  The Cafe was at 35 East Main, placing it in the left storefront (EMS15a).  That same year, on May 23, Murphy's Barber Shop opened at 29 East Main, putting it in the right storefront (EMS15b).

In August 1944, the County Rationing Board (it was the middle of World War II) moved into the building between Ray's Grocery and Murphy's Barber Shop.  Given that Ray's was in the left storefront and Murphy's the right, it makes sense that the County Rationing Board would have been on the second floor.

June 22, 1944 brought another change of ownership.  W. Charlie Murphy and his wife Daisy E. Murphy sold the building to W.S. Shiflet.

The last ad for Murphy's Barber Shop appeared in May 1941. 

In June 1946, McBride's 5c to $1 Store moved to 29 East Main street (EMS15b) from the Bagwell Building on Caldwell street.  McBride's started out on the Broad Street side of the Waltermire Hotel building in March 1939 (EMS11c,d,f or g), moved to EMS14 six months later, and then moved again in April 1945 to the Bagwell Building.

The Brevard Shoe Shop had moved in by 1947.  Their address was 37 East Main street - an address not on the Sanborn Maps.  It would seem, though, that 37 may have been used from this point forward to identify EMS15a - the storefront on the left  From this point forward, 35 East Main appears to have identified offices on the building's second floor while other (future) retail businesses used 37 instead of 35.  However, several ads by the shop in 1947 mention that it was in the "Old Rationing Office."  That would mean that the Shoe Shop was upstairs.

From this point forward, more information is known about the building's occupants because of the availabilty of telephone books.

December 1952:  Flossie Ann Shop (children's wear) was at 37 East Main (EMS15a).  Apparently it shared a space with the Petticoat Shop.  Dr. J.H. Sanders occupied an office on the second floor.

1957:  Cecil J. Hill and Ramsey & Hill (probably the same law firm), and the Electric Service Company were on the second floor. The Quality Fabric Shop opened at 37 East Main, seemingly following Flossie Ann.

1959: The Singer Sewing Center was at 37 East Main, sharing space with Quality Fabric.  Singer was there until sometime in 1963. Alvin Jones and his wife Frances owned and operated the Quality Fabric Shop, and he was in the business of selling and repairing Singer sewing machines. Although two names were listed in the phone book, it was essentially a "sewing center" for Singer that was embedded in the Quality Fabric Shop.

1967: Water's Florist in EMS15a (left storefront)

1974: Myers Florist in EMS15a at 37 East Main.  Skyland Shoppe moved into 35 East Main (EMS15b).

1975: Brush & Pallette moved into 37 East Main (EMS15a), replacing Water's Florist.  It apparently stayed at this location until sometime in 1981.

On November 23, 1977, Clarence E. Beehler and his wife Alice M. Beehler sold the property to Brevard Investments, Inc.  Research and a lot of digging haven't found the paperwork deeding the property to the Beehler's.

1986: Fuller and Associates, a real estate firm, was on the second floor.  Brevard Builders was at 37 EM (EMS15a) until it moved to Pisgah Forest by 1995.

1988:  Fuller Real Estate was at upstairs, probably a renaming of Fuller and Associates.

1990: Brevard Investments (property owner) moved into second floor offices.  Lucy C. Deavor and Carol Tyndall each sold real estate from second floor offices.

April 27, 1994:  Brevard Investments, Inc. sold the property to Daniel and Ann Hollingsworth.  Dan was a drywall contractor.  He and his wife Ann actually began renovations in February 1993, reworking much of the building and creating nine nice office spaces upstairs.

January 1995:  Essence of Thyme opened at 37 East Main (EMS15a) and Sources opened at 35 East Main (EMS15b).

November 1995: Pink Flamingo opens in the space formerly occupied by Sources.  It was a second location of Doris Kendrick's popular Sapphire ladies' boutique.  She wanted to bring New York fashions to Brevard. Only one entry was found in a telephone book for this business - in 1997. 

One reference (Architectural Study, Commercial Buildings V) mentioned that a blacksmith used to work in the basement. No year or time period was mentioned, and no other references were discovered about any businesses operating in the basement.

At the time of this writing, digital, searchable newspapers were not available beyond 1997. Future historians may want to complete the timeline for this building from 1998 through 2024.

In 2025, the left side was occupied by Wine Down on Main and the right storefront by Blue Moon Gallery and Frame.

Postal Addresses

Through 1952, these were taken from Sanborn Maps. After that, they are derived by matching business addresses in telephone books with the buildings where they were located (if known). SB indicates that the source is a Sanborn Map. TD indicates that a telephone directory was used as the source. Where possible, storefronts are indicated with letters a and b.  These refer to the storefronts from left-to-right as you face the building from the street. Years are not shown where there were no changes or where changes were unknown.

1911 SB:  a side = 227, b = 228

1924 SB:  a=105, b=106

1931 SB:  a=35, 2nd Floor=33, b=29

1952 TD:  a=35/37, 2nd Floor=33, b=29/35

1965 TD:  a=35, b=37(?)

1991 TD:  a=35, b=37

2026:  a=28, b=24

At some point between 1996 and 2025, addresses on E Main changed.  Odd numbers went to the north side of the street and even numbers to the south side.