Location: 402 South Layton Avenue, Dunn, NC 28334 Capacity: 99 indoors; expands with porch and tents Type: Historic Mansion Website: howard-house.com
Kenneth Lewis Howard built this two-story colonial revival mansion in 1908 and 1909. Howard ran a lumber mill in Dunn, and the house's own account is that he and his wife saw a North Carolina building at the 1907 Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition in Virginia, an exposition President Theodore Roosevelt presided over, and came home with a free copy of its plans. Howard hand-selected yellow pine from his own mill and let it season before the frame went up. The grand staircase and the wainscoting throughout the house were made by the Pearsall Furniture Factory, which once stood on the site now occupied by Dunbar Foods in Dunn.
The Howard family lived in the house until Kenneth Howard's death in 1934; his widow until her death in 1943. The Woman's Club of Dunn, founded in 1920, bought the property in 1953 and has run it since, incorporating formally in 1961. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and the Friends of the Howard House, a group of Dunn residents formed in 2002, works alongside the club to keep it standing and in use. Both organizations rent the house out so it stays an affordable, lived-in setting for local weddings and events.
The Interior
A grand foyer and staircase greet arriving guests, with ladies' and men's parlors opening off either side, original wainscoting and pine trim running the length of the first floor. The dining room and the banquet and ball room give a reception its working space, and both rooms keep the proportions and window light of a house built when rooms were sized for gathering. A kitchen off the reception rooms holds two refrigerators, a stove, an oven, and a microwave, and two accessible bathrooms serve the first floor.
Upstairs is set aside for the wedding party: a bride's room and an adjoining bridesmaids' room, and two further rooms, away from the noise of guests arriving below.
The Grounds
The house is fronted by a wraparound porch, the kind of feature that defines a colonial revival house from the street, and with tents on the lawn it lets the guest list grow past the 99 the house holds indoors. A wheelchair ramp at the back entry gives guests who need it a way into the house. Guests park on the lot beside the house.
What We Design Here
The wainscoting and the cured pine trim run warm, and the house rewards a palette pulled from that same range: ivory, champagne, rust, soft green, and soft gold feel like a natural extension of the wood. The rooms are scaled for 99 guests, and full, low arrangements close to the table keep the woodwork and the staircase at the center of the room. On the porch, simple work at the entrance or worked into the railing suits a structure that is already doing most of the talking. Vessels in glass, silver, or matte ceramic sit easily against both the historic interior and the white porch trim.
Practical
The Howard House sits in the historic district of Dunn, within about an hour's drive of Raleigh, Fayetteville, Smithfield, Clinton, and Sanford, and within reach of Pinehurst as well. Parking is on the adjacent vacant lot; the lawn itself is off limits to vehicles. Tours are by appointment; bookings and questions go to the house at 910-890-1606.
Hidden Door Floral Studio is a Raleigh wedding florist designing for weddings across Raleigh, the Triangle and North Carolina, and happy to travel beyond. To talk about your wedding at The Howard House, schedule a consultation.
Planning a wedding or event here? See our wedding and event flowers.