BRISTOL, Tenn. – As a foreman for Midwest Maintenance Inc., Harley Huffine Jr. has led projects restoring the homes of two presidents – Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln – and the downtown area of one major city, Charleston, S.C.
But Huffine said the work that his five-member crew is currently doing on Bristol’s historic E.W. King House ranks high on the list of interesting projects.
“This is an awesome house to walk through and work on,” Huffine said Tuesday. “It really deserves to be restored to its full historical beauty. And it’s an honor being able to do our part in that.”
Since early March, Midwest Maintenance – an Ohio-based building restoration firm – has been reconstructing four chimneys atop the King House, the famed three-story Victorian home at Anderson and Seventh Streets.
The first phase of a project, supported by the Bristol Historical Association, is aimed at fully restoring the King home and making it a museum celebrating the city’s past. Now vacant, the home was built in 1902, by a prominent businessman, E.W. King, according to the association’s Web site. The King House stands on the same site as a former 18th century fort, used as a landmark stop by pioneers heading west.
The entire restoration project, which is being overseen by North Carolina-based architect Ellen Harris, will cost an estimated $2.25 million. But the historical association’s plan is to raise the money and do the work on a gradual basis, said Nedra Hartley, chairwoman of the E.W. King House Committee.
“This house is a big part of Bristol’s history,” Hartley said Tuesday.
“Transforming it into a museum would be a wonderful way for people to learn about our city, especially our children. Right now, there’s very little around that explains the entire history of Bristol.”
It’s a history that Huffine’s group has taken care to restore during its current work on the King House.
While crew members have used some 2,000 bricks to rebuild the home’s four chimneys – including one damaged by lightning last summer – they made a point to install original bricks for the visible, outside layers.
“Obviously, you want to use the most up-to-date, modern materials you can, and that’s what we’ve done.” Huffine said. “But you also want to have some touches that stay true to the original spirit of the house. We wanted to do that by having [original] brick on the outside.”
Huffine said the toughest challenge of the chimney project, which should wrap up within 10 days, had little to do with the actual work.
“The hard part was just getting up all the scaffolding, the rigging and the pulleys to best get around the chimneys,” he said. “There’s so many interesting nooks and angles to the house, so we had to work to put everything in the exact right place.”
Bristol has become a place of attachment to Huffine, he said, as the King House project has progressed.
“Now that we’ve gotten a chance to do some work on this beautiful home, we kind of want to see it all the way through now,” Huffine said. “So, hopefully, we can come back and do more jobs on it.”
With a laugh, Huffine added: “Besides, now that I’ve been here during one of the race weeks, I’ve become a big NASCAR fan. I’d love to find some way to be here for the next race in August.”
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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