DuPre House to be restored

By Dick Hughes  

AUGUST 18, 2011 10:26 a.m. (0)

Edward Via College for Osteopathic Medicine plans to restore the DuPre House, one of Spartanburg’s historic buildings that was acquired from the city for $1 and now sits abandoned on the campus of the new medical school.

William P. King, associate vice president for student services, said VCOM will pay the $400,000 or more that it will take to restore the exterior and will raise funds over time for restoration of the interior.

The college is soliciting bids for the exterior work and will hold the first of a series of fundraisers for the interior restoration in October, he said.

Early estimates of the cost of restoration inside and out were in the $1-million range.

Dr. Timothy Kowalski, vice dean, said VCOM wants to “make it look as close as possible to its historic origin.”

The house was built in 1885 on Church Street by Methodist Bishop William Wallace Duncan and became known as the DuPre House after the bishop’s daughter Carrie married Warren Dupre.

To make room for the Renaissance Park development where the Marriott Hotel was built, the house was moved in the fall of 1999 two-tenths of a mile to the property off Howard Street that had been the site of Spartan Mills.

VCOM acquired the 20-acre property for its new college and this spring bought the DuPre house for $1 from the Spartanburg Development Corp., a city entity that had purchased the house for $169,000 years before when it was in serious disrepair. Under the agreement with the city, VCOM agreed to pay for restoring the exterior.

Built in the Queen Anne style, the DuPre house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 while still under ownership of the DuPre family. The distinction was lost when the house was moved but was returned to the register in 2009 as the Bishop William Wallace Duncan House. The connection of Duncan to VCOM is meaningful because Wallace and his father David Duncan both played roles in the early history of Wofford College, which has a social and athletic affiliation with VCOM.

David Duncan was one of the original professors at Wofford, and William was graduated from the college in 1858. He returned as a professor and financial agent of the school. William Duncan died in 1908.