Carraway Award of Merit: Shawn & Bobbie Lee Corker
For the restoration of the Allen,
Son and Co. building on S. Main Street in Warrenton, now serving as a retail store with
living quarters on the second floor.
Each year, Preservation North Carolina presents the Gertrude S. Carraway Awards of Merit to individuals and organizations that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to promoting historic preservation. The awards have been given since 1975 and are named for the late Dr. Gertrude Carraway of New Bern, a leader in the successful effort to reconstruct the state's colonial capitol, Tryon Palace, in New Bern.
Allen, Son and Co. started out as a proud two-story building serving businesses on Main Street in Warrenton. Abandoned many years ago, the building was seriously deteriorating, and local residents expected it eventually would be torn down.
In 2005, the owners opted to give the ramshackle property to Preservation NC, and it became PNC’s job to find a new owner to care for and restore the historic building.
Dean Ruedrich, then regional director in PNC’s Louisburg office, created a partnership with Preservation Warrenton in an effort to find the building a new owner. The Warrenton group provided money to paint and repair the building’s front façade, giving it a facelift that might help attract potential buyers as visitors toured Warrenton during the 2006 Spring Home Tour.
Fortunately, Shawn and Bobbie Corker were among those who attended that Spring Home Tour. They became enamored of the building, despite its leaky skylight, rotting floors and other ailments. Shawn, a contractor by trade, and Bobbie were able to see beyond the imperfections and imagine the possibility of a storefront on the ground floor retail with living quarters above. The couple made an offer on the building the day of the tour.
Work began with removal of the damaged portions of the building, and Shawn began a series of renovation projects, including connecting the building’s two separate upstairs sections by a windowed breezeway. New steps were installed for rear access to the upstairs apartment, which was outfitted with a large kitchen, dining and living spaces, and three spacious bedrooms. Their new home is the first above-the-shop residence in downtown Warrenton in modern times.
Downstairs, Bobbie created a retail storefront to showcase the vintage clothing in her shop, Catchpenny’s, now considered “the place to shop” when visiting Warrenton.
Preservation North Carolina is pleased to present the Gertrude S. Carraway Award of Merit to Shawn and Bobbie Lee Corker for their work in returning the former Allen, Son and Co. building in Warrenton to new life.
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