Stepping through the Victorian front door and into the parlor of the Harper House in Hickory, it’s clear why the North Carolina Department of Archives and History declared the home to have “the finest Queen Anne interior styling in the entire state.” The decor feels intoxicating.

In the parlor alone, 15 different wallpapers cover the room. Cherry, oak, and mahogany form inlaid geometric patterns on the parquet-style hardwood floor. A candlelit Christmas tree casts soft light on the custom-made ceramic tiles and wood carvings of the region’s flora and fauna that surround the fireplace. Heavy velvet damask drapes with gold tassels separate the parlor from the adjoining family room, and wreaths decked with pine cones and sparkling bows adorn the windows.

A portrait of Anna Corinne Henkel Harper, who lived in the house in 1924, adorns a cozy entryway. photograph by Revival Creatives

Susan Holbrook, executive director of the Historical Association of Catawba County, lowers her voice when she describes the Victorians’ approach to decorating: “They would have been what we would consider just a little bit gauche, in that this is where they showed their wealth,” she says. “The more coverings they had on their walls ­— the more types of drapery, the different kinds of woodwork — the more influential and wealthier they were.”

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Daniel Shuler. Photography courtesy of The Harper House

That’s the impression 37-year-old Daniel Shuler wanted to give Hickory folks when he; his wife, Maud; and their two daughters stepped off the train from Michigan in 1887. “Shuler wanted Hickory to become a center of commerce in the western part of North Carolina,” Holbrook says. “He was instrumental in opening the first bank in Hickory, as well as the opera house.” Shuler also had ties to an insurance company, a land company, a mill, and a lumber firm.

By the end of 1887, upward of 40 craftsmen had completed the Shulers’ grand Center Street Victorian home, with its Queen Anne-style interiors. An ornate piano in the music room underscores Shuler’s involvement in the local arts community. “It was also a sign of prestige if you were educated in the arts — and if you had that kind of activity in your home,” Holbrook says.

Then, everything changed.

“We don’t know exactly how it happened, but somewhere along the way, the shine of Daniel Shuler became tarnished,” writes Richard Eller in The Legends of Harper House: The Shuler Era. “By 1890, things went sour.”

The dining room epitomizes the maximalist interior design style embraced by the home’s original owners, Daniel and Maud Shuler. photograph by Revival Creatives

Soon after the Bank of Hickory failed, Shuler suddenly died. His death shocked the town. Nobody could understand exactly how or why he’d died. From sadness? From heart failure? Or was it something more sinister? He was buried in Hickory’s Oakwood Cemetery — or was he? “About that time, Shuler’s business partner went missing, and his body was never found,” Holbrook says. One theory holds that “someone put Shuler in a deep coma that would make him appear to be dead, and then killed and buried his business partner.”

After her husband’s death, Maud received a life insurance settlement and took the girls to Michigan. “Things were different in those days,” Holbrook says. “They didn’t keep track of Maud after she left here.”

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Dinny Harper addison isn’t really bothered by the rumors that swirl around the home her grandparents bought in 1923, long after the Shulers skipped town. She simply loves the house. “[The architecture] is rich in every way,” she says. Now retired, Addison was just 7 when her grandmother died and her parents announced they’d be moving into her father’s childhood home.

Seasonal decorations re-create scenes from the Harper House’s Victorian origins for present-day visitors. photograph by Revival Creatives

“At first, my three sisters and I didn’t want to move. We lived in a great neighborhood, and our friends were next door and across the street,” Addison says. “But my mother was pregnant with my youngest sister, Betsy, and we were running out of room.”

In Shuler’s era, children were not to be seen or heard. Upstairs, the back of one bedroom closet opened to the closet of the next, ensuring little voices were hidden from the rest of the house. That quiet life is hard for Addison to imagine. “We were all over that house, playing and running and dragging our dolls through the halls,” she says. “It was a great place to grow up.”

The main staircase banister and its chandelier are wrapped in garland for the holidays. photograph by Revival Creatives

Addison and her sisters claimed the second staircase landing — complete with a raised platform and an arched entryway — as the stage for their many performances. “Mother and Daddy loved theater,” Addison says. “We would put folding chairs in the hallway upstairs and invite the neighbors to come to our program, which had two parts. First was the Christmas story, and the second act was Santa Claus. A local seamstress made us little costumes, and we dressed up Betsy, the baby, in a tutu and twirled her around on the landing.”

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Holidays are still cause for celebration at the Harper House. Every December, a cast of local organizations and interior designers take turns decorating the rooms, which are open to community members for tours.

Holbrook’s favorite part of the holiday tour: the attic, a rumored speakeasy whose walls are lined with silhouettes of Addison’s grandparents’ friends, who visited for spirits and conversation. “During Prohibition, [imbibers] were painted as [a form of] insurance,” Holbrook explains. If your picture was painted on the wall because you’d had a drink, you could hardly tell on the people who’d served it to you.

The sitting room in the Lady’s Suite displays simple floral arrangements. photograph by Revival Creatives

Addison isn’t sure about the speakeasy claim — or the rumor that the attic banisters were rolled back to make room for a dance floor — but she knows that her grandparents loved to entertain and frequently opened their home to friends and family. “People in Hickory feel like they own an interest in the house,” Addison says.

That’s partly why, after their mother died in 1999, the Harper sisters conveyed their family’s home to the Historical Association of Catawba County. Since then, the association has raised more than $2 million from the community to restore the architectural masterpiece to its Shuler-era glory.

The Harper House attic still bears vestiges of its Prohibition days, when a speakeasy supposedly occupied the space and patrons’ silhouettes lined the walls. photograph by Revival Creatives

Part of that effort included a weekly column in The Charlotte Observer to help identify the silhouettes in the attic. “When the Historical Association took over, they asked us if we knew who everybody was. Mother had told us some of them, but not many,” Addison says. So in 2005, the newspaper posted regular “Do you know who this is?” blurbs with a picture of silhouettes. Today, a small plaque identifies each profile.

“The Harper House has been here for generations upon generations, and we wanted to save that for the future,” Addison says. “Whether it be for music, or the arts, or just the architectural experience itself. We just felt like that would enhance life in Hickory.”

Harper House
310 North Center Street
Hickory, NC 28601
(828) 324-7294
catawbahistory.org