By JULIE HAIRSTON
Christmas is really a family affair in the downtown
Fayetteville home of Sam and Susan Burch.
Seven generations of Sam’s ancestors and heirs, starting in 1840, have celebrated holidays and family events within its heart pine interiors.
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Hundred-year-old portraits peer across the long dining room as the Burches, their two children and other family members echo the ageless merriment of a Christmas feast. And vintage heirloom furniture surrounds their harmonies around the baby grand piano in the gracious music room.
Over 23 years, the couple has gently but reverently brought modern touches to the six-bedroom, four-bath colonial. They remain committed to keeping local history as visually accessible as possible.
“We have lost a lot of the old family homes in Fayetteville,” said Susan, 50, director of the Hollingsworth House event site nearby. “Sam and I are preservationists.”
But they’re not survivalists. And the house, which they bought for a “family rate” from an uncle in 1983, was in pressing need of some basic modern comforts.
“He really didn’t think we’d last a winter here,” said Sam, 48, a real estate appraiser and church music director.
First, they installed central heat and updated the bathrooms. Then the couple turned their attention to adorning the freshened walls and woodwork with heirlooms, including an antique Sears & Roebuck reed organ and sturdy oak wardrobes to augment limited closet space.
The 7 1/2-foot ceilings and shorter doorways indicate the home’s roots in a time when people didn’t grow as tall as they do in the 21st century. And the cheery fireplaces in every room call to mind the simpler living conditions of bygone times.
Although the original kitchen, visible in vintage photos, was detached from the living quarters, an updated version was added at the back of the house during the 20th century.
But just three years ago, as the Burch’s two children approached adulthood, the couple decided it was time for a truly modern kitchen.
What started as a two-foot expansion for the kitchen grew into a $125,000 new wing that now provides the Burches with a charming master suite, a roomy gourmet kitchen and a spacious, practical laundry room.
To provide some continuity, the Burches recycled vintage materials from the older parts of the house into portions of the new wing. And they adhered faithfully to the house’s characteristic proportions and architecture as they worked on design and construction with architect Greg Aiken and Ellis-Cook Construction.
Now they revel in the master suite’s walk-in closet and dual vanities. And the modern kitchen provides everything the Burches need to turn out a Christmas dinner for the ages.
