The Gudger House. Artwork by John Toms.
The Gudger House is the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County’s first historic preservation easement property. The ca. 1900 house is an asymmetrical two-story Queen Anne style house located in the Montford Historic District. The design is characterized by irregular massing, slate roof, brick foundation, a corner tower with a pyramidal cap, and a variety of surface ornament. This somewhat rigid version has sometimes been called “Steamboat Gothic.”
It was constructed for Henry Lamar Gudger. Gudger (1850-1901) was a postmaster of Asheville and member of the Board of Aldermen. This house was probably constructed shortly after his purchase of the undeveloped property in 1890. His wife, Alice Brown Gudger, lived here many years after her husband’s death in 1901. They were the grandparents of Congressman Lamar Gudger.
The Gudger family remained in the house until the 1950s. By the 1970s, the house fell into disrepair. To prevent its demolition, PSABC acquired the house in 1978. Volunteers worked to stabilize the building while a new owner could be located. Donation of the deteriorated Gudger House on Montford Avenue to PSABC led to the establishment of a historic preservation revolving fund.
In 1981, the Legal Aid Service of the Buncombe County Bar Association, Inc. purchased the Gudger House from PSABC with funds under a grant from the Legal Services Corporation. Later that year, the local Legal Aid Service changed its name to Pisgah Legal Services and renovated the Gudger House, transforming it into a fully-functional law office, providing free legal services to low-income residents of Western North Carolina. “The Gudger House at 89 Montford Avenue was really our first success,” said former Executive Director Jack Thomson to the Bilmore Beacon in a 2018 article. “You might remember it as the headquarters of Pisgah Legal Services for a number of years, [later] home to Jacob Ehrmann at Montford Family Law. It is protected in perpetuity by a preservation easement that we hold,” Thomson said.
In the same article, former NC superior court judge Bob Orr, a founding member of the Preservation Society and its first board president recalled the Gudger House as PSABC’s inaugural project: “We were sitting around a card table figuring out how to save old houses with maybe $1,000 in the bank. When First Federal in Hendersonville foreclosed on the Gudger property for $7,000, the bank said they would sell it to us for the same price. Betty [Lawrence], Mike Cox and I borrowed $10,000 from Clyde Savings & Loan. I tell folks it was the most secured loan in the history of Asheville. Not only did the property secure the Gudger House, but every board member was required to co-sign the note,” Orr said.
As Thomson notes, in 2000, Jacob Ehrmann began working at Pisgah Legal Services as a staff attorney at the Gudger House. Per its current owners, Jacob left Pisgah Legal Services for private practice in 2004, when he established Montford Family Law. The Legal Services Corporation filed a lawsuit against Pisgah Legal Services in 2005 for title to the Gudger House. The case was eventually resolved by granting Pisgah Legal Services clear title to the historic building. In 2007, Alex Gomes began working at Pisgah Legal Services as a staff attorney in the Gudger House. Pisgah Legal Services eventually outgrew its home at the Gudger House, and in 2009 moved to its present location at 62 Charlotte Street.
In May of 2014, Pisgah Prodigal, LLC purchased the Gudger House from Pisgah Legal Services to house Montford Family Law On November 1, 2014, after an extensive renovation of the home, Montford Family Law began providing family law services.
The building remains permanently protected through PSABC’s easement program, and is celebrated as the organization’s very first easement property!
