Brimming with history and wistful ruminations, Jessica Miller’s old childhood home sits nestled on Union Street in the heart of downtown Concord, North Carolina. She and her family first moved in around the late 1980s, but its once-glorious Edwardian architecture—displaying a grand columned façade—was originally erected in 1906 by the Archibalds, according to the current owner. A line of inhabitants of historic interest then followed.
Gradually, over the years, the manor fell into disrepair.
Little did Jessica know she would move back into that picturesque manor on that historic street with her husband, Adam Miller, to completely preserve and restore it to its former glory—and then some. The couple now have five kids together, and Adam, 38, preserves antique homes for a living and documents his projects on social media. Jessica, 35, handles the home design.
“Her whole childhood revolved around the house and friends and family, congregating and sharing memories,” Adam told The Epoch Times. “Our house was definitely the epicenter for a big, giant family.”
As the decades wore on and her parents got on in years, the vintage home became too much for them to maintain. The antiquated abode required extra-special care. “These older houses, they have a special internal gutter system and so when that fails, by the time anybody noticed, they caused a huge amount of damage,” Adam said. “As [Jessica’s] parents got older, they just weren’t really prepared to rebuild the whole porch and the columns.”
A knock on the door almost led to their selling the place, but the deal fell through. Then, Adam saw an opportunity to preserve a piece of North Carolinian history. He offered the same terms.
Jessica’s parents accepted, and the Millers moved in.
The Millers have worked on other historic homes before—they flip homes for a living—but this would be the first one they would live in. “We didn’t anticipate it being Jessica’s childhood home,“ he said. ”We'd made offers on other houses on the street, it was just right time, right place sort of scenario.” Taking possession in November 2020, they knew straight away they needed to tackle the roof and foundation—that’s where the majority of problems lie.
That magnificent columned façade, which makes for a beyond-dramatic entrance, needed handmade repairs from a craftsman, as the columns’ bases were rotten. The columns had to be hoisted into the air to be finished—quite a specialty job! The porch, roof, and gutter system also needed repairs. The exterior alone cost well over $100,000, Adam said. Once that was done in the first year, they turned their sights to the inside.
They ripped up the tile floor in the living room and kitchen and replaced it with a chevron pattern that required ten times the number of cuts compared to typical wood flooring. “She designed the kitchens and bathrooms and I do the actual work and labor,” said Adam. “For the most part, she’s the brains and I’m the muscle.” In the kitchen, they painted the cabinets, which were salvageable, but Adam installed a completely new island. They swapped out much of the lighting for something more period appropriate.
They gutted two bathrooms, stripping them back right to the studs, and completely redid them. “It wasn’t overwhelming,” said Adam, who knows his way around a job site. “You just deal with one problem at a time; before you know it, you’re crossing the finish line.”
Part of the challenge of working on historic homes is salvaging as much heritage as possible. Besides the handmade columns, they had to replicate molding and repair plaster. “We’re actually putting our home on tour for our local historic preservation,” he said. “It’s the Residents of Historic Concord.” And now is the right season for viewing. All told, the restoration cost the couple between $180,000-$200,000. “My personal property [cost] is a little bit fuzzier than on my professional flips,” Adam said.
Besides historic value, Jessica sees an opportunity to start new traditions in a familiar place, creating “new memories” in her old childhood home. “It’s amazing. It’s a safe feeling,” she said. “It’s very interesting to put my own spin on it and make it our own.” Adam and the kids, meanwhile, are joining a new chapter in that Union Street story.
“The kids love it,” Adam said. “They’re like tornadoes. It’s such a large home, I won’t go in a room for a little while and then I’ll come back and it’s just torn apart by little fingers.
“I love this house. I don’t think I’d sell this house unless one of my kids or someone in my family wanted to buy it from me.
“I think it’s, honestly, even beyond what I anticipated.
“The house as a whole is even better than we thought it would be.”
With its shining white exterior—its classical columns, ornate balcony, and façade—the house is a marvel for visitors to behold, a real piece of Americana, while also a comfortable, roomy dwelling for a family.
But the Millers aren’t done yet.
They still have a few “little details” to work on to improve the house’s functionality, and create fun family memories. “We have a laundry room—it’s in the basement so we’re going to try to tackle that, see if we can make that nice,“ Adam said. ”We have the art studio and our pool—our pool has been neglected a little bit.”
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