This ornate, two-and-a-half story home in historic Chester was built in 1884 for the Reverend Mason Wylie Pressly and designed by architect Samuel Sloan. Now a festive pink tone, it has been painted both white and green in the past. Pressly served the congregation of Chester Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1882 through 1886. Following his ownership, the home served as the residence for several generations of the White family. Locals say that the ground floor was the location of a gift shop called the Ink Well during the 1970s and 1980s.
Michael Mascari, who contributed the photo above, adds that the home is located next to Chester News and Reporter, at the confluence of an intersection which merges Saluda, Hudson, and York Street. Located on an ample piece of property, he says, the home also features a carriage house.
The Pressly-White House is listed in the National Register as part of the Chester Historic District:
The focal point of the Chester Historic District is The Hill, a triangular-shaped plaza on an eminence at the center of the city, around which the original settlement grew, and which now includes the city hall and a relatively well-preserved collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial buildings. The district now also includes the remainder of the central business area, containing the county courthouse and the federal building, as well as most of the older residential areas of the city and the early churches that are within them. Of the 475 properties in the district, 324 are considered to contribute to its historical character. The city of Chester was formed in the late eighteenth century as Chesterville. However, most of the properties included in the district reflect the city’s history through the second half of the nineteenth and in the early twentieth centuries. As a result, the buildings display a wide variety of architectural styles reflective of stylistic trends during that time span, including Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Victorian, Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne, Classical Revival, and Bungalow. In addition, the district reflects the city’s role as a commercial center for the surrounding county, and as its political and governmental hub.
Reflections on the Pressly-White House
Cathy Vennelle Carter Pierce notes, “Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, it housed a business called “The Ink Well” in the lower part. Kind of like a Hallmark/gift store as well as a home for my former 6th grade math teacher, Mrs. Cleo Chamberlain.”
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