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[Photo]
The George Sperling House
Photo courtesy of Uptown Shelby Association

George Elzie Sperling (1871-1953) was a highly successful cotton farmer and businessman in Cleveland County. In 1927 he had this unusually elaborate farmhouse built for himself and his family. The imposing two-story yellow brick Neoclassical Revival style farmhouse is rare for rural Cleveland County, as most farmhouses were simple frame buildings with more elaborate residences such as this built primarily in the town of Shelby. The skill of Augustus Branton, brickmason and master carpenter hired by Sperling, is evident throughout the house. Architectural elements of particular note include the larger framing timbers milled at Sperling's own saw mill, hand-crafted dentils on the first floor and the monumental wooden portico typical of the Neoclassical Revival style.

[Photo] Another view of the George Sperling House
Photo courtesy of Uptown Shelby Association

Sperling, a life-long resident of Cleveland County, was born on his parents farm. Sperling married Mary Jane Justice (1878-1977) on May 28, 1899. The couple lived for a short time in a small frame house across the highway from the present-day house, as they were awaiting completion of a their first home in 1909, a two-story frame farmhouse that was eventually demolished to make way for their 1927 brick home. During the early 20th century, Sperling began purchasing parcels of land located around present-day Highway 18, eventually accumulating more than 1000 acres. The main crop of the Sperling farm was cotton, the predominant crop in Cleveland County from the late 19th century through the 1940s, at which time cotton was destroyed by the boll weevil. Sperling also established a general store, corn and saw mills, cotton gin and blacksmith shop, and the area became known as Sperling's Crossroads. The operations served travelers along the highway as well as residents in nearby Shelby and Fallston. Several early 20th-century outbuildings survive on the farm, clustered to the rear or west of the house, that were support structures for the family farm complex. Built from 1909 to 1951, these buildings include a barn, corn crib, hog pen, granary, two-story gambrel roof mule barn, smokehouse, generator house and tack house. The Sperlings had nine children, two sons and seven daughters, and the farm remained a working family farm until after George's death in 1953. Daughter Madge Roberta (1909-1996) married M. Lloyd Ray Little and they lived in the home with her parents until after their deaths. Ray Little outlived his wife, and continued to live here until 1997, and shortly thereafter the house was sold out of the family. It is now being rehabilitated for use as offices.

The George Sperling House and Outbuildings are located at 1219 Fallston Rd on the outskirts of Shelby . They are not open to the public.

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