Lazarus House Kitchen

The Lazarus House Kitchen is currently located at 310 Grace Street, Wilmington, NC, 28401, in Wilmington’s famous historic district. The building is centered about three and a half blocks from the Bellamy Mansion and approximately six blocks away from Wilmington’s railroad museum. It is estimated that the Lazarus house was finished construction by 1818, but importantly, the house is the larger part of an entire block's worth of property owned by the building's namesake, Aaron Lazarus. Aaron Lazarus, for whom the building was named, was born in 1777 and died in 1841, which had him buying the property a few years earlier in his early forties.[1]

While the house that stands today has had several renovations and reconstructions throughout history, its most detailed description in relation to its original inception is from a report in the mid to late 19th century. The house is of Federalist architecture, which was the dominant architecture for post-revolution houses. Federalist architecture is typically square or rectangular-shaped houses made of brick or stone. The house is described as having been erected post-revolution and was always to be fronted towards Chestnut Street, being lined with cherry trees, magnolias, and crepe myrtles. Olive and fig trees traditionally grew in the garden throughout several ownerships with a large iron cast fountain in the center of the garden. Cast iron steps led up to the house with massive grillwork pillars and a black and white flagstone porch. Upon entering the house, a very traditional mahogany spiral staircase led upstairs. The house featured a full-length drawing room where visitors and temporary guests were to be entertained seemingly regularly. The windows were inset and paneled due to the overall thickness of the house. The house contained two off-site kitchens, a pantry, and the upstairs featured four bedrooms. All in all, this was a very extravagant house that, in 1856, had a tax value of $12,000, being the most for a single-lot property in its area.[2][3]

Lazarus, the principal and first owner of the property, bought this large property in Wilmington to cater to his economic needs as a businessman and merchant of the time. Lazarus was a native of Charleston and continued to live there his entire life leading up to his death. The house continued to be named the Lazarus House well after his death until its renovation in 1923, only to be renamed the Lazarus House in modern times. What is suspected due to the financial records of Mr. Lazarus was the fact that the properties on this block, including the Lazarus House, were almost immediately mortgaged back to two people, John Jones and Jacob Clinch of New York, who originally owned the vacant property. Lazarus was clearly using this property in order to use as potentially collateral or an investment for his own business doing, as the house was never formally used as a residence until the beginning of the 20th century. It appears as if Lazarus never really lived or moved his family into the house, and the house was really seen as a business venture used for multiple purposes throughout the 19th century.[4]

[1] Lazarus Plaque Application 4 (New Hanover County Deeds, Book P., p. 660 (hereinafter cited as Deeds.))

[2] Lazarus Plaque Application 4 (Cape Fear Recorder, 1819, January 30)

[3] Lazarus Plaque Application, 8 (ibid.)

[4] Lazarus Plaque Application, 4-6

The Lazarus House Kitchen is technically under two different properties as far as current real estate is listed today. The original house is centered at 310 Grace, formerly Mulberry Street, and the Kitchen is listed at 314 Grace Street, respectively. However, as previously stated, Lazarus was quite the businessman and merchant and owned the entire block originally. According to historical records, Lazarus must have been quite the celebrity in town, as it mentions that Lazarus' house greatly affected property values in the surrounding area throughout the 19th century. The earliest recording of the surrounding property transactions was in 1819, where a property transaction mentions that the property in question was “in proximity to the land owned by Aaron Lazarus’ large brick house.” This also lets us realize that the house had to be at least fully constructed by that time in order to be such a landmark to the seemingly famous Aaron Lazarus. Lazarus’ status, combined with multiple owned/invested properties, really made Lazarus a prominent figure in Wilmington and seemingly an appreciated member of the community.[1]

Aaron Lazarus, as previously stated, was born and raised in Charleston, as was his first wife, Edith Cohen. Cohen and Lazarus had seven children together until her death, after which he married again and had another four children, leaving quite a seemingly deep legacy to the city of Wilmington. His second wife, Rachel Mordecai, was from Spring Hill Farm in Richmond, Virginia. Lazarus, seemingly more of an investor than a full merchant, at least in Wilmington, as we’ve seen with instant mortgaging of properties, was the original co-owner of Wilmington’s first planning mill with John Taylor. Lazarus was also an active member of the Masonic Order in Virginia's St. Tammay Lodge in Hampton, VA. Lazarus eventually died in 1841 at the age of sixty-four in Petersburg, VA, leaving no will or deeds for his properties, including the Lazarus House properties here in Wilmington.[2]

[1] Lazarus Plaque Application, 4-6 (

[2] Lazarus Plaque Application, 4-6 (8 Wilmington newspaper obituary, May, 1896, quoting Col. James A. Burr; from the files of Bill Reave)

The plaque, while seemingly very brief and short, I believe needs to be extended to include a few more lines. Obtained from Lazarus family documents, the children of Aaron Lazarus had become quite fond of that property and Wilmington altogether. I feel that including them in the plaque would be quite a nice homage to Mr. Lazarus and his family. A letter dated from tax collectors in 1841 after Aaron Lazarus’ death states that the family is miserable leaving the area, particularly his daughters, but more importantly, the town of Wilmington is going to miss the Lazarus family altogether, as the entire family has left Wilmington, moving to Virginia and South Carolina.[1]

After his death, the estate was assigned to four administrators who were challenged in court by two of Lazarus’ daughters for property values, to which seemingly they lost, as there is no court record of the Lazarus family receiving any connection to the house after 1845, and the house remained in control of the Court of Equity until 1854 when it was bought by Dr. Frederick J. Hill of New Hanover County itself.[2]

Hill was a doctor who studied at Chapel Hill and owned the Orton plantation from 1826-1854. Hill was also involved as an active member of the political scene, serving as a state senator in the General Assembly, primarily focusing on the improvement of education and, very significantly, the railroad industry. This is another very important detail that I am confused as to why it is left off this plaque. It seems as if Frederick Hill was a very important member not just to the history of Wilmington and New Hanover County but a very important member of North Carolina history. Wilmington has always been at the forefront of imports to this country with it being the “Port City” and having substantial impact during the railway days, it seems very odd to me that the plaque would not want to include the House’s important history with the economic ventures. It was keen to address that Aaron Lazarus was a businessman and merchant so why would the plaque not want to include the rich history of its subsequent owners. While the house was obviously built and owned originally by Aaron Lazarus so many houses throughout the area feature plaques with both modern and contemporary subsequent owners so I truly believe that an addition of Hill (despite his past plantation ventures) should be mentioned somewhere in the plaque.[3]

Hill in addition to his political and economic ventures was also an active member of the church and routinely used this house to be a venture of orphans. Hill and his wife had no natural children of their own and the house served as routine place for orphans including after the death of Hill. Hill died in 1861 and willed to his wife until her death in 1864 where the house was to be willed to the Catholic Church as a Franciscan convent for orphans and children of need. The Church ran this house under the guidance of Bishop Atkinson for about ten years until 1874 where it was sold to a parishioner and local Railroad man John Divine.[4]

Divine being again linked to commerce and the improvement of the city’s import status serving as the Superintendent of Wilmington’s Railroad industry and the president of the Wilmington Bridge. Divine like his two primary predecessors again dedicated their life to serving Wilmington and better improving the overall status of the city. After reading about the history of this house I truly do not understand why this plaque only has six lines of text when allotted 14 lines all together. Obviously the plaque is generally limited to names, dates, and family but the lack of inclusion of later and equally as influential owners of this property greatly affect the overall impact and quality of this plaque. This house has a very important history to Wilmington and that history should truly be honored by all its tenents not just the original owner.[5]

The house was unfortunately renovated heavily in 1922 when the Divine family sold the house to H.F. Wilder who turned the house into apartments, known as the wilder apartments. The house after that loses its historical trail as it continued to have several tenants and multiple owners seemingly lost to history or not worth mentioning in the overall story of the house, with its final ownership falling to the Historic Wilmington Foundation for preservation in 1976.[6] The application features the Goldberg family at the end who purchases the house from the Wilder and later turned it into apartments thus expanding the house.[7]

While I am not from Wilmington the Lazarus house appears to synonymous with the city itself. I have lived here for now four years and not heard this house mentioned or even acknowledged along other houses like the Bellamy Mansion or Bergwin-Wright houses which discussed so many times. While the plaque fails to mentions important historical Wilmington figures like Frederick Hill and John Divine it does take the proper point to acknowledge Aaron Lazarus and his family. Lazarus seems to be an old school celebrity in this town and based on letters and court documents the family was very well liked in this town. A historical appreciation for not just an old house but a family that has a very significant history in Wilmington. My only improvements that I find are necessary to this plaque are the inclusion of Frederick Hill primarily. Hill essentially ran an orphanage out of this a feat that I am sure not many houses in this town can claim. Hill even so made sure that after his death the house was to be willed to the church so that it can continue to serve as an orphanage and better serve the city. The Hill family couldn’t have children of their own but they made sure that the children of Wilmington were their children and a few lines should be dedicated to that. For now over 200 years the Lazarus house, built by Aaron Lazarus, is a Wilmington landmark and thankfully now will be protected and preserved by the Historic Wilmington Foundation.

By: Waldo Gil Vazquez

[1] Lazarus Plaque Application, 6-8

[2] Lazarus Plaque Application, 6-8

[3] Lazarus Plaque Application, 6-8

[4] Lazarus Plaque Application, 6-8

[5] Lazarus Plaque Application, 9

[6] Lazarus Plaque Application, 9