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Palladian windows in the stuccoed gable ends, slate roof, and a single-story Doric portico at the front entrance. Three of the interior mantels are patterned after designs found in Asher Benjamin’s 1830 plan book Practical House Architect. In addition to the house a collection of five historic outbuildings and a well pump contribute to the property including a kitchen, smokehouse, carriage house, dwelling, and well house all dating from 1838 – 1890. The original occupant was Professor Amos J. Battle and later Professor William H. Owen. In 1855, the college sold the house to Samuel Simpson Battle for a private residence. The Gill family acquired the property in the 1890s and retained ownership until 1949 when Professor Edgar E. Folk and his wife, Minta purchased the property. In 2007, James and Alexis Cooke purchased the property and have carefully restored the house and outbuildings. The Cooke’s received an Anthemion Award from Capital Area Preservation for their rehabilitation of the house. The South Brick House was designated as a Wake Forest Local Historic Landmark in 2013 and officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Ailey Young House, circa 1875 The house may be the oldest African American historic building in Wake Forest and has histori- cal significance architectural as a rare example of a saddle-bag house with minimal alterations and as the dwelling of one of the town’s most important African American citizens. The house was built by Professor William Gaston Simmons for rental housing. The Young family is believed to have rent- ed the house from Professor Simmons beginning around 1875. In 1899, professor Simmon’s widow, Mary Elizabeth, sold the house to Ailey Young, an
African American woman. Ailey and her husband, Henry raised their family in the home since 1875. It was the childhood home of Allen Young. He taught public school in Wake County until 1905 when he and others organized the Presbyterian Mission School for Colored Boys and Girls, a name that was soon changed to the Wake Forest Normal and Industrial School, the first private school for black children in Wake Forest. Mr. Young served as its principal and at least one of his children taught there. The school was a thriving private institution in the 1910s and attracted boarding students from northern states in the 1920s and 1930s when over 300 students were en- rolled. Dwindling enrollment after a public opened resulted in its closing in the 1950s. Mr. Young also was a founder of the Presbyterian Church for African Americans and operated a dry cleaning business that catered to Wake Forest College. Allen Young’s daughter, Ailey Mae Young, was a schoolteacher and the first African American and second woman town commissioner, serving in the 1970s. They Ailey Young Park is named for her. All other buildings that were associated with the Young family or with the school have been destroyed.
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