Dail House / Chancellor’s House

Dail House aka Chancellor's House

On June 27, 1949, East Carolina Teachers College announced that it had purchased a home on Fifth Street that would serve as the new residence for presidents of the college. The residence, a mansion by local standards, was located just across Jarvis Street from the two-story clapboard dwelling that had served, since 1914, as the president’s residence. Constructed in the “Italianate style of architecture,” it included eleven rooms at the time of purchase. Mrs. Hattie F. Young sold the property to the college, reportedly for $30,000. Along with the Spanish colonial style defining most campus architecture and the basic American clapboard construction of the old president’s house, the new residence added elegant grandeur and architectural diversity to the greater campus area.

The Dail House served as the residence for John D. Messick (from 1949-1959), as well as for Dr. Leo W. Jenkins (1960-1978), Thomas B. Brewer (1978-1981), John W. Howell (1982-1988), Richard R. Eakin (1988-2001), William Muse (2001-2003), William E. Shelton (2003-2004), and Steve Ballard (2004-2016). The previous president’s home, which had served as the residence of founding president Robert H. Wright (1914-1934), Leon R. Meadows (1934-1944), Howard J. McGinnis (1944-1946), and for two years, John D. Messick (1947-1949), was remodeled to serve initially as faculty housing. Later, the historic clapboard house was repurposed as the home of ECU Career Services.

The Dail House was named William Haywood Dail, Jr. (1878-1959), one of the Greenville businessmen who early on supported the movement to have ECTTS located in Greenville. Dail also invested in a brick manufacturing firm and sold a considerable number of bricks to contractors responsible for building the early campus. Legendary accounts claim, supposedly based on Dail’s own words, that he “ate” ballots cast in opposition to the bond referendum funding Greenville’s bid for the school. Following construction of the campus and the first president’s home on Fifth Street, Dail built a grand residence next to it, on the corner of Jarvis and Fifth Street. It was subsequently sold to the Young family. A portrait of Dail painted in 1923 when he was 45 years old was donated to ECU in 2014 by grandchildren Alex B. Dail, Anne Dail Ashe, and Nancy Dail Hall. It hangs in the Dail House in memory of him.

During the Ballard administration, the continued suitability of the Dail House as a chancellor’s residence emerged as a topic of public discussion. Complaints were that the residence was not sufficient for entertaining, the kitchen was too small, restrooms too few, and parking too limited, not to mention traffic noise and unruly student behavior in the area. Initially, consideration was given to expanding the residence. In 2014, the ECU Real Estate Foundation purchased four properties surrounding the Dail House with the stated intent of using the space for expansion of the residence. Following Ballard’s resignation, the Dail House was no longer used as the residence for the ECU chancellor. Dr. Cecil Pope Staton, Jr., Ballard’s successor, initially resided in a university-owned condominium in the Lyndale Towns subdivision off Arlington Blvd., away from the campus.

After extensive negotiations with the City of Greenville and neighborhood associations over rezoning requests, the ECU Foundation decided to purchase a new residence for ECU chancellors. The property, located several miles from campus in the Star Hills community, was purchased from local dentist, Dr. Rick Webb, for 1.3 million dollars. Considerable controversy surrounded the purchase, especially because it meant that the historic property which once housed East Carolina’s presidents and chancellors, would no longer serve as a center of campus life and administration. The East Carolinian called on the new chancellor, Dr. Cecil Staton, to stay close to campus, and Board of Governors chair Harry Smith publicly questioned the decision. Nevertheless, with the ECU Board of Trustees approval, the new property replaced the Dail House as the official residence for ECU chancellors. Future plans for the Dail House remain under discussion.

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Other names
Dail House, President's Home
Built
1920, purchased 1949
Construction cost
$30,000 purchase price
Gross sq. ft.
5,153
Assignable sq. ft.
5,029
History
In 1921 William Haywood Dail, Jr. a businessman who established Greenville's only brick manufacturing company, began building an Italianate home at 605 East Fifth Street. It was completed in 1931. The college purchased the structure in 1949 and all of East Carolina's chief executives since that time have resided there. The house was purchased from Mrs. Hattie F. Young for the sum of $30,000.
The stately home is centrally located opposite the Jenkins Fine Arts Center. John D. Messick was the first president to occupy the house.

The original President's Home, a frame structure located at the northeast corner of Jarvis and Fifth Streets, was converted into faculty apartments, became the Personnel Office and currently houses Career Services.

Additions
1980/81 – Renovations

Additional Related Material

Haywood Dail
Haywood Dail
Chancellor's home in snow
Chancellor's home in snow

Citation Information

Title: Dail House/ Chancellor's House

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 7/8/2019

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