Was the Gingerbread House a copy of Penn Yonge's Spring Villa House?
There is A Replica of the Spring Villa House. And its in Opelika
The "Gingerbread" House is located at 405 South 9th Street in Opelika, Lee, Alabama.
This Carpenter Gothic style house is listed on the National Register as part of the Geneva Street Historic District. Duplicated almost exactly like the Penn Yonge House at Spring Villa in Lee County, the Edwards "Gingerbread" House is the only surviving Carpenter Gothic style left in the region. The "Gingerbread" House is also thought to be the first two story house in Opelika.
Sadly I lived in Opelika 20 years and I never saw this house. It's sort of tucked away behind the First Baptist Church.
Who Built it?
Lula Bean, the last of 4 generations to live in the house, told much of the story about the house over the years.
With the end of the Civil War in April 1865, and, like other Southerners, the Edwards were beginning to rebuild their lives. They had spent the Civil War years at their plantation 12 miles to the east of Opelika, not far from the Yonge house.
John Calhoun Edwards and his wife Sara Jane Griffin Edwards built the "Gingerbread" House in 1865. He was a master carpenter and built other houses in Opelika. John hired a contractor to do the work (W.T. Howard Sr.'s great grandfather).
John built the house to resemble the William Penn Yonge house at Spring Villa. According to family history, the house was finished in September 1865. Bean said she believed the Edwards moved into the house on a Saturday afternoon in September 1865 with a two-year-old son and an infant daughter. One son died before they moved to this house. Her great-grandmother was 24 years old, and her great-grandfather was 27.
Originally, the property the house occupies extended from 9th Street at Avenue C back to 10th Street. The Edwards also owned the triangle-shaped property across the street, where they grew strawberries.
Some of the furniture the Edwards moved to their new home from the plantation was still in the house. Bean had two beds, which were wedding gifts to the Edwards, and washstands.
The is of weatherboard construction, with stone and asher foundation piers, and a steep gable tin roof. The porch is supported by lattice braces. The curvilinear gingerbread trim is repeated on the roof eaves, gabled ends, and on the second story balconies. Inside the house is a closet spiral staircase leading to the second floor. The second floor windows have paneled movable aprons.
National Historic Register
The Gingerbread House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Geneva Street Historic District.
This Historic Building is one of three, registered "Gingerbread Houses" in the U.S. The term comes from the "Carpenter Gothic" trim on the exterior of the house
The current owners (2025) completed many hours of "paperwork and photos" and applied to the National Park Service for Certification and Registration of the house as an American Historical Building. You can visit the Library of Congress website under the category Historic American Architecture/Historic American Buildings and enter "Gingerbread House Opelika, AL" in the search window.
Was it always called the Gingerbread House?
The earliest written record of it was a 1969 news article where they simply called it a "gingerbread house".
In the first time the house is formally called 'The Gingerbread House^#39; in 1979, it couldn't be better described "It's a fantasy house straight out of a storybook. Steep gables trimmed in icicles, adorned lattice balconies and porch columns conjure childhood memories and fairy tales that dance vividly in the mind."
Who Owned it Through the Years
Four generations of the Edwards family lived in the house throughout its history until 1986 with the death of Lula Bean.
John Calhoun Edwards and his wife Sarah Jane Griffin Edwards built the "Gingerbread" House in 1865. They probably lived in the house until 1917.
John and Sarah" daughter, Wilhelmina, lived in the house with her husband Dr. Samuel Henry Saul (a Veterinarian). She probably lived in the house until 1938.
Their daughter Wilhelmina Saul, her namesake married William Edwin Bean, continued to live in the house. She probably lived in the house until 1966.
The Bean's daughter's, Miss Sarah Lula Bean, was the last of the family to live in the Gingerbread House. She died in 1986.
in the 1970/1980s while Lula Bean was still there.. "As the house continued to deteriorate, some feared the unique house would be lost. When Bean was asked if anyone had wanted to purchase the house to restore it, she said, ";No one has wanted to buy it, not in a long time. I couldn't sell it even if I wanted to; my uncle in Miami and cousin in Montgomery are part owners.";
Bean, who was nearly an invalid, said she wasn't able to move any place else.
Another owner of the house was I. J. Scott Sr. of Opelika, who owned 20 percent. ";My interest in buying it was to have it restored,"; Scott said in 1979. ";I thought it was one of the most unusual houses, and I think it should be preserved.";
After he learned of the estate situation he was unable to purchase the house. He offered his share of the house free twice to organizations.
"It looks like an impossible situation as far as I can see,"; Scott said. ";If something isn't done to preserve it at an early date, it will be beyond repair."
After Bean passed away, the Carpenter Gothic house was vacant for 25 years before it was purchased by the Opelika Historic Preservation Society (OHPS).
Peter Weiss, associate professor of Building Science at Auburn University and a former president of the OHPS, removed everything rotten and stabilized the house. He enlisted the help of architecture students.
The OHPS later sold the house to John Marsh.
Others Enjoyed the Home Also
Sylvia Plott 1955
In 1956-57 Calhoun S. Saul, brother of Wilhemina Saul Bean, had a real estate office in the home selling 'Spring Villa Farm Estates on Spring Villa Creek'
Lula and her mother rented out the 4 room upstairs apartment occasionally at least from 1948.
An Otto Sasser lived there in 1948. The Sylvia Plott family lived there in 1955. Eathan Guy Garner lived there in 1969. Clarence Reeves 1980. Arnold C. Johnny Banks in 1981.
Who Owns the Gingerbread House Today
In 2006, John Hendricks and wife Margaret had been looking for a new location for his Auburn clock shop and museum after losing the lease. Former Opelika Mayor Barbara Patton called Hendricks to see if he would consider an Opelika location and gave him a tour.
When he saw the Gingerbread House he said, "That is it!" Seeing the house brought back a memory from 1976, he said, when he had seen a photo of the house in the newspaper and was smitten with it.
He talked to Marsh about buying the house. Marsh would do the restoration. Hendricks and Margaret closed on the house in January 2007.
The house had deteriorated so badly that there were times Hendricks said he had his doubts.
Clock Ad 2008
By November 2007, the Hendricks began displaying 400 antique clocks. The Gingerbread House began a new life in June 2008 as the Old Timers and Chimers Clock Shop and Museum.
After a few years, it closed during Covid. Of course it's back up and running, still ticking, see the pictures from 2025 on the left.
Tell me more about the original Edwards family
Loxla Edwards and his family were among the first settlers in Opelika.
Loxla had flare-ups with the local Creek Indians, who killed his brother, and also attacked on his family.
During the Civil War, there was an incident with a squad of six stragglers of Wilson's Raiders who intruded on Loxla and his family, hanging him until he was nearly strangled and stealing from his home. They would have left him hanging if not for the pleas of three of his faithful servants.
They had spent the Civil War years at plantations located 12 miles to the east of Opelika, not far from the Penn Yonge house at Spring Villa.
Loxla moved to Opelika in 1867, while his two sons John and Polk had moved there two years earlier. Loxla traveled between his plantation and town until 1873, when he settled in Opelika.
Loxla Edwards was mayor of Opelika for three successive terms, 1875, 1876 and 1877 (not sure if the years are correct).
Loxla Edwards 1800-1880
+Olivia Brown 1806-1876
John Calhoun Edwards 1838-1917 Built the Gingerbread House 1865
Sarah "Sallie" Jane Griffin 1841-1935
Wilhelmina Edwards 1865-1938
+ Dr. Samuel Henry Saul 1866-1923
Wilhelmina Saul 1889-1966 died at the home
+ William Edwin Bean 1881-1955
Sarah Lula Bean 1924-1986 Last Edwards relative to live in the Gingerbread House
Sources:
12/23/1948 Opelika News p.4
12/2/1955 Opelika News p.3
8/9/1956 Opelika News p.4
8/31/1956 Opelika News p.9
5/14/1969 Opelika News p.2 first gingerbread house mention
9/9/1979 The Opelika-Auburn News Sunday p.23
3/30/2008 Opelika News p.5 ad
12/1/2023 Opelika Observer Remembering the Gingerbread Houses, John Edwards 1865
Old Timers and Chimers.com http://www.oldtimersandchimers.com/GingerbreadHouse.html
Library of Congress, Gingerbread House, 405 South Ninth Street, Opelika https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.al1310.sheet?st=gallery
