Photo by David Judge
By Dave Yochum. January 29 was like most mornings: Paula Wolfe was making breakfast and coffee, getting organized for another day as a popular licensed massage therapist, one of the first in Cornelius.
Her historic home, an architectural gem with perfect proportions and a big front porch on Catawba Avenue, was cute as a button—and the subject of a feature in Cornelius Today called These Old Houses.
Daughter Rebekah, a student, was asleep.
And suddenly there was pounding on the door. Urgent. Yelling.
Paula opened the door and, of course, it had to be something crazy, something bad: It was a passerby shouting “Get out there’s a fire!”
Fire was indeed raging in an enclosed space in the attic—this, soon after the house got an all-clear during an electrical safety and furnace check.
Paula Wolfe would like to thank emergency responders and her neighbors who quickly arrived to the fire.
Rebekah ran out, the three dogs and a cat, too, and Paula grabbed her purse, car keys and the big, three-foot-wide, framed copy of the These Old Houses story in Cornelius Today from January of 2007.
And then she ran back in and got her cell phone. “My entire life is on it,” she said in an interview with Cornelius Today soon after the fire.
She’s self-employed, one of the go-to massage therapists at The Peninsula Club, and meets clients at her massage studio on Main Street as well.
Rev. David Judge, pastor at Cornelius Baptist just across the street, took in the mother-daughter duo and provided a place for them away from a gathering crowd, one of whom asked about her need for restoration and clean-up services. TV news crews were hovering, intrusive.
She texted clients to tell them that she wouldn’t be able to keep her appointments, that her house was on fire. Mother and daughter were doubtless in a state of shock.
“I stayed calm enough to grab the picture off the wall, and we just sprung into action,” Paula says.
Paula and Rebekah had left the house with no clothes other than what they were wearing. Friends came, some brought clothing from SteinMart.
She was in good hands. Insurance man Roger O’Connell with State Farm in Davidson,“ came over and stood with me the whole time. The insurance company has been cool.”
A restoration company took her belongings to a warehouse to clean and restore them.
The two dogs were fine: Penny Lane, a rescue pit, age 2; Barkley, a Westie, age 14; and Tako, a shepherd mix, age 2. A cat, named Janice Joplin, returned after a few days.
There were working smoke alarms and fire extinguishers, but the alarms never sounded. By the time she was aware of what was happening, there was no way to control it.
Virtually all of the family belongings were either ruined by smoke or drenched in water.
Her house was built in 1901, making it one of the oldest in Cornelius. It was registered with the Charlotte Regional Film Commission, although no movies were ever filmed there.
Paula was proud of the house she bought in 1994.
The house retained its architectural details, including glass doorknobs, french doors and the original windows with counterweights inside. The piano she got for her 12th birthday was inside, as well as her high school year book and her dad’s Navy hat. She was able to rescue the hat, but this is a case of losing most everything.
She has an allowance to shop for clothes and incidentals. One of the first things she bought was a toothbrush.
They moved into a hotel and then got a two-bedroom at the Residence Inn where they could cook in the kitchen.
Demolition on the house began in February. The second floor will have to be entirely rebuilt from scratch, but the downstairs can be saved in spite of considerable damage.
And Paula and Rebekah are in a rented home nearby on Pine Street.
“I have a place to hang my prize picture now,” Paula says.
Cornelius Today featured the house in ‘These Old Houses’ in 2007. This framed copy was the third thing owner Paula Wolfe saved.
