After more than two decades living away, a Lexington native returns to restore Avalon, the home of his late childhood best friend.
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David Eades is living in the past –– or rather, he is residing in a piece of his own past. A certain charming house on Second Street with a wraparound front porch was his favorite house in Lexington while growing up. It was the home of his best friend, Reggie Crutcher –– the boys spent some good times there as kids and those good memories never left Eades as his life took him to places far away.
Reggie lived in the sprawling house with his mother, Mary Crutcher, and his grandmother Ruth Farrow. According to Eades, the house was grand in the way it was meant, appointed with beautiful fixtures, rugs, and antiques. He and Reggie spent their childhood there, engaged in boyhood games; years later, they put together garage bands and played music in the attic.
The house was called Avalon. Though Eades isn’t sure how it got its name, he thinks it was perhaps connected to the original owner’s fondness for King Arthur, as Avalon was the island where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged in the Arthurian legends –– a fitting reference, as the home became the location of two young boys’ dreams of adventure.
After high school, Eades left Lexington for college at Tulane in Louisiana. After college, a life-long love for architecture, building and design took him through decades of various construction-related careers in the New Orleans area. He called Louisiana home for 40 years, but he never forgot Lexington –– or Avalon.
“Reggie was a good guy –– we had a lot of fun together,” Eades said. “This house really stuck with me.”
One day while contemplating a move and noodling around on the computer, Eades came across the familiar house listed for sale online. He knew that in years earlier the house had been sold and that his old friend Reggie had passed away.
“Here I was after all these years, and there was my favorite house for sale,” Eades said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Eades was divorced, closing in on retirement and had been thinking of a life change and new environs.
“I thought to myself, ‘I could buy Avalon and move back to Lexington,’” he said.
And, after negotiating a sale price, he moved back to his hometown and into the house he been so fond of as a kid.
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The former owner had begun a renovation, planning to make the house into several apartments but had halted work on the house after deciding to sell.
“I didn’t want to see it be made into apartments,” explains Eades, “so I had a lot of work to do to get it renovated. It was livable, but there was a lot of work left to do –– there still is.
“I may never be finished,” he added. “I like to keep working on things.”
Built in 1901, the home was originally owned by Peter J. Garland, the city treasurer. Other occupants include James Slavin, deputy county assessor, and Simon Speyer, a junior member of a family firm that, according to historic record, “dealt in hides, fur, wool, metal and Lord only knows what all.” The house, which is on the National Record of Historic Places, is considered to be one of the most intact examples of Federal Revival architecture from the Second Street neighborhood.
Eades rebuilt the front porch, installed five modern bathrooms, installed all new plumbing and electrical work, and added insulation to the home. He is quick to point out that as much TLC as the house needed, it also had a lot going for it with many well-preserved elements. Several of the house’s 10 fireplaces are intact and still functional; original art glass windows, pocket doors, original hardware and perhaps one of the most impressive features of the house, a 60-foot entry hallway, all add to its historic charms.
“The challenge is not to make a new building out of an old one,” Eades explained. “After I toured Europe, I learned to appreciate buildings that are sound and have retained their patina.”
Eades is particularly happy with the spacious backyard and looks forward to being able to eventually turn his attention to some exterior features. There are plans for a deck and parties that can spill out into the yard, which also retains touches of the Avalon’s past: a large cistern with a hand pump still stands and a rock wall from a past century marks the property line.
With the home, Eades is feeding his long-running connection to history and architecture, in addition to his nostalgia.
“When I was young in Kentucky, I had a summer job working on a renovation of the old Belle Breezing house. It’s been torn down now,” he added. “This is a part of Lexington’s history and my own personal history I wanted to save. Avalon is like a walk back in history.”
Nearly a lifetime after he grew up here, Eades is happy to again call Lexington home. On a breezy afternoon, as he and his dog are out walking the neighborhood, neighbors stop to wave or say hello. It’s almost like he never left.