Hillside

About this property

Hillside, also known as the Julian Price House, is a historic mansion located in the Fisher Park neighborhood of Greensboro, North Carolina. It was built in 1929 for the insurance executive Julian Price and his wife, Ethel Clay Price. Hillside was designed by architect Charles C. Hartmann and built in 1929 for the businessman Julian Price and his wife, Ethel Clay Price. The house, a four-story, 31-room, 180-foot-long (55 m) dwelling in the Tudor Revival style, sits at 7,266 square feet (675 m2). It has a three-story polygonal stair tower, red-brown rough fired brick, and half-timbering with tan stucco. Also on the property is a contributing rustic board-and-batten gardener's cottage. The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It is located in the Fisher Park Historic District. In January 2017, the property and Sandra Cowart, an interior designer and former owner of the mansion, were featured on an episode of A&E's Hoarders. Cowart, who lived there since 1975, was an expert on the home and its architecture. She kept the home in pristine condition until her husband left her in 1979, after she refused to sell the home and have it demolished. For many years, she rented out rooms in the mansion, and gave frequent tours. Her family stated that after 2005, she rarely let anyone inside. She became a compulsive collector, and ultimately lost her business following a lawsuit, forcing her to partake in several refinancing schemes that ultimately led to the home being foreclosed. Eric and Michael Fuko-Rizzo, the new owners, were understanding, and allowed Cowart to sell and dispose of her things. She made nearly $14,000 off selling her belongings and moved into an Airstream on a friend's property after cleaning out the mansion. When asked how she felt about being forced to move, Cowart said she is "lucky" to have called Hillside home for 40 years, and hopes the new owners will enjoy it. The Fuko-Rizzos purchased Hillside in September 2016, in a foreclosure sale. After the house was cleared of Cowart's possessions in late 2016, the Fuko-Rizzos refurbished the interior and grounds over 2017 with the assistance of Preservation Greensboro, landscape architect Chip Callaway and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Department of Interior Architecture, among others. After the house was remodeled, the Fuko-Rizzos invited interior designers to turn the house into a gallery of contemporary interior design. The kitchen and most of the house was fully remodeled. The "designer showcase" was open from April 7, 2018, through April 29, after which the Fuko-Rizzo family occupied the house. After the fact, there were concerns raised about the nature of the showcase and whether the Fuko-Rizzo family took advantage of some participating designers. Some designers were charged fees that did not belong to them and others had their contracts changed without their knowledge - resulting in the financial and material loss of their design pieces to the Fuko-Rizzos.

Location

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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