UPHA June Home of the Month
317 Dixie Trail, Home of Chandler and Meredith Rose
Chandler and Meredith Rose purchased 317 Dixie Trail in August of 2013. At the time, they had an offer in for another property in Raleigh, but when they walked this home they knew right away it was the perfect home for them and they retracted the other offer and purchased this property. Standing in front of the guest house and looking back towards Dixie Trail, it was such a little oasis under the large oaks and next to the pond. Meredith, being an interior designer, saw the potential in bringing this property back to the grandeur the home once had when it was originally built for Col. Arthur L. Fletcher (brother of A.J. Fletcher) back in 1928. The original property included the lot directly North and the two lots South of the current property lines. The guest house was built to overlook the fish pond and grape vineyard that once existed on the Southern lots. The Roses reconstructed the pond and created a path and sitting area around it.
Col Arthur L. Fletcher (brother of A.J. Fletcher), 1933–1938 served as Commissioner of Labor of North Carolina. He also served as editor of the Raleigh Evening Times, editor of The Dispatch, served in WWI And WWII as well as the NC National Guard. The second owners of the home were the Croom family. In the 1990’s, the Crooms divided up the property into the lots as they are now.
The Roses first began remodeling of the guest house when they purchased the property. Once completed, they moved into the guest house and in spring of 2015, they hired Greg Paul Builders to remodel the main house according to Meredith’s plans. He was wonderful to work with, built according to Meredith’s plans and designs.
The remodel of the main house was a full gut down to the studs. The Roses put in new electrical, plumbing, HVAC, insulation, drywall, roof, windows, finished the attic space to add a bedroom, bath and playroom, added a back porch and reconstructed the back corner of the home where the foundation was failing under a porch that had been added at some point in the home’s history. The original blue prints for the home were found and the Roses reconstructed the widow’s walk over the sunroom (which is now a library) per the blue prints.
Their current projects are on the exterior where they are focusing on hardscaping and landscaping. Since moving to Dixie Trail, their first daughter has turned 3 and they now have another little girl who was born in January of this year. The Rose family loves their community and living in University Park!
University Park Homeowners Association 