Vestavia’s historic homes play host to both family, community

Jeffrey and Meredith Lees have lived in the Goddard-Small House on Vestavia Drive for the past six years, but purchasing the home took some extra effort.

When the couple first found the home, Meredith Lees said, it wasn’t for sale, but the couple contacted the former real estate agent, who suggested they wait until the Smalls come back to town to see if they would be interested in selling. However, when she went to look at the house, she encountered a surprise: the Smalls were not out of town.

“So I just went and started looking in the windows, and the front door opened, and Mr. Small asked, ‘Can I help you?’” she said.

In 2012, the couple bought the home, and they don’t plan to move anywhere else, especially after spending a lot of time making the home what they wanted it to be.

“It was quite an experience,” Meredith Lees said. “It took a lot longer than we anticipated, and it was probably a bigger project than we anticipated when we first bought the house. But we love living here, and this will be our forever home.”

Meredith Lees said she always wanted to live in a historic home.

“I’ve always loved the character of an old house,” she said. “It’s hard to replicate in new construction.”

When work began on the home, the couple’s son, Goodloe, was 12 months old.

“Taking on a project like this with a one-year old was probably not the best idea,” Meredith Lees said.

The home, the first on Vestavia Drive, was built in 1926 by a Dr. Goddard, a philanthropist and obstetrician in the area. The Lees are only the third owners of the home, and much of the original architecture, including some stain-glass windows, remains the same. The exterior, as well as the molding and arches, is untouched, and the ceilings are also original.

When the home was first built, the back porch took up the area that’s now the Lees’ living room and the bathroom had a glass ceiling, which has now been mostly covered by a roof. The home underwent some renovations in the 1960s, Lees said.

The couple wanted to maintain the home’s historic feel while making it feel modern, as well.

“I don’t want it to feel like a brand-new house, but don’t want it to feel like a house that was built in 1926, either,” Meredith Lees said.

The couple added a winding staircase leading to a den area upstairs, brought in new decorations, added French doors to the dining room and porch, removed the wallpaper and restored and sanded the trim. Hardwood was also added in the kitchen and den area, Meredith Lees said.

The couple is currently adding a mudroom and garage and several other features. 

The home is certainly a project, she said.

“My husband refers to it as his farm because there’s always something to be done,” Meredith Lees said.

Still, the community and the view are worth it.

“We love sitting out on the front porch when it’s nice weather,” Meredith Lees said.

Many “regulars” pass by the house on their walks or runs, allowing the couple to form friendships, Meredith Lees said.

“Everybody’s really friendly,” she said. “Everyone knows each other.”

The view, which overlooks her parents alma mater, Samford University, is “amazing.” When they come to visit, they can look out the window and see the campus.

“It’s amazing to be able to look out over [Homewood],” Lees said. “... [My parents] always like waking up and looking at [Samford].”

The home is a great spot for viewing fireworks on the 4th of July, Meredith Lees said.

“It’s a really unique place to live,” she said.

Tolhelm House

The roughly four acres that take up the Tolhelm House property on Shades Crest Road are perfect for Mike Cowart, who grew up on a farm, his wife, Sarah, said.

The home, which the Cowarts have lived in for 19 years, has two acres in the front and two in the back. Family friends and community members have used the front lawn in the past, she said, and there’s even been a few weddings at the home.

The home is a perfect combination of country and city, Cowart said. “Kind of like our marriage,” she added.

The home was started in 1939 and finished in 1940, Sarah Cowart said, and each owner has made changes and additions to the home. The Cowarts bought the home from friends who previously owned it.

The Cowarts added four bedrooms and a kitchen and reconfigured several other rooms, including making the laundry into a media room. With no books on decorating from the time period in which the house was built, Sarah Cowart got many of her ideas from a magazine.

“I don’t get credit for any of it,” she said.

The couple tried to stay as close to the late 1930s, early 1940s as possible, Sarah Cowart said. Near the kitchen, a limestone wall remains, part of the original house. The couple expanded the kitchen and kept the limestone, she said.

Sarah Cowart said she’s learned a lot more about yard work than she did at the couple’s previous home. “I like yard work, so that’s a blessing,” she said.

While Sarah Cowart said she doesn’t cook too much, she loves the view of the backyard and Homewood in the kitchen, and her husband prefers the living room, converted from a garage when they moved in.

With five children and now grandchildren who “adore” the front yard, Sarah Cowart said the home is perfect for her family. After 19 years, it’s the family, not just the property, that make the Tolhelm House home, she said.

“They’re my life,” Cowart said.