By Henry Burnett
Intern
The oldest surviving house on Wrightsville Beach is on the market for the first time since Herbert Bluethenthal bought it several years after its completion circa 1897.
An open house Thursday, June 4, announced the oceanfront property at 217 S. Lumina Ave., now for sale, is listed at $3.75 million.
Wrightsville Beach native Jan Brewington remembers growing up and visiting the house when the Bluethenthals were down for the summer. Brewington described the family as always welcoming, with big pots of boiled shrimp prepared for whomever dropped by.
“I remember visiting the family and playing under the deck during the summer,” Brewington said.
The house consists of a historic main building and a three-bedroom annex added in 1998, which together total 3,333 square feet of livable space. In addition to the enclosed rooms, the house has 2,500 square feet of decks. Old pine walls and hardwood floors are authentic.
Realtor Diane Thomas made clear, even with the 1998 restoration, the house remains true to its original form.
“There’s no Sheetrock in this house,” Thomas said. “It’s all wood.”
Madeline Flagler, executive director of the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History, described the house as an important part of beach history.
“The Bluethenthal House … is symbolically important because it is the oldest house on the beach. It has survived the hurricane of 1899, and tide and time and weather and everything,” Flagler said. “Most of the houses that come after that are 20 years younger, so it’s significantly older than the others.”
Thomas said although the house is the oldest on Wrightsville Beach, it is not registered as a historic landmark, meaning the house could be torn down to make way for new development.
Flagler explained even with historic landmark designation, the house interior could be remodeled or updated.
“A lot of people don’t get that designation because they misunderstand what it means. It recognizes that you’re an important part of the landscape of the beach, but it does not mean you can’t do anything to the building,” Flagler said. “It tries to preserve the exterior character, but what you do inside, they really don’t have any jurisdiction over that whatsoever.”
Thomas said some potential buyers are interested in keeping the property as a historic home.
Other old homes on Wrightsville Beach have been donated to the town’s historic square, like the circa 1946 Palmgren-O’Quinn house, which houses the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Fred and Alice Stanback Coastal Education Center. Many others have been bulldozed for new construction.
