City Directories and History: The ca. 1931 home of James L. Coker, III designed by Willis Irvin in 1930-31, and later David Kelly updated the home using Segars Construction company in 1996. The original home cost $28,000.
The James L. Coker, III, House is significant as an excellent example of Colonial Revival residential architecture in South Carolina; as one of the designs of Willis Irvin, a prominent regional architect of the early twentieth century; and for its association with James Lide Coker, III (1904-1961), prominent Hartsville manufacturer and president of Sonoco Products Company. It was built in 1931, soon after Coker
succeeded to the presidency of Sonoco at the death of his father, Charles W. Coker (1879-1931). James L. cpker, ill graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1926, and received an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1928. He served as assistant treasurer of Sonoco in 1930-31 before succeeding to the presidency, which he held for thirty years. He was described by his brother Charles W. Coker, Jr., as “a rare combination of meticulous management skills and a gambler’s flair for optimistic speculation.” Coker guided the company’s dramatic growth and expansion from a small, primarily Southeast-oriented, paper manufacturer to a national and international corporation. “With the development of man-made fiber,” one history of Sonoco noted, “an entirely new concept in textiles developed and here began a firm policy of branch-plant expansion, tied into development of new product lines, new taper and finish on cones, and faster production machines. In rapid succession, plants were established or acquired in eight new locations, from Georgia to California.” Another significant factor in this development was Sonoco’s diversification, which included the production of plastics, packaging, forest products, adhesives, and many other products.(1) The house was designed by Willis Irvin (1890-1950), a prominent regional architect of the twentieth century. Irvin, a Georgia native, received his architectural training at the Georgia Institute of Technology and began practicing in 1916 at Augusta, Georgia.
Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History
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IMAGE GALLERY via photographer Bill Segars – 2010