This photo at right
demonstrates the corner-post
construction. It is the
NE upstairs corner
of the original house.
Architecture
from the National Register of Historic Places
The Hoyle House stands on a hill overlooking the South Fork of the Catawba River in the county now named gaston. It is a sturdy, two-story house sheathed in weatherboards and exhibiting important German-American construction features. The main block of the house obviously reflects 
two and possibly three phases of construction, but the specific dates and chronology of its construction remain uncertain. It appears to date from the late 18th century, but it is possible, as related by local and family tradition, that it was built as early as the mid-18th century.
A major renovation, possibly cirac 1810, entailed the addition of the transitional late Georgian/Federal finish and the front and rear shed porches. At the north end of the house is a weatherboard addition of uncertain data connected to the main block by a breezeway that has been enclosed.
The house faces south toward a now overgrown dirt road; a twentieth-century macadam highway on the north side now gives access to the property. East of the house there are two dependencies dating from the nineteenth century; a brick well house and a frame smoke house.
Almost nine acres of rolling farmland and several large walnut trees surround the house.
