212 W. 8th Street

John H. Terhune House

Built: 1886

Style: Italianate

This Italianate home was built in 1886 by John H. Terhune, who served as President of the Anderson Foundry and Machine Works, President of Citizens Bank, and Mayor of Anderson during the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. In 1913, the Terhune family sold the property to the Edward Toner family, original owners of the Anderson Herald. The Toner family lived in the home for several decades. John E. Scott owned the home from 1965 to 1975, with the exception of a brief period in the 1970s. John was the Vice President of Anderson Newspapers, Inc. His wife, Jane, was a member of the Toner family. In 1979, John (an attorney) and Jill Blevins (who worked at the Dorothy Blevins Shoppe) purchased the home.

The home’s symmetrical appearance, wide eaves with brackets, two-story bay window on the east side, colonnaded porch, and segmental lintels over the windows are typical of the Italianate style. These homes also commonly include towers, cupolas, or “window walks,” similar to the square wrought iron cresting at the peak of the Terhune House. The porte-cochere on the west side is probably a twentieth-century addition. The front porch was probably an Italian Renaissance addition.