Updated October 24, 2016
- Here’s a well done history of Chiles House from February 2016: Linda Brandt Notes
- Chiles House went through some rough times. Three years after Chiles House was completed in 1922, Jake Chiles died in 1925. Leah Chiles took control of the family company Kenilworth Realty Company. But when the Great Depression hit, Leah Chiles ultimately had all her assets sold at auction or $1200. Her son John Chiles said he remembered being driven to private school by chauffeur and then after his family’s change in fortune, found himself walking to public school. See John and Anne Chiles.
- Chiles House has its coming out party! Chiles House on Asheville Preservation Society Tour in 2006
- See a short time-lapse video of the kitchen renovation
- Here’s a great description of Kevin and Rhonda Gentry’s gracious hosting of a dinner for Anne Chiles (the daughter-in-law of Jake and Leah Chiles), her son Tripp and daughter Kathy. The caterer recounts a special evening spent strolling down memory lane. A Night at Chiles House as Told by the Colorful Palate
- Chiles House was featured as Home of the Week in the August 8, 2009 Asheville Citizen Times.
- During various parts of its history, it was impossible for Chiles House to find a buyer. Constructed at a cost of over $80,000 in 1922 (over $1.8 million today), Chiles House was advertised for sale as low as $10,000 ! At one point in 1963, Chiles House was even offered for free!
- James Madison Chiles and his wife Leah, their sons and wives are buried in Riverside Cemetery in Asheville.
Chiles House 