Wolfe Relocates Historic Dooley House

Brick House Moving

Abingdon, VA / June 2021

The Dooley House was built in 1849 by a local furniture maker, Hiram Dooley, twelve years before start of the Civil War. Over the years, the house changed owners several times and was eventually purchased by the church next to it. By January 2021, maintenance costs and plans for the lot where the house sat had led the church to file for a demolition permit. Concerned community members stepped in and worked out a plan with the church leaders to purchase the house and contract Wolfe House Movers to move it around the corner to a lot on a neighboring street.

Before moving the house, contractors tore off two additions that had been added to the house, bringing it back to its original 20×44′ footprint. Wolfe crews installed vertical girders and wrapped the house with steel chain to support the triple-brick walls. They set steel beams in place under the house, and built up crib piles to support its weight while they lifted it from the foundation and installed the six Buckingham dollies and power unit that would drive the house to the new site.

Rain showers the day before the move left the job site blanketed in mud. The Wolfe crew used steel plate to give the dollies a solid base for travel, and the foreman drove the house around the corner and onto the street, where utility trucks lifted a few wires along the route. The 250-foot move took several hours due to the mud and tight move path, but by dinnertime the Dooley House was in position at its new location.