“Our State” Article Features Iconic Frank Stick Flat Top Cottages

Details from Frank Stick: Splendid Painter of the Out-of-Doors, by Michael F. Mordell, include this history: The house was built in 1953, in the then-new residential area of the Town of Southern Shores. At the end of World War II, Frank Stick and two partners purchased a 2,600 acre tract of land north of Kitty Hawk for $30,000. Frank named the area Southern Shores, and he and his son David laid out a mater plan for the town. However, the lots didn’t sell, so Stick built himself a house using a new architectural design created to withstand our extreme weather. The design featured a flat top roof, beach sand-and-mortar building blocks, extended overhangs, and whitewashed exterior. They became a popular building style here, which persisted until the mid 1960’s.

After the property was gifted to our Community Foundation in 2007, the board of directors established the Flat Top Preservation Fund, to ensure that repairs to the house would be in keeping with the original design and materials, as much as possible. Anyone can make gifts to this fund using the drop-down menu at www.obcf.org/donate, or by sending a check to the Community Foundation with “Flat Top Fund” in the memo field.

The June 1921 issue of Our State Magazine includes an article on historic coastal architecture and features several Frank Stick flat top cottages, including our cottage at 13 Skyline Road.

In 2020, the board of directors commissioned a painting of our cottage by James Melvin, Sr., and created prints for donors, as a way to recognize and thank Legacy members. If you would like to find out about these prints, and our David Stick Legacy Society, we invite you to visit this page and call us at 252-261-8839.