1919 South Main Street, Lindsay E. and Mary J. Fishel House, c. 1919

Mary J. Fishel bought this property in 1919, and had the home built that same year. The large stuccoed side-gable structure includes a full-front shed porch and side porte cochere, both supported by granite posts spanned by a granite knee wall. The southern end features a one-story sunroom side wing with casement windows that originally had brackets in a parapet roof. Paired brackets decorate the cornice along with denticulated pedimented gables.

In 1922, Lindsay Fishel was president and manager of the Motor Company and Auto Repair Company as well as vice-president of Universal Auto Company. By 1928, he was president of the Lindsay Fishel Buick Company with Mary eventually becoming his vice-president. Although ownership of the house changed hands in 1930, the Fishels continued to live here. Lindsay died in 1939, and Mary then rented furnished rooms to boarders. The house was sold to the Catholic diocese in 1974, at which point it became the rectory within the Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church and School complex. It now houses the UNCSA Office of Advancement.

The Catholic church and school complex utilized a number of surrounding buildings. In addition to the construction of the 1957 sanctuary and school, the utilization of the Spaugh House as a convent and the Fishel House as a rectory, Our Lady of Mercy also used the Rowan F. and Phoebe Long House at 23 East Banner Avenue as a kindergarten. In 1988, the church erected the Monsignor Lawrence Newman Center at 17 East Banner Avenue, directly behind the Fishel House.

In 2002, Our Lady of Mercy purchased the former Bishop McGuinness High School complex on Link Road, moving both church and school to that location. That same year, this complex was bought by the State of North Carolina for use by the UNC School of the Arts. Much thanks to UNCSA for their thoughtful adaptive reuse and continued care of these historic buildings!