High Point's String & Splinter Club celebrates successful refurbishment

Susan Dickenson -- Home Accents Today -- Casual Living, 8/28/2012 11:32:23 AM

HIGH POINT, N.C. — The String & Splinter Club's 2012 President Joe Carroll and Ken McAllister, a past president and High Point attorney, cut a ribbon to open the newly renamed Hayworth-Slane Lobby.Members of The String & Splinter, High Point's City Club, gathered at the 55-year-old organization's location in Historic Market Square the afternoon of Aug. 21, to celebrate the culmination of a successful year-long refurbishment, and to honor the individual and corporate members who contributed to the project.

A 5 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony in the newly renamed Hayworth-Slane Lobby commenced with opening remarks by Joe Carroll, the club's 2012 president, and honored High Point attorney Ken McAllister, who spearheaded the fundraising component of the project during his 2010 tenure as president. Carroll announced that as of that day, the capital campaign, which is ongoing, had raised $507,000 in financial contributions and in-kind donations from club members, local corporations, and home furnishings and textile manufacturers, suppliers and designers.

Club Manager Barbara Garry, in whose honor the Presidents' Dining Room was renamed, also thanked the assembled guests, paying special tribute to Rebecca Welch Atwell, lead designer on the project.

Since its founding in 1957 by Jake Froelich, Earl Phillips, Sr. and George Lyles, then-executives in High Point's hosiery and furniture industries, individual and corporate members from both the local and national communities have dined, entertained, enjoyed and hosted events in the club's formal main dining room, mahogany bar, private dining rooms and courtyard patio. The city's industries are symbolized on the club's crest with a spool of thread (the "String) and a wooden table leg (the "Splinter").

First housed in the basement of the Sheraton Hotel, The String & Splinter moved to its current two-story location in the former Tomlinson Chair Manufacturing Company building, now Historic Market Square, in 1983. The refurbishing project was undertaken to update the interiors and provide funds for the club's future sustenance. Approximately one-third of the financial donations were put towards refurbishments, and the remainder will be held in reserves for use at the discretion of the Board of Directors and Endowment Fund Trustees.

Corporate financial contributors from the home furnishings segment included Culp, Sealy, Wildwood Lamp Company, Davis Furniture Industries, Carl's Furniture, Natuzzi Group, and Jamison Bedding.

In-kind contributions of furniture, accessories, fabrics and support services, all intended to "reflect elegance and the fine quality of High Point furniture and textiles," according to a statement from the club, were received from Ralph Lauren Home, Highland House, EJ Victor, Braxton Culler, Carvers' Guild, Habersham, Kravet, G.H. Ruch & Assoc., Southern Custom Shutters, Ultra Home Fabrics/Homcraft, Tomlinson/Erwin Lambeth, Greenhouse Fabrics, American Silk Mills, Rebecca Atwell Designs, Hickory Chair, Carolyn and Steve Sugg, Century Furniture, Valdese Weavers, Williard Stewart, Altizer & Co, Samarcand Fabrics, Swavelle/Mill Creek Fabrics, Stanford Furniture Co., Carolyn Fabrics and Mandy Schoch Photography.

Ten local member families contributed $250,000 to rename nine rooms throughout the structure, including the Phillips Dining Room, honoring Earl N. Phillips, founding president; the Froelich Bar, in honor of founding member Jake Froelich; the High Point University Board Room, donated by the family of HPU President Nido Qubein; and the Norcross Gathering Room, donated by Rena and Mark Norcross. A full list of contributors can be viewed in the club's Hayworth-Slane Lobby, as well as on the String and Splinter website at stringandsplinter.com.