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The bright and airy kitchen is back in its original spot.
but as the work progressed, they simply “realized it was for [them].” Last October, after 14 months of renovations, the family moved into their new old home, and two weeks later, the family of six became a family of nine when they were joined by their three adopted daughters from Ethiopia. Months of renovations, significantly aided by contractors Lee Setters and Jason Setters, were brought on by a number of hard years for the Georgian Revival-style home. The house was built by Judson Hassell Blount in 1933, and it
GREENVILLE TIMES SEPT 14
was home to the Blount family, of Blount Fertilizer Co., for almost 40 years. In 1971, family health concerns lead the Blounts to sell the home to East Carolina University’s chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, making them the second out of only three owners of the 81-year-old residence. While the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha cared for the house, perhaps maintaining the historic architecture and details were not always top priority. Walking through the home, one becomes privy to some of the unique interior design choices made by
the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha that the Rizzuti family encountered, including bathroom removals, a number of additional bedrooms, a large recreational room and communal bathroom addition, boarded up and vinyl covered windows and, most significantly, a missing kitchen. After the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha moved out in 2010, the house, now reaching 8,600 square feet, sat empty for a year and a half, resulting in great disrepair and structural decline. When purchased by the Rizzuti family in 2012, they had their work