On an East Second Street corner, the home of Alan Mobley and Jeffery Phipps is a showstopper. It’s a shining example of early 20^th-century southern architecture, complete with peaked gables, a wide porch framed by pairs of Doric columns and draping smilax, and a foundation hedged in with boxwoods punctuated with a single white wisteria bush.

This is why the City of Washington community development planner Emily Rebert and Century 21 realtor Scott Campbell are singling Mobley out with an award for stewardship of historic property. The “Good Stewardship” award is the first of three Terrell awards the City of Washington will present this year. Named for one of Washington’s founding historic preservationists, Rena K. Terrell, in 2015 Rebert and Campbell reinstated the annual awards to property owners who make the extra effort to preserve Washington’s history.

But the Willis-Mobley wasn’t always the house people see today. In fact, when Alan Mobley purchased the home in 1979, it had one quality that set it apart from the surrounding houses.

“It was the shabbiest in the neighborhood,” Mobley said.

It was decrepit and needed to be restored from foundation to chimney. Mobley was up for the challenge — a project that would become a lifelong hobby — and to sweeten the experience, he had a contingent of neighbors cheering him on.

“All the neighbors were in their mid-80s,” Mobley said. “They were really supportive because they wanted to have the house looked after. … I had a neighborhood of grandmothers taking care of me and watching out for me and the house.”

Ladies with names such as Morgan, Darracott, Randolph, Lilley, Arthur and Forbes brought Mobley lunch and dinner, slices of homemade cake, to show how much they appreciated Mobley’s work on his new home.

It wasn’t an easy task. The house had been rundown for years; at a certain point it was a boarding house, and padlocks had been installed on each room’s door. Most rooms in the house were unusable, so Mobley made do.

“I lived in the kitchen, and kept my mattress in the pantry during the day. At night, I’d put it on the kitchen floor. You’d be surprised how noisy a refrigerator can be at night,” Mobley laughed.

Over the next several years, his makeshift bedroom moved each time he fixed up a room — from kitchen to dining room to den.

“I just crept through the house,” Mobley said. “I was young, and it was fun.”

Outside, he started with restoring the original molded tin roof, then moved on to a new foundation on the entire east side of the house. Chimneys were torn down then rebuilt with the same bricks. The yard was a mess, having been used as a parking lot for years, with some patches polluted to the point where nothing would grow.

For years, Mobley rotated his restoration effort from inside to outside.

“I’d get the house to an acceptable level, then I’d focus on the yard,” he said.

And it’s been that way for 38 years.

“I’ve never really stopped, frankly,” he said.

It’s a quality that Campbell appreciates: an ongoing effort to maintain the quality of a home, and therefore the quality of Washington’s historic district.

“I was pleased to present the Terrell Award to Alan for his outstanding care and stewardship,” Campbell said. “Over a long course of time, he’s maintained and improved the property to historic district standards. … It’s a great enhancement to that whole section of Second Street and, really, to the whole historic district.”

Mobley recognizes the importance of preservation: in nearly 40 years, he’s watched the neighborhood change.

“Since I bought this house, 10 houses I could see from here have been demolished, soon to be 11 — more than that going up and down the street,” he said. “It’s a sad loss, because if there’s no houses, there’s no neighbors.”

He also recognizes the importance of his efforts, not only for himself, but for others — people recognize the Willis-Mobley house.

“Over the years, they’d say, ‘Oh, I love that house,’ so you realize, old houses, a lot of people are attached to them. It’s that whole sense of place thing,” Mobley said.

Working on his house and yard is both Mobley’s hobby and passion. It’s also a lifelong commitment of stewardship — a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly.

“I’m taking care of it, and I have plans for what will happen next,” Mobley said. “But I plan to retire in place. I’ll be right here.”