HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT GREEK REVIVAL HOME 

This renovated 1850's Greek revival home is located on 64 acres and is the historically significant personal home of noted architect, Rick Spitzmiller, who relocated the residence to its current site and meticulously restored every detail inside and out. The sprawling grounds feature a 5 acre stocked lake with fishing dock and 16 acres of pristine meadow. The surrounding area is also host to numerous hunting preserves, horse farms and other historic residences.

RENOVATION & RESTORATION OF AN ANTE BELLUM HOUSE

Built in the vernacular Greek Revival style, this handsome raised cottage was constructed in 1852. By 2005, the house and fifty acres were all that remained of what once had been a large working plantation in southwest Georgia. It had never, in its one hundred and fifty years, passed out of the original family’s ownership. Members of the family felt that they had held on to the house and property as long as was practical. The area where the house was located had become a populous residential and business suburb, therefore it was decided that the land would be sold for commercial development and the house, if it were to be saved, would have to be moved to another location.

A new owner was found and arrangements were made to purchase the house and move it to a new rural site. Family farms and a number of antebellum houses characterized the new area -- it seemed ideal for this old house. Moving the house was relatively simple owing to the mortise and tenon construction used by the original builder. It was separated, longitudinally, by removing the pegged joists and rafters of the central hall leaving the framing of the front and rear rooms intact; the joists and rafters then were numbered so that they could be put back exactly as they had been taken out. The bricks and stones of the chimneys and foundations were dismantled, placed on pallets and moved along with the house. Eighteen miles of overhead power and telephone wires under which the house would have to travel necessitated dismantling the roof also.

At the new site, on a slight rise of land, great care was taken to position and orient the house as it had been originally. Foundation footings were poured and timber cribbing set to support the house temporarily while new foundation walls were being built. The original 7’-6" tall windows, the exterior louvered blinds and the ceiling medallions all survived the move unharmed. The parlor crown molding and ceiling medallion survived the move very well also---only to be dislodged by the work of the framing crew as they reset the roof. Fortunately large fragments of the moldings were saved and provided the correct profile to enable their recreation. The previously mentioned windows were re-strung using the original sash weights, which made them operate beautifully. Original window casings, doors, the surviving mantels from the service areas and the heart pine floors were all retained and restored. Necessitated by the move the center hall had to be rebuilt. New heart pine floors, which matched the undisturbed floors in the four original rooms, were milled from timbers salvaged from a barn on the original site.

Although the basic plan of the house was retained, rooms were given new uses: the right rear bedroom became the kitchen, the left rear bedroom became the master bath and closet. To create a dining area, a screen of Doric columns was inserted a third of the way along the forty-foot center hall. Unfortunately the parlor and master bedroom mantel s were missing. For the parlor a modern replacement was created and built adapting a historically accurate design. In the master bedroom a mantel salvaged from a house of the period was used. The heart pine mantel for the keeping area of the kitchen was also salvaged from a house of the period; it was chosen because the detail of its pilaster caps closely followed the pilaster cap detail used on the original front door surround. At the rear face of the house a small porch with Doric columns was added.

 

Interior vertical circulation between floors had never existed in the house and was now needed. A new stair was designed and installed in the front part of the center hall. A wonderful antique turned newel of American walnut was located and used to start the stair; a surviving piece of handrail attached to the newel provided the model from which a new continuous rail was milled. Salvaged heart pine was used for the treads. Thus former root cellar became two additional bedrooms with baths, a laundry room and a painting studio. For the floors of the newly created basement, reclaimed brick was used; for the undercrofts of the front and rear porches the floors were paved with the handmade brick salvaged from the original plantation. The plantation brick were also used for the wide walk leading from the front gate to the house. Pickets from the original front picket fence were supplemented with new matching pickets and the fence rebuilt to enclose the front garden.

Location:

One Hour from the Atlanta Airport

25 Minutes to Columbus, Georgia

Ten Minutes to Callaway Gardens, West Point, Georgia & Pine Mountain, Georgia