Alabama Historical Commission, Marketing & Public Relations Manager:
Jacqulyn Kirkland, 334-230-2645 or jacqulyn.kirkland@ahc.alabama.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2018
ALABAMA PROPERTIES LISTED IN NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a nationwide program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.
The Alabama Historical Commission administers the National Register program in Alabama. Learn more at https://ahc.alabama.gov/nationalregister.aspx
The following Alabama properties were recently listed:
Cleburne County High School, Heflin, Cleburne County
The Old Cleburne County High School has historically played a central role in the education and development of Heflin and, until 1984, served as one of Cleburne County’s primary educational institutions. The school is eligible for the National Register for its architectural and educational significance.
Partially funded by a Public Works Administration grant, the high school represents a time period when the Federal Government worked to restore the economic and social life of the nation following the Great Depression. The historic structure is presently privately owned. The design was created by Birmingham based architect Charles H. McCauley and constructed by the Daniel Construction Company, a frequent partner of McCauley & Associates. McCauley would go on to design many of Alabama’s most famous public buildings of the period in Birmingham and surrounding areas. The one-and-a-half story brick school was the only combination Junior High and High School in the County until the construction of Ranburne High School in 1941.
Riverview Historic District, Selma, Dallas County (Additional Documentation)
Originally listed in the National Register in 1990, the Riverview Historic District in Selma has recently been updated. The Riverview Historic District is eligible for listing in the National Register for its architectural significance.
The district contains portions of eighteen blocks of structures dating primarily from the late nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth century. Included within the district are 211 contributing resources as well as 6 non-contributing resources. The buildings in the Riverview District illustrate the local interpretations of Queen Anne, Shingle, Eastlake, Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and Ranch styles. The majority of the buildings are late nineteenth and early twentieth century vernacular, T- and L-shaped cottages.
John Clifford Grimsley House, Fayette, Fayette County
The John Clifford Grimsley House is a circa 1916 two-story brick veneer Neoclassical style dwelling located northeast of the downtown area of Fayette. The John Clifford Grimsley House is eligible for listing in the National Register for its architectural significance as an excellent example of high style Neoclassical architecture and for its association with architect John David Gullett.
John Clifford Grimsley, a prominent local businessman, was associated with successful business enterprises in Fayette during the first half of the twentieth century. He contracted with architect Gullett to design a house befitting his status in the community. It is the only high style Neoclassical residence in Fayette County. The style was extremely popular in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century, especially in the Post Reconstruction South. The classical styling evoked an increasingly idealized antebellum South and the power and control exhibited by the Greek Revival style so popular before the Civil War.
Dothan Main Street Commercial Historic District, Houston County
Originally listed in the National Register in 1983, the Dothan Main Street Commercial Historic District has recently been expanded and updated. The Dothan Main Street Commercial District consists of historic commercial properties along East Main, Foster, St. Andrews, Crawford, and Troy Streets. This district represents the heart of a southern trading center’s downtown area and illustrates the evolution of downtowns in the South. The Dothan Main Street Commercial District is made up mostly of one- and two-story brick commercial buildings placed closely together along the main thoroughfares in the city. This district represents the use of downtown Dothan as a commercial hub from the city’s inception in 1885 to the decline of downtown as the heart of the city in 1973.
The Dothan Main Street Commercial District is eligible for the National Register for its commercial and architectural significance. This area illustrates the importance of railroads and transportation to the economic development of the southern United States as well as how a typical southern downtown developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Buildings in the district exhibit the characteristics of late nineteenth century commercial architecture, early to mid-twentieth century commercial architecture, as well as mid-century Modern style architecture and Tudor Revival residential architecture.
Magnolia Avenue South Historic District, Birmingham, Jefferson County
The Magnolia Avenue South Historic District is located east of the Five Points Historic District in Birmingham’s Southside neighborhood and incorporates a mix of light industrial, commercial, and residential resources that border Magnolia Avenue.
The Magnolia Avenue South Historic District is eligible for listing in the National Register for its Community Planning and Development history as it illustrates the transitioning of a small portion of the Southside neighborhood from a predominantly residential area in the late nineteenth century to an area of mixed uses that included residential, light industrial, office, and retail in the early to mid-twentieth century.
Sannoner Historic District, Florence, Lauderdale County
Originally listed in the National Register in 1975, the Sannoner Historic District in Florence has recently been updated. The Sannoner Historic District is eligible for listing in the National Register for its architectural significance.
The Sannoner Historic District represents the three major phases of residential development, along with the best-preserved collection of early houses, in the city of Florence, Alabama. There are six antebellum houses in the district, more than any of the other historic districts in Florence. These buildings represent some of the earliest structures in the city and reflect the built environment of Florence’s early prominent settlers. Tidewater-type cottages and early Federal-style houses were among the first built in the district and show a clear link to the eastern seaboard houses of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina.
The district developed originally as a residential neighborhood for some of Florence’s wealthier residents and because of this early residential development, the lot sizes in the district are larger and more irregular than those found in adjacent neighborhoods. The district features a mixture of single family residential, multiple dwelling, commercial office buildings, professional offices, a florist, a church, a restaurant, and office buildings for the University of North Alabama. The focal point of the district is Courtview, now Rogers Hall at the northern edge of the district.
Blue Bird Hardware and Seed, Mobile, Mobile County
Blue Bird Hardware & Seed, designed by architect Arch Winter in 1954, is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance.
Arch Winter was a partner in the Mobile, Alabama, based firm Ellis & Winter. The firm would become the most prolific mid-century modern architectural firm on the Gulf Coast. Blue Bird Hardware & Seed is representative of the style and ethos displayed by Winter in Mobile during the mid-1950’s. The unique blend of form, function, technology, and style, are all evident regarding the interior and exterior of Blue Bird Hardware & Seed, making this property architecturally unique to Mobile.
When completed in 1955, this building reflected the agrarian tradition in Mobile of maintaining urban gardens and small farms within the general vicinity of the city center. Backyard gardens were commonplace during this period and the social importance of this establishment reflected the period. The store was one of the primary locations within the Mobile city limits to purchase gardening and small farm tools/implements, feed for animals, seeds, fertilizer, and receive advice for lawn and garden care. The store would remain a staple in the community until it closed circa 2000. It has remained vacant ever since.
Kennedy-Foster House, Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County
Constructed in 1887 on 25th Avenue in Tuscaloosa, the Kennedy-Foster House is eligible for listing in the National Register for its architectural significance.
The late nineteenth-century residence is a locally significant example of Late Victorian eclectic architecture, combining Italianate and Second Empire styles in its overall design. The Kennedy-Foster House is a late manifestation of an architectural style that enjoyed limited expression in Tuscaloosa. Although popular nationwide and elsewhere in Alabama in the mid-nineteenth century, Italianate architecture in its various subtypes was confined to a dozen or so houses in Tuscaloosa. These include the Dr. John R. Drish House, Jemison House, and Jemison’s Servant’s House, and the no longer extant circa 1835 Hester-deGraffenried House. The Kennedy-Foster House is additionally significant as a rare example of Second Empire architecture.
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About the Alabama Historical Commission
Located in historic downtown Montgomery at 468 S. Perry Street, the Alabama Historical Commission is the state historic preservation agency for Alabama. The agency was created by an act of the state legislature in 1966 with a mission to protect, preserve and interpret Alabama’s historic places. AHC works to accomplish its mission through two fields of endeavor: Preservation and promotion of state-owned historic sites as public attractions; and, statewide programs to assist people, groups, towns, and cities with local preservation activities. For a complete list of programs and properties owned and operated by the AHC, hours of operation, and admission fees please visit ahc.alabama.gov