Georgia adds four resources to National Register of Historic Places, recaps 2023 listings

Georgia recently added four new listings to the National Register of Historic Places, continuing to highlight the breadth of Georgia’s historic heritage on a national level. 

The nominations are listed below: 

• Norris Hotel, Statesboro, Bulloch County 

• Buildings at 523-549 Stewart Avenue, Atlanta, Fulton County 

• Capitol View Apartments, Atlanta, Fulton County 

• Paces Ferry Tower, Atlanta, Fulton County 

These nominations join three other listings added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023: 

• Washington Carver Homes, East Point, Fulton County 

• Clarence and Louise Golden Williams House, Savannah, Chatham County 

• Methodist Center, Atlanta, Fulton County 

Listing nominations is integral to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs mission to build strong, vibrant communities. 

The Historic Preservation Division hopes sharing this information will encourage more historic property preservation through public awareness and will foster an appreciation of the impact they have on our social and economic lives. 

As of December 12, 2023, Georgia has 2,213 listings comprising 90,038 resources in the National Register of Historic Places. 

For more information on the newest listings, see below: 

Norris Hotel, Statesboro, Bulloch County 

The Norris Hotel was a popular venue for hosting celebrations, social functions, and corporate events in downtown Statesboro from the 1930s to the 1950s. The Norris Hotel offered rooms to a mixture of both travelers and long-term residents, making it a unique business model and landmark institution within the commercial core of the city. It is also significant for its contribution to local business development during the 20th century and for its longevity as a family-run downtown business. Norris Hotel was originally constructed as a hospital in 1908 but was converted into a hotel in 1937. In 2022, the building’s owner used historic preservation tax incentives to help fund a rehabilitation project and convert the former hotel into twelve individual apartment units. 

The nomination is sponsored by the property owner, Cabretta Statesboro LLC. Nomination materials were prepared by Ward Architecture + Preservation. 

Buildings at 523-549 Stewart Avenue, Atlanta, Fulton County 

The buildings at 523-549 Stewart Avenue are a building complex from the 1920s consisting of a four-story, mixed-use building, a two-story, industrial warehouse, and a free-standing former gas station. The buildings represent the evolution of commerce in Atlanta, serving as a record of the commercial and industrial importance of the companies that occupied them. The 1920 and 1926 portions of the property are examples of “mill” or “slow-burning construction.” This construction method slowed the spread of fire by employing a combination of steel and heavy timber. Slow-burning construction was a state of the art, fire-safety solution that was both effective and affordable for industrial buildings at the time. The complex utilized historic preservation tax incentives to rehabilitate and convert the formerly vacant buildings into offices and residences. Renovation was completed in 2022. 

The nomination is sponsored by Braden Fellman Group, Ltd., and nomination materials were prepared by WLA Studio and Braden Fellman Group, Ltd. 

Capitol View Apartments, Atlanta, Fulton County 

Capitol View Apartments were developed in 1947 and financed by the Veterans Emergency Housing program under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The National Housing Act of 1934 established the FHA and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation to help address national housing shortages. The Veteran’s Emergency Housing program aimed to create rental housing for veterans returning to the United States after the end of World War II. Capitol View Apartments consist of ten two-story, concrete block buildings clad in stucco with hipped roofs and wide eaves arranged around landscaped courtyards. The apartment complex rehabilitation was completed in 2022 utilizing historic preservation tax incentives to create affordable living units. 

The nomination is sponsored by Capitol View-Atlanta, LP, and nomination materials were prepared by Ray, Ellis & LaBrie Consulting. 

Paces Ferry Tower, Atlanta, Fulton County 

Paces Ferry Tower represents the post-World War II growth and early modernization of the Buckhead community in Atlanta – a once rural area that grew significantly in the mid-20th century.  

An analysis of the area surrounding Paces Ferry Tower demonstrates the significant and simultaneous development of both residential and commercial properties in Buckhead between 1931 and 1965. The tower marked a shift towards modernity, defining development in and around the Buckhead Peachtree Road corridor. It is one of the earliest examples of the modern high-rise, high-density apartment buildings now commonplace in Buckhead as the area transitioned from two-to-three-story, garden style apartments of four to 12 units.  

A period of rapid growth coincided with an increased demand for housing following World War II and subsequent construction was financially supported by federal government programs. Paces Ferry Tower is an example of rental housing funded through the Federal Housing Administration's Section 608 postwar mortgage program, which financed single-family and multi-family housing projects. The tower’s design had to meet the program's financing guidelines, which dictated housing specifications, made architectural suggestions, and provided incentives for the construction of efficiency and low-cost apartment units. 

Paces Ferry Tower was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 30, 2023. The nomination was sponsored by SOBU Flats, LLC, and nomination materials were prepared by Ray, Ellis & LaBrie Consulting. 

Washington Carver Homes, City of East Point, Fulton County  

Washington Carver Homes consists of 20 buildings constructed as a public housing development by the City of East Point Housing Authority in 1951. Washington Carver Homes is significant as a physical record of federal intervention and involvement in the housing sector in East Point after the Great Depression.  

Built exclusively for African Americans, the buildings are an important record of racial segregation during the mid-20th century. The buildings embody key architectural features and site planning practices characteristic of public housing developments across the nation including functional, utilitarian designs; repetitive building forms; an ordered “superblock” plan; substantial open spaces; and integral circulation networks. Developed across the country between 1930 and the early 1950s, the United States has a dwindling number of these low-rise, multi-unit public housing complexes. Washington Carver Homes is the only remaining example in East Point. 

Washington Carver Homes was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on January 18, 2023. The nomination was sponsored by Braden Fellman Group, Ltd., and nomination materials were prepared by WLA Studio and Braden Fellman Group, Ltd. 

Clarence and Louise Golden Williams House, Savannah, Chatham County 

The Clarence and Louise Golden Williams House is a small, one-story concrete block bungalow built in 1945. It is in the unincorporated community of Sandfly – a late 19th to early 20th century African American community within the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. 

The Clarence and Louise Golden Williams House is an excellent expression of the artistic fusion of African and Eurocentric American cultures embodied in Gullah Geechee heritage. The decorative interior plasterwork illustrates the well-honed professional craftsmanship of master plasterer Clarence Williams. The exterior displays the family’s African and American heritage with intricate stucco patterns and applied shells along with Eurocentric architectural details. 

Clarence Williams applied his craft and articulated his heritage on his home. Through his creative expression, Williams conveyed this fusion of cultures and an outward demonstration of Gullah Geechee art and culture. The artistry displayed on the Clarence and Louise Golden Williams House sets it apart from other dwellings in the surrounding area. It is Sandfly’s sole example of applied elements displaying the builder’s African American heritage. 

Clarence and Louise Golden Williams House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 15, 2023.  

The nomination was sponsored by the property owner, and nomination materials were prepared by Robert A. Ciucevich of Quatrefoil Historic Preservation Consulting. 

Methodist Center, Atlanta, Fulton County 

The Methodist Center was constructed at the southwest corner of Ralph McGill Boulevard and Piedmont Avenue in Atlanta, serving as the administrative headquarters of the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church. The six-story office tower with an attached one-story, twelve-sided chapel, and a pedestrian plaza was recently rehabilitated into residences using federal and state historic tax incentives.  

The Conference, wanting to engage the community with its social and religious message, chose Atlanta as its base due to the city’s prominent urban core. This building served the Conference from 1966 to 2001, allowing them to actively engage in public outreach programming, advocacy, and event organization involving important social and religious issues affecting Atlanta and the larger North Georgia region. The Conference’s activities focused on civil rights and race relations, women’s roles within the church and society, education, welfare of children and the needy, as well as homelessness.  

The Methodist Center was designed by the Atlanta-based architecture and engineering firm Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild, and Paschal, known collectively as FABRAP. It was considered a forward-thinking firm that designed some of downtown Atlanta’s best-known 20th century architectural works. FABRAP was one of several firms whose increasingly taller modern office towers significantly altered the Atlanta skyline during the period of rapid downtown growth in the 1960s. 

The Methodist Center was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on June 9, 2023.  

The nomination was sponsored by the building owner, Braden Fellman Group, and the nomination materials were prepared by WLA Studio. 

The Historic Preservation Division’s programs include environmental review, grants, historic resource surveys, tax incentives, the National Register of Historic Places, and community assistance. To learn more about HPD and its mission to promote the preservation and use of historic places for a better Georgia, click here.