Historic Structures

Robinson House - Quietdale, Huntsville Alabama

The house was erected for Mrs. Caroline Moore Robinson, widow of Madison County sheriff William (Black Bill) Robinson. A Virginia-born planter and speculator, Robinson had accumulated vast landholdings in Alabama and Mississippi by the time of his death in 1852, at the premature age of forty-four. Documentary evidence hints that the noted Huntsville architect George Steele or his son, Matthew W. Steele, may be responsible for the design and construction of Quietdale. The younger Steele, though never to achieve a reputation comparable to that of his father, intermittently practiced as an architect in Huntsville during the 1850s. George Steele himself died in the fall of 1854. But a note among his estate papers refers to a debt of $1131.66 due from the Estate of Wm Robinson for the bal[ance] of work furnished by M.W.S. Executor, payable on January 1, 1856. Certainly the original plan of the house followed George Steele's predilection for separating the formal interior spaces from the more intimate family living area Thus a forty-two foot long drawingroom suite lay to the right of an entrance vertibule; to the left was a series of smaller and more informally disposed rooms extending into a rear ell. Directly behind the foyer, two stairhalls with parallel stairways led to completely separate bedroom suites on the upper floor. Why the upper floor was partitioned is not entirely clear: whether to isolate the guest chambers, or in deference to the custom observed in far more primitive Alabama houses of the period, of carefully separating the boys' and girls' sleeping quarters.

Kildare Mansion - McCormick House, Huntsville Alabama

Kildare's builder Michael O'Shaughnessy was a northern capitalist who, with his brother James, was looking for investment and development situations in the South during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. They settled on Huntsville, a town of 5,000 persons that had never revived following the Civil War, where they built and purchased homes and began buying large tracts of land and buildings. It was through the O'Shaughnessy's influence that additional wealthy outsiders were attracted to Huntsville as a town with great development potential. It was this group of northern investors and self-styled town builders, associated with prominent local businessmen, that provided the money, the connections, and the know-how to package and sell Huntsville as an industrial and resort site. Before the O'Shaughnessys moved on, they were chiefly responsible for the creation of Dallas Manufacturing Company and of East Huntsville Addition (a major suburb), the construction of the resort facility called Monte Sano Hotel, the refurbishing of the Huntsville Hotel, and the establishment of a large cotton seed oil plant. However, many of their colleagues remained in Huntsville and continued to establish or attract additional cotton textile mills and various other smaller industries, which created the economic basis for the town's postbellum recovery. The second owner of Kildare, Mary Virginia McCormick, was the daughter of Cyrus Hall McCormick of reaper fame. Although she spent only a few months in Huntsville each year, if at all, she was responsible for much philanthropic work in the town. She took a particular interest in the living conditions of the several mill villages that had grown up around the town (as a result of the O'Shaughnessy's initial efforts) and coerced the mill directors into providing better health care and recreation facilities for the operatives by offering matching funds for settlement houses and YMCA's.

Southern Railway System Train Depot, Huntsville Alabama

The Memphis and Charleston Railroad Depot, built in 1860, is the oldest railway terminal standing in Alabama and one of the last surviving physical evidences of the South's most significant antebellum rail systems. During the Civil War the Depot was used as a temporary Federal prison. The Memphis and Charleston Railroad was the most important transportation line in the South, in addition to being the most potent factor in the commercial development of Northern Alabama. Originally incorporated under the laws of Tennessee on February 2, 1846, the railway embodied one of the early dreams of the south; to connect the Mississippi River at Memphis with the Atlantic Ocean at Charleston. The merchants and farmers of North Alabama had long suffered from the loss of their cargo in the treacherous Muscle Shoals of the Tennessee River. Thus when a railroad was planned, the citizens of Huntsville were determined to have the line go through their city. By 1849 the citizens had voted $50,000 toward the proposed railroad, and by 1850 it had been decided that the route would definitely go through Huntsville, which would also be the headquarters for the Eastern Division. On January 7, 1850, the company was chartered by the legislature of Alabama as the Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company.

Dunnavants Department Store Building, Huntsville Alabama

The Dunnavant's Building was erected by Terry Brothers and Rogers, a local dry goods company, in 1905 from a design by Huntsville architect Edgar Love. It was originally of brick and milled construction according to the Weekly Mercury which reported that carpenters are now placing the heavy timbers for the second floor. The building was extensively remodeled in 1927 by contractor Charles E. Baxter who had a force of men at work building an entire new front, besides the rearrangement of the interior. However, drawings and photographs of the building indicate that the only exterior changes ever made to the building were confined to the entrance and display windows on Washington Street. In 1940 a fire started in the paint department on the third floor and did considerable damage to this floor and the roof. At that time the roof was replaced and repairs were made throughout the structure. Three months after the fire Dunnavant's reopened for business. Terry Brothers and Rogers changed partnerships several times until P. S. Dunnavant gained control of the store in 1925. Dunnavant's was the premier department store in Huntsville for many years and remained in this downtown location even after opening a branch store. In 1975 after P. S. Dunnavant died, the downtown store was closed.

Angels Flight Cable Railway, Los Angeles California

The property was first constructed in 1901 to provide efficient transportation between the city's commercial core and the top of Bunker Hill. New cars were constructed in 1905. A new station house, designed by noted Los Angeles architects Train & Williams, and an entrance arch were added in 1910. The period of significance begins in 1905 and ends circa 1945. The Flight operated continuously until 1969 when it was dismantled and stored as part of an urban renewal program. Twenty-five years later, the original elements of Angels Flight was removed from storage, rehabilitated, and reinstalled within the same city block slightly south of and parallel to its original location on the hill. Angels Flight operates in its historic function, carrying passengers up and down Bunker Hill's steep eastern slope in downtown Los Angeles. One of only six incline railways still extant and operating in the United States, Angels Flight represents a now extremely rare property type. The incline railway was originally developed to serve two different needs: industrial and passenger. According to incline railway historian Donald Duke, The first known incline railway in the United States was constructed in 1762, at Lewiston, New York. It was used to haul merchandise up and down the Niagara escarpment, near what is now the border between the United States and Canada. The application of cable rail technology to incline rails spurred their greatest period of construction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with most constructed between 1880 and 1910.

Robbins Hotel, Beatrice Alabama

The Selma to Pensacola rail line was chartered in 1858 but construction was barely completed 40 miles south of Selma when the Civil War broke out. Intermittent postwar construction and financial entanglements left a 45-mile gap through rural Monroe County in the line's completion that was not completed until 1899. The Daniel Robbins farm, with the exception of the Robbins House, was among land purchased by railroad contractor Robert M. Quigley for purposes of establishing the railroad right-of-way which subsequently passed approximately 200 feet east of the house. The Robbins House immediately became a haven for railroad people, commercial travelers, sportsmen and other guests brought to town by the new railroad. It was this close proximity to the railroad line that necessitated the c. 1905 enlargement of the Robbins House and gave it its present identity. The Robbins House turned hotel, served the rail traveler and subsequently the automobile tourist of the 1920s-1930s. While Monroe County was created in 1815 and general settlement in the county was very early by Alabama standards, there were several communities that were not born until the railroad bisected the county in 1899. Beatrice, Alabama is one of them.

Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills California

El Cortez Apartment Hotel, San Diego California

The history of the El Cortez Area is well-documented. Named after the imposing El Cortez Apartment Hotel, the El Cortez Area encompasses a geographic section of San Diego which rises from around a 25 feet elevation along Front Street to approximately 65 feet at 10th Avenue. The area has been defined as bounded by Interstate 5 to the north, the community of Little Italy to the west, Interstate 163 to the east, and A Street to the south. The highest point in the El Cortez Area is Prospect Hill, located within the Bay View Homestead subdivision between Ash and Date Streets and Sixth and Tenth Avenues. This hill contained some of the most spectacular Victorian residences in the city. During the 1880s, prominent businessmen erected their homes on Prospect Hill because it provided them with magnificent views of the city and harbor as well as the city park. Unfortunately, the majority of ornate structures and their gardens from that period are no longer in existence. After San Diego recovered from the Panic of 1893, affluent citizens constructed more modern and less massive residences on the hill. With plans beginning in 1909 for a Panama- California Exposition in the newly named Balboa Park, the Cortez area experienced a surge in hotel and apartment building. Between 1910-1913, the majority of the apartment complexes in the Cortez area were erected.

Balboa Theatre, San Diego California

As a major player in the establishment of live performance theatres and the sweeping business of motion pictures during the 1920's, the Balboa Theatre anchored this national trend in the most southern and western part of the country. In a city with an uncertain economic future following the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition, the Balboa was truly a pioneering effort on the part of its developer, architect and contracting team, and was a landmark the day it opened. The period of significance is from the grand opening in 1924 through 1930 which encapsulates the most successful period of live performance and cinematic presentations. Following the 1915-16 Panama-California International Exposition in Balboa Park, that attracted 3.7 million visitors, many of means, the city was transformed by the event and an urban sophistication slowly began to happen. San Diego's population doubled in this decade rising from 75,000 to 148,000. The Balboa Theatre was a grand experiment in an economically volatile city.

Old Point Loma Lighthouse, San Diego California

The Old Boint Loma Lighthouse was begun in 1854 when a contractor's crew from the eastern United States came to San Diego to build the port's first lighthouse. From 1855 to 1891, this 19th Century lighthouse at the end of the long, high Point Lome peninsula guided ships along the coast of California and into Sen Diego harbor. But the real significance of this Cape Cod structure is not just that of a lighthouse faithfully performing its task but in its creation and use. The lighthouse was one of the first eight lighthouses built on the Pacific Coast of the United States. Since all eight were built by one firm under one contract, the old building stands today as a symbol of the nation's first successful effort to obtain navigational aids for the newly acquired west coast. It used a Fresnel lens for illumination. Today, the Old Boint Loma Lighthouse is a landmark symbol of the City of San Diego and one of the most prominent features of Cabrillo National Monument. The view from the Lighthouse has been rated one of the three great harbor views in the world, taking in a vast panorama of sea, islands, coast, harbor, land and mountains.

Thomas Point Shoals Light Station, Annapolis Maryland

Resigned by staff professionals of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, Thomas Point Lighthouse is the last of the manned screwpile, off-shore lights on the Chesapeake Bay. The principle of the screwpile design was first introduced in England in 1838 and later used in the United States in 1854. This method of anchoring a lighthouse was simple, effective, inexpensive and most appropriate for the sandy and muddy bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. Constructed in 1875 the structure remains virtually intact. The splat baluster railings, the shaped dormer rafter projections and the steel octagonal cupola (bearing the inscription Atlantic Steam Engine Works, Brooklyn, New York, 1875) are architectural features of interest.

Point Pinos Lighthouse, Pacific Grove California

The Point Pines Lighthouse is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the west coast. Its construction and lighting was completed in 1855, shortly after Alcatraz Light. The station was damaged in the 1906 earthquake necessitating rebuilding of the tower in 1907. The reconstruction followed the original plans. Additions have enhanced the building's appearance.

Wiley Bates High School, Annapolis Maryland

The Wiley H. Bates High School, built on Smithfield Street in 1932, is the second building erected by the Anne Arundel County Board of Education to provide secondary education for African- American students. It is the direct descendant of the Stanton High School located on West Washington Street in Annapolis. Stanton school was a three-year high school established in 1917, and was the first black secondary school in the county. Enrollment came primarily from the surrounding areas, but space was required to accommodate increasing enrollment. Interested residents, including the Stanton Parent-Teacher Association, and Wiley H. Bates (a prominent member of the African American community), persuaded the Anne Arundel County Board of Education of the need for a separate high school for colored students, and a site search began. At this time it was not uncommon for colored parents to donate land for the schools, and with a $500.00 donation from Mr. Bates, property was secured on Smithville Street. The school was constructed, and classes started in the fall of 1932. The first principal of the school, Frank Butler, recalls that while it was officially identified as the Annapolis Colored High School, it was known as Wiley H. Bates High School since it first opened.

Sanibel Lighthouse, Sanibel Florida

In 1832, a group of investors known as the Florida Peninsular Land Company sponsored the exploration of a portion of the Gulf Coast of Florida for the purpose of selecting a site for a permanent settlement. By the end of the year, Sanibel Island had been selected as the best location for a colony, and in 1833, a small group of settlers arrived from New York. This early settlement was not long lived (within five years, the island was nearly deserted and remained so for about twenty-five years), but the initial colonists were active in trying to develop the area. In December, 1833, thirteen residents of Sanibel Island petitioned the U. S. Treasury Department for the construction of a lighthouse on the island. However, the national government showed no interest in the idea at that time. In December, 1856, the General Land Office received a request for the creation of a reservation of land for the purpose of establishing a lighthouse on Sanibel Island. No action was taken until the request was repeated in December, 1877. By that time, seagoing commerce in the area had reached important proportions. The General Land Office acted favorably and within two weeks, Sanibel Island was closed to private ownership.

Boca Grande Lighthouse Gasparilla Island, Boca Grande Florida

The Boca Grande Lighthouse derives its primary significance from its opening of the Boca Grande Harbor for large phosphate shipments. The lighthouse was completed in September, 1890, and activated on December 31, 1890. Presumably, the assistant keeper's quarters were constructed at the same time. The design reflects the fact that the light did not require as much elevation that is seen in other Florida lighthouses due to its serving as a harbor beacon as opposed to outer maritime traffic. New phosphate discoveries in west central Florida and advanced mining techniques developed in the 1880's demanded a port capable of handling the increased volume of seagoing traffic. During the 1890's phosphate mined in the Peace River area was brought out to deep water in lighters and barges where it was transferred to ocean-going vessels. This necessitated the building of the Boca Grande Lighthouse; a quay, known as the State Quarantine Dock; and the installation of a customs office to inspect the incoming vessels arriving to load the phosphate.

Crooked River Lighthouse, Carrabelle Florida

The increase in lumber trade from the Apalachicola River to Crooked River, southwest of Carrabelle, convinced the Lighthouse Board in 1888 to ask for a mainland light to replace the Dog Island Lighthouse, destroyed in 1873. The deep river entrance, 18 feet deep at the bar, was considered an asset and the Board predicted a fairly large port there.

Hillsboro Inlet Light Station, Pompano Beach Florida

The Hillsboro Light, which marks the northern limit of the Florida Reef, has long been a welcomed navigation sight to seafarers traveling along the Atlantic Ocean. This 132 foot beacon has cast the brightest light of any lighthouse in Florida throughout most of the 20th century. Light structure and complex have a unique history and have been well-preserved. The Hillsboro Light was assembled by a Chicago steel firm for exihibition at the 1904 great St. Louis Exposition; the light was made in Paris, France in 1880 and is of the Second Order Classical type. At the end of the exposition the United States government bought the light and its tower and the structure was disassembled and shipped to its present site. The Hillsboro Inlet site was purchased by the federal government on November 9, 1903. The U.S. Lighthouse Service contracted George W. Brown of West Palm Beach to build the keeper's dwelling and other buildings for $21,500 in 1905. Russell Wheel and Foundry of Detroit, Michigan contracted to complete the metal work on the tower for $24,000 and in January, 1906 the J.H. Gardner Construction Company of New Orleans, contracted to erect the tower and foundation. The light went into operation in March, 1907 with Alfred A. Berghell as its first keeper.

New Albany Hotel, Albany Georgia

The New Albany Hotel was one of two major hotels built in Albany during the 1920's. By this time Albany had become the hub of railroad transportation in southwest Georgia, serviced by seven rail lines and over thirty-five trains daily. It was a regional trade center, and these first-class hotels were built to accommodate the tourists, business people and traveling salespeople whose presence in town was stimulated by the railroads. The hotel was a major downtown commercial venture. It was completed in 1925 shortly after the elegant Hotel Gordon opened nearby on Pine Avenue, next to the county courthouse. A hotel had been located on the New Albany Hotel site since before 1886. The owners of the then wood frame New Albany Hotel, spurred on by the competition, determined to build an equally modern and elegant facility. The westerm portion of the old hotel was torn down (the eastern portion remained standing, adjacent to the present building, for many years) and was replaced with the new structure. It featured tubs and shower baths, telephones in every room, hot and cold water and the finest furnishings and other modern conveniences. The hotel also housed several local businesses including offices, shops and restaurants. The cost of the building, $425,000, was the largest amount issued in an Albany building permit during 1925. The hotel was an instant success. With its large restaurant and ballroom it bacame an important center of social life in Albany during the 1920's and 1930's. Sunday dinner in its dining room was an Albany tradition for many years while it remained an elegant hostelry.

Albany Municipal Auditorium, Albany Georgia

The Municipal Auditorium in downtown Albany, Georgia, built c.1915 to replace an older wooden building that housed the Chataqua Society activities, was designed by A. Ten Eyck Brown, a well known Atlanta architect. The need for a new auditorium in the early 1900's grew out of the many activities of the Chataqua Society of Albany, Georgia. This Society was founded by Dr. N. A. Duncan of Syracuse, New York, the secretary of the New York Society, who bought a plantation near Albany, Georgia, in 1888. The Society was designed to provide an informal method of education for people who had little formal education. After the movement officially ended during World War I, the auditorium continued to be used for Chataque type events. The large stage of the auditorium was considered one of the best in the South during the early twentieth century. Many celebrities appeared on this stage, Sara Bernhardt, Maud Adams, David Warrick, and Henry Ford among others. Such musical events as the Al G. Fields Minstrels, Sousa's Band, and many Broadway plays attracted audiences from all over South Georgia to the Albany Auditorium. The building was also used for home talent shows, concerts by local musicians high school graduations, and events of Albany State College and Albany Junior College.

Bridge House - Tifts Hall, Albany Georgia

The Classical-Italianate style Bridge House, built circa 1857 is significant as the only known extant bridge house in Georgia. Once a center of Albany, economically and socially, with its theater - ballroom above the busy agricultural bridge traffic below, the Bridge House now houses the Keenan Auto Parts Company. The Bridge House was built as a result of a dispute between Colonel Nelson Tift and the Baker County Commissioners over the building of Albany's first bridge over the Flint River. Before this bridge was built, travel across the Flint River from Albany was hampered by the use of a hand operated ferry. Colonel Tift, the owner of the ferry, had wanted the County Commissioners to build a bridge on this spot for the town. When they refused to dc so, Tift hired Horace King, a well known black bridge builder of Georgia, to build a bridge that he could run as a business. The Bridge House was built at the same time as a bridge with a tunnel through its ground floor as a collection point for tolls on wagons and horses using the bridge. The charging of a toll was one of Tift's methods of recouping the large sum of money that he had spent in building the bridge and the Bridge House. The citizens of Albany were pleased to finally have a bridge and gladly paid the toll at first; however, the toll soon became a burden. This resentment against Tift and the bridge may have led directly to the burning of the first bridge several years after it was built. A second bridge was soon built on the foundations of the first one and sold to the county for $20,000. However, Tift still owned the land at either end of the bridge and the Bridge House.

Davis House - Albany Little Theatre, Albany Georgia

The home was built around 1853 by Martha Ryals, who transferred ownership to her son, Newton P. Brinson, in 1857. He was in his early twenties and a dry-goods merchant in the firm of Beers and Brinson. Shortly after the Civil War, he sold the house to John A. Davis. Davis (1832-1905) was a Georgia native who moved to southwest Georgia with his parents. After moving to Albany to practice law, he married, in 1851, Laura C. Hampton, and they raised eight children. He was a man of rich influence in the financial, religious, educational and entertainment fields of Albany and in the state. He had served with the Commissary Department of the Confederate States of America. After serving as local counsel for the Central of Georgia Railroad, he organized the First National Bank of Albany in 1886 and was its first president. He represented the county in the constitutional convention of 1887 and was chairman of the Executive Committee of the Georgia Bankers Association, beginning at its organization in 1891. Davis was known as the Nestor of Georgia Bankers.