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The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
Announces its 2006 list of 10 ‘Places in Peril’
ATLANTA,
Nov. 14, 2005 — The Georgia Trust for Historic
Preservation released today its 2006 list of 10
Places in Peril in the state.
Sites on the list include: The Terrell County
Courthouse in Dawson; the Auburn Avenue Commercial
District in Atlanta; Andalusia, the home of
Flannery O’Connor, outside of Milledgeville;
Hartwell Downtown National Register District;
Pasaquan, an internationally acclaimed visionary
art site in Marion County near Buena Vista; U.S.
Highway 17, the gateway to Historic Brunswick and
the Golden Isles; the former Hawkinsville High
School; Ponce de Leon Apartments in Atlanta; City
Mills in Columbus; and the Cowen Farmstead in
Acworth.
“This is the first year that The Georgia Trust has
released a Places in Peril list,” said Greg
Paxton, president and CEO of the Trust. “We hope
the list will draw attention to larger issues
facing Georgia’s historic places by highlighting
endangered buildings or sites that represent
threatened resources throughout the state,” he
added.
Paxton also said the Trust anticipates developing
a similar list annually and announcing the sites
placed on the Places in Peril list each
November.
Places in Peril
is designed to raise awareness about Georgia’s
significant historic, archaeological and cultural
resources, including buildings, structures,
districts, archaeological sites and cultural
landscapes that are threatened by demolition,
neglect, lack of maintenance, inappropriate
development or insensitive public policy.
“We are not attempting to develop a ‘most
endangered list’ for Georgia,” Paxton said of the
Places in Peril list. “There are hundreds
of locations throughout our state that could have
been on our list - - - and they are just as
endangered and in need of community help as the 10
we have identified,” he added.
Through Places in Peril, the Trust hopes to
encourage owners and individuals, organizations
and communities to employ preservation tools,
partnerships and resources necessary to reclaim,
restore and revitalize historic properties that
are in peril.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is the
country’s largest statewide, nonprofit
preservation organization with more than 8,000
members.
Committed to preserving and enhancing Georgia’s
communities and their diverse historic resources
for the education and enjoyment of all, The
Georgia Trust generates community revitalization
by finding buyers for endangered properties
acquired by its Revolving Fund; provides design
assistance to 105 Georgia Main Street cities and
encourages neighborhood revitalization; trains
Georgia’s teachers to engage students in 61
Georgia school systems to discover state and
national history through their local historic
resources; and advocates for funding, tax
incentives and other laws aiding preservation
efforts.
The Georgia Trust is a recipient of the Trustees
Award for Organizational Excellence from the
National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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Editor’s Note: Summary
information on each of the 10 Places in Peril
follows. For additional information on each site,
background information on the program itself,
additional thoughts from Trust President & CEO
Greg Paxton and a high-resolution photo of each
site, please go to
http://www.georgiatrust.org/2006_places.htm.
Both
Paxton and Glen Bennett, the Trust’s senior
director of preservation services, are available
for in-person and telephone interviews. Paxton’s
direct line is 404-885-7801. Bennett’s direct line
is 404-885-7804.
Summary Information on each Places in Peril
Site
Terrell
County Courthouse, Dawson
Built in 1892, the Terrell County Courthouse in
Dawson was designed by William H. Parkins, one of
the state’s leading post-Civil War architects.
With estimated repairs reaching $5 million, this
High Victorian brick courthouse is one of the most
threatened courthouses in the state. Terrell
County’s courthouse is just one of 139 historic
Georgia courthouses that risk endangerment without
state technical and financial assistance. Others
in great need of repair include courthouses in
Appling, Brooks, Clinch, Hancock, Mitchell,
Randolph, Schley, Steward, Talbot, Taliaferro,
Taylor, Treutlen, Turner, Wilcox, Wilkes and
Wilkinson counties.
Auburn Avenue Commercial District, Atlanta
Internationally recognized as the birthplace of
the civil rights movement and a National Historic
Landmark District, the Auburn Avenue Commercial
District in Atlanta contains a long list of
historically and architecturally significant
structures. Once a thriving African-American
business district, after segregation ended,
businesses closed and residents moved elsewhere.
Today, the remaining businesses are mixed with
boarded up buildings. What the area needs now is a
unified, community-developed and -supported vision
for revitalization based on the preservation and
reuse of the area’s existing buildings.
Andalusia, Milledgeville
The home of one of the most respected American
fiction writers, Andalusia served as an
inspiration to many of the late Flannery
O’Connor’s stories. Located outside of
Milledgeville, Andalusia has been deteriorating
since 1964 when it was last occupied as a
residence. Since 2001, the Flannery
O’Connor-Andalusia Foundation has worked to
stabilize the property, but needs additional funds
to maintain the buildings. The site represents
scores of historic sites across Georgia that need
additional funds to fulfill their mission and
operate as museums.
Pasaquan, Marion County, Buena Vista
Pasaquan, an internationally acclaimed visionary
art site in Marion County near Buena Vista,
consists of six major structures—the oldest a
redesigned 1885 farmhouse—and hundreds of feet of
decorated walls that are rapidly deteriorating due
to lack of adequate funding to maintain the
property. The four-acre site is now managed by the
Pasaquan Preservation Society, a volunteer board
of trustees that needs funding to develop a
strategic plan, a master plan for the site and for
restoration. Like Pasaquan, there are scores of
historic landscapes throughout Georgia that need
additional funding to support restoration and
maintenance efforts.
Downtown Hartwell
National drugstore chain CVS wants to open a
location in downtown Hartwell, but its plans
include the demolition of an entire block of
historic buildings. In their place, the company
wants to build a store with a drive-through window
and blank wall facing the street—a design
incompatible with Hartwell’s revitalization
efforts. The influx of retail chains like CVS into
downtown can be positive, but an auto-oriented
suburban site plan for this store does not fit
into the context of a walkable,
pedestrian-friendly downtown.
U.S. Highway 17, Brunswick
Over the years, many preservationists and local
organizations have tried to preserve Highway 17,
known as the “Gateway to Historic Brunswick and
the Golden Isles.” More recently, leaders in this
area have recognized the importance of this
gateway to their communities. While a master
planning process is currently focused on this
important corridor, character-specific zoning and
design guidelines are needed to protect its
historic and scenic character while guiding
compatible new development along the route. Like
Highway 17, many other roadways leading to
Georgia’s historic downtowns are becoming engulfed
with unplanned development and would greatly
benefit from measures to preserve positive
qualities while guiding new development.
Old Hawkinsville High School
Built in 1936, the Old Hawkinsville High School
served as the neighborhood school for Pulaski
County until 1976. Many want to save the
structure, but if a new use or influx of funds for
preservation and ongoing maintenance are not found
within the next two years, the building may be
demolished. As schools are built on the outskirts
of town on vacant lots, well-built former
schools such as Hawkinsville High School are
falling into disuse and disrepair. Many
communities have found adaptive uses for their
former schools. New national guidelines already in
place offer Georgia an alternative to abandoning
conveniently located, historic in-town schools.
Ponce de Leon Apartments, Atlanta
Located opposite the Fox Theatre at the corner of
Atlanta’s Ponce de Leon Avenue and Peachtree
Street, the Ponce de Leon Apartments opened in
1913 as a companion piece to the Georgian Terrace
Hotel. After an incomplete condominium conversion
in 1982, the building’s fate is up in the air. The
building needs substantial funding for
rehabilitation. Many historic condominiums may
face similar problems in the future.
City Mills, Columbus
Established by wealthy planter Seaborn Jones in
1828, City Mills in Columbus, Ga., spent 150 years
grinding corn and wheat. Recently one of the
mill’s structures built by Horace King, a freed
slave known for his post-Civil War covered
bridges, was illegally razed. Because the
long-term owners have been unable to find a new
use for City Mills, its future is uncertain. While
several large mill buildings throughout the state
have recently been rehabilitated, Georgia has
dozens of such mills sitting vacant. Although it’s
often a challenge to find new uses for such large
buildings, successful examples in Georgia include
mills in Newnan, Athens, Augusta, Atlanta and
elsewhere in Columbus.
Cowen Farmstead
Like many historic properties throughout metro
Atlanta, the Cowen Farmstead in Acworth—one of the
few remaining antebellum houses in Cobb County—is
now threatened by deferred maintenance and
impending development and sprawl. In mid October,
The Georgia Trust took ownership of the property,
and in the coming months will seek funds and
in-kind donations to initiate exterior restoration
work on the National Register-listed property.
Once the property is stabilized, the Trust will
sell it to a new owner who will complete interior
restoration.
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