Monastery at Large

Category: Queen Anne

  • Anniston Inn Kitchen and Dining Hall (1885) – Anniston, Alabama

    George T. Pearson. Kitchen and dining hall from Anniston Inn (1885). Anniston, Alabama.1 2 3

    References

    1. National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form: Anniston Inn Kitchen ↩︎
    2. “The Anniston Inn.”Anniston Hot Blast (Anniston, Alabama), May 24, 1884, p. 1. ↩︎
    3. “The Anniston Inn.” Montgomery Daily Advertiser (Montgomery, Alabama), May 8, 1885, p. 4. ↩︎

  • J.M. Beath Residence (1890) – Inman Park, Atlanta

    A.M.C. Nixon. J.M. Beath Residence (1890). Inman Park, Atlanta.

    The Queen Anne-style J.M. Beath Residence in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood, better known as the Beath-Dickey House, is the only known extant work by A.McC. Nixon, an architect who began his practice in Texas circa 1881 1 2 and first appeared in Atlanta in 1888.3

    In late 1890, Nixon partnered with J.M.P. Lindsey under the name Nixon & Lindsey.4 The firm dissolved in 1894,5 shortly before a court trial in which the pair were acquitted on charges of larceny after trust stemming from their supervision of a home’s construction in 1891.6 7 8 9 The client had accused the pair of pocketing money intended for the contractors, but the matter was successfully proven to be a simple accounting error.10

    After the trial, Nixon’s work in Atlanta dwindled, and in July 1896, his personal possessions and business contents were sold at public auction to pay off debt.11 Apparently in poor health, he moved to England in July 1896, where he died that October.12

    Nixon was not an especially good designer, and the Beath House’s clumsy, top-heavy design is typical of his oeuvre. In 1891, he also designed the similarly styled D.H. Dougherty Residence (later J.R. Hopkins Residence, demolished),13 which has been erroneously attributed to both G.L. Norrman and W.L. Stoddart. Atlanta really doesn’t know its own history.

    Nixon & Lindsey. D.H. Dougherty House (1891, demolished). Atlanta.14

    References

    1. “San Sada.” The Galveston Daily News, May 15, 1881, p. 1. ↩︎
    2. “Twenty-Five Cent Column”. The Austin Daily Statesman, June 2, 1881, p. 3. ↩︎
    3. “From Our Notebooks.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 1, 1888, p. 4. ↩︎
    4. “Wanted.” The Atlanta Journal, November 15, 1890, p. 7. ↩︎
    5. “A Dissolution of Copartnership.” The Atlanta Constitution, April 4, 1894, p. 3. ↩︎
    6. “Architects On Trial.” The Atlanta Journal, June 21, 1894, p. 1. ↩︎
    7. “The Architect Not Guilty.” The Atlanta Journal, June 22, 1894, p. 3. ↩︎
    8. “Mr. Nixon Not Guilty.” The Atlanta Constitution, June 23, 1894, p. 5. ↩︎
    9. “The Case Dismissed.” The Atlanta Journal, June 23, 1894, p. 9. ↩︎
    10. ibid. ↩︎
    11. “Public Sale of Personal Valuable Property”. The Atlanta Journal, June 15, 1896, p. 2. ↩︎
    12. “Mr. A. McC Nixon Dead.” The Atlanta Journal, October 26, 1896, p. 5. ↩︎
    13. The Southern Architect, June 1895, Vol. 6, No. 8, p. 167. ↩︎
    14. Garrett, Franklin M. Yesterday’s Atlanta. Miami: E.A. Seamann Publishing, Inc. (1974). ↩︎

  • M.A. Hale Residence (1892) – Inman Park, Atlanta

    M.A. Hale - Inman Park, Atlanta (1892) - Designed by J.W. GoLucke
    J.W. Golucke. M.A. Hale Residence (1892). Inman Park, Atlanta.

    This Queen Anne-style home is Atlanta’s only known extant work designed by J.W. Golucke (1857-1907),1 2 a shyster carpenter who built a career on smooth talk and grand delusions of being a legitimate architect.

    A thoroughly fraudulent and incompetent designer, Golucke was one of several “Atlanta architects” of his era who did little actual work in the city, primarily peddling their shoddy plans to poor, rural communities that didn’t know any better. Thus, if you travel through backwoods Georgia, you’ll find more than a dozen county courthouses by Golucke’s design3 — all of them terrible.

    Golucke fittingly died in a south Georgia jail cell while being held on charges of forgery,4 weeks after attempting suicide under the influence of drugs.5 6 His work is not celebrated here.

    References

    1. “Atlanta’s Growth.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 13, 1892, p. 7. ↩︎
    2. “Mrs. M.A. Hale’s Death.” The Atlanta Constitution, March 29, 1896, p. 6. ↩︎
    3. J.W. Golucke – Wikipedia ↩︎
    4. “Death Takes J.W. Golucke”. The Atlanta Constitution, October 28, 1907, p. 6. ↩︎
    5. “J.W. Golucke Tries to Take His Life in Newton Jail”. The Atlanta Journal, October 7, 1907, p. 1. ↩︎
    6. “Atlanta Man Tries Suicide”. The Atlanta Constitution, October 8, 1907, p. 9. ↩︎