Monastery at Large

W.L. Glessner Residence (1890) – Americus, Georgia

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G.L. Norrman (attributed). W.L. Glessner Residence (1890). Americus, Georgia.

This picture gives me great joy.

I just found a stash of old images that I had completely forgotten about, including this one I took in 2017 of the W.L. Glessner Residence in Americus, Georgia.

Planned as a 7-room cottage,1 this lovely 2-story Queen Anne style home is one of 7 surviving buildings in Americus designed by G.L. Norrman. There isn’t historic documentation to prove it, but everything about the design indicates it’s his.

The home was built between May and September 1890 for W.L. Glessner,2 3 4 5 the editor of the Americus Recorder newspaper, who was the town’s most vocal booster when it was, briefly, one of the fastest-growing cities in the state.

Glessner lived in the home for less than 2 years,6 leaving Americus in 1892,7 shortly after the town fell into economic collapse.

I visited this house at least once when I was 8 or 9 years old, but I don’t remember much about the interior, except that it felt a little creepy and reeked of bat guano, but that would describe most of the old structures in Americus.

By the early 1990s, the home was abandoned and stripped of its original woodwork, mantels, and other interior elements, although it later received a meticulous restoration that incorporated pieces salvaged from local historic homes.

The owners at the time reported that they discovered a “secret room” apparently sealed off for years behind a wall — that certainly piqued my adolescent curiosity.

I hope to take my final photos of this home in the next year, and they will undoubtedly be much better than this one — my photographic skills have increased exponentially in the last 8 years. Still, this is a nostalgic and heartwarming discovery.

References

  1. “For Sale.” The Americus Daily Times-Recorder (Americus, Georgia), February 11, 1892, p. 6. ↩︎
  2. “Town Talk.” Americus Weekly Recorder (Americus, Georgia), May 2, 1890, p. 5. ↩︎
  3. “Beautiful Building Lots.” Americus Daily Recorder (Americus, Georgia), May 4, 1890, p. 1. ↩︎
  4. “A Building Boom” (advertisement). Americus Daily Recorder (Americus, Georgia), May 13, 1890, p. 2. ↩︎
  5. “Building a House!” Americus Weekly Recorder (Americus, Georgia), September 12, 1890, p. 6. ↩︎
  6. “For Sale.” The Americus Daily Times-Recorder (Americus, Georgia), February 11, 1892, p. 6. ↩︎
  7. “Death of Mrs. L.E. Stone.” Americus Times-Recorder (Americus, Georgia), December 17, 1892, p. 1. ↩︎

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