Two new listings from Georgia have been added to the National Register of Historic Places and seven Georgia communities received grants from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund. The listings and grants are a reminder of the array of historic preservation resources available and its potential as an economic development tool.
The two listings are very different, one in Savannah and one in Atlanta. The Savannah listing is an example of the National Register’s effort to preserve not only those places that are historically significant but also those that are culturally representative of a particular place or time. The Clarence and Louisa Golden Williams House is in a Savannah-area unincorporated community called Sandfly, a late 19th to 20th century African-American community in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Corridor. The house is the sole example in the area of the African and American heritage in the community, along with European architectural influence.
The Atlanta listing served as the administrative headquarters of the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church for 35 years, from 1966 to 2001. Located at the corner of Ralph McGill Boulevard and Piedmont Avenue in Atlanta, the Methodist Church chose the location deliberately to engage in outreach and advocacy during a changing and challenging time.
The six-story office building – and its accompanying twelve-sided chapel – was designed by an Atlanta-based architecture and engineering firm that was one of the first to alter the Atlanta skyline during the skyscraper boom of the 1960s. Now owned by one of Atlanta’s largest apartment rental companies Braden Fellman, the space has been transformed into residences with federal and state historic tax incentives.
The grants from the Park Service are not a particularly whopping amount but add up to nearly $120,000, split out between the seven communities, six of whom – Bowdon, Brunswick, Dade County, Dawsonville, Monroe and Valdosta – will use the funding for a historic resources survey and one – the city of Douglas – will use them to craft design guidelines.
“The work proposed by this year’s grant recipients will positively impact their communities for years to come,” Jennifer Dixon, Historic Preservation Division Director, said. “On-the-ground preservation initiated by communities is central to the continuity of our shared historic properties.”
The surveys will help facilitate historic preservation planning by communities, including brick and mortar projects and outreach efforts. In order to be eligible for the grants, municipalities must pass a preservation ordinance and establish a historic preservation commission and are granted Certified Local Government status.
“The Certified Local Government Program is an important catalyst for promoting economic development through preservation of local historic resources,” said Dixon. “All of our partners in this program have taken the initiative to protect their built heritage, in turn preserving what makes their cities, counties, and state truly special.”
