Howell-Wingate House, 1890s + 1919, Lax

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A charming white house with a gray metal roof, featuring a front porch with black rocking chairs, surrounded by a green lawn and bushes. An American flag is displayed on the porch.

This farmhouse in the crossroads settlement of Lax is the most significant residential landmark remaining in the community. It appears to have originated as a Georgian Cottage but was expanded and remodeled in the popular Craftsman style in 1919. Quint Wingate has graciously shared the history of the settlement, meticulously researched for his masters thesis. He notes that the house was built during the 1890s by Alfred Thomas Howell (1856-1909), a native of Reynoldson, North Carolina, who married an Irwin County native, Mary Ellen Paulk (1868-1956), in 1892. William Ottis Wingate (1885-1934) and brother Walter Lee “W. L.” Wingate purchased the property from Mrs. Howell in 1919, at which time it was remodeled and became William’s home. It remains in the family today and is well maintained.

Ardis-Abbott House, Circa 1845, Marietta

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A large, white Southern-style antebellum house with two stories, featuring a wide front porch supported by columns, black shutters, and manicured shrubs in the garden.

David Ardis (1804-1872) and Eliza C. Gray Ardis (1804-1867) are the earliest known owners of this home, one of the few antebellum residences in Marietta to survive the Civil War. They regularly came to Marietta as a retreat from the hot summers of their native Edgefield, South Carolina, and moved here permanently circa 1850. Ardis Street in Marietta is named for this family. The house is now home to the Little & Smith Insurance Company.

Northwest Marietta Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Cortelyou-Pressley House, Circa 1890, Marietta

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A two-story light-colored house with black shutters and white trim, featuring a front porch with columns, surrounded by green shrubs and trees.

This home, which originated as a Victorian cottage in 1893, was purchased by Dr. Peter Rouse Cortelyou (1843-1902) for his son, Adrian Voorhees Cortelyou (1876-1956) circa 1901. After a fire in the 1920s, it was remodeled to its present two-story Colonial Revival/Georgian appearance. Dr. Cortelyou came to Georgia from Brooklyn, New York, in 1879 to treat a lung condition and became one of the most renowned physicians of his time in the Southeast. Adrian Cortelyou was best known as the vice-president of the Georgia Marble Company. The house remains in the family to this day.

Church Street-Cherokee Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Eclectic Cottage, 1908, Marietta

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A charming white house with a front porch, featuring large pillars, potted plants, and a welcoming front door adorned with a wreath. The landscaped yard includes neatly trimmed shrubs and a stone walkway leading to the entrance.

Eclectic architecture runs the gamut of styles, and this is a good example. It has Victorian and Classical elements but overall is reminiscent of the New South Cottage type, as identified by the Georgia Historic Preservation Division in their definitive 1991 handbook, Georgia’s Living Places: Historic Houses in Their Landscaped Settings.

Whitlock Avenue Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Georgian House, 1934, Marietta

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A two-story red brick house with white shutters and a green door, surrounded by neatly trimmed shrubs and a brick pathway, framed by trees in a lush green landscape.

I wasn’t able to locate a history for this house, but I love the Georgian style and couldn’t resist making a photograph. Georgian, of course, refers not to our state, but to the four British monarchs of the House of Hanover named George. And it’s also not the same as the Georgian cottage style so common in the state.

Whitlock Avenue Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

The Rock Cottage, Circa 1930, Marietta

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Front view of a stone house with a green door and white windows, surrounded by greenery.

According to the Old Marietta group, this charming home, also known as the Anderson-Huffman House, was built by Edgar Anderson (1886-1959) using rocks cleared from the Anderson farm on Burnt Hickory Road. Richardson owned a motel known as the Stonewall Court and a liquor store in Smyrna.

Reid House, Marietta

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A two-story white colonial-style house with a red front door, adorned with black shutters, and an American flag displayed at the entrance, surrounded by greenery and shrubs under a clear blue sky.

This Dutch Colonial Revival cottage has been identified as the “Reid House” in the National Register of Historic Places because it was built using a design of the prominent Georgia architect Neel Reid. Real estate listings date it to 1962.

Whitlock Avenue Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Dobbs-Smith-Dosser House, Circa 1900, Marietta

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The Whitlock Inn in Marietta, Georgia, with a front porch surrounded by green shrubs and a well-manicured lawn under a blue sky.

This beautifully maintained landmark is known as the Whitlock Inn today, and the following history is shared from their website. “In the 1890s, the M.G. Whitlock House, the famous 150 room Marietta resort, burned to the ground. It had been a popular showplace for tourists taking the train from the hot coastal towns, to the cooler foothills of Georgia. The resort occupied nearly the whole block of Whitlock Avenue. In 1900, part of the land was purchased by Herbert C. Dobbs (1867-1939) and his wife Annie (1870-1961) where the built a Victorian mansion for their family of eight. Since then, the Whitlock Inn has served as a beloved family home, senior citizen center, bed & breakfast, and today, an award winning event facility.”

Whitlock Avenue Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Glover-Blair-Anderson-Edwards House, Circa 1851, Marietta

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A large historic house with a beige exterior, green shutters, and a decorative porch surrounded by trees and landscaped gardens.

This house was built in the Greek Revival style circa 1851 for John Heyward Glover, Jr, most likely with the labor of enslaved people. It was restored and given its present Victorian appearance after a fire in the 1870s. Another fire in the 1930s destroyed the second floor and it was redesigned, with an altered roofline, by architect Montgomery Anderson.

John Heyward Glover, Jr. (1816-1859), originally a South Carolina rice planter, became a prominent local entrepreneur in Marietta, serving as its first mayor in 1852. He was instrumental in several early businesses in town, including a tannery and bank, with interest in a telegraph company.

Whitlock Avenue Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Armstrong-Cox-Kiesler House, Circa 1889, Marietta

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A charming red Victorian cottage with a gabled roof, featuring a porch with decorative railings and rocking chairs, surrounded by greenery and shrubs.

Larger houses stand out in Marietta’s historic districts, but restored Victorian cottages like this example, also known as the Armstrong-Cox-Galat House, better represent the middle-class housing that was once abundant in the city.

Whitlock Avenue Historic District, National Register of Historic Places