Category Archives: Augusta GA

Miller Theater, 1940, Augusta

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The Miller Theater, a landmark of the Art Moderne style, opened in 1940 and was one of Augusta’s busiest entertainment venues. It was the work of architect Roy A. Benjamin, who also designed the San Marco and Florida [with R. E. Hall] Theatres in Jacksonville, the Marion Theatre in Ocala, and the Sarasota Opera House, among others. The Three Faces of Eve, a popular movie starring Georgia native Joanne Woodward, and based on the bestselling book by Augusta psychiatrists Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley, premiered at the Miller in 1957. Years of decline followed its closure as a first-run movie house in 1984, but community involvement and a $25 million renovation made its reopening in 2018 possible.

Broad Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Commerce Building, Augusta

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This late-19th-century block was originally known as the Chris Gray Building but was renovated in 1899 by John R. Schneider and was known as the Schneider Building for a time. The renovation was done by architect H. H. Johannsen and the Georgia marble siding added by William F. Bowe.

Broad Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

D’Antignac House, Circa 1830, Augusta

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This fine antebellum home, unusual for Augusta with its cast iron verandah, was built by grocery wholesaler William Sterling Roberts. [A plaque on the house dates it to circa 1830, the National Register nomination form places it at 1856, while Historic Augusta dates it to circa 1860; stay tuned for an update on this, but my guess is its Greek Revival style would place it nearer the earlier date.] After the war, it was home to the Platt family for a time, and later, Porter Fleming, and a Walker family. The D’Antignac family owned it for much of the 20th century. It is now an attorney’s office.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Wheless House, Circa 1872, Augusta

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This is another great example of the Second Empire style in Augusta. Built for Commercial Bank president William T. Wheless (1847-1908) circa 1872, James M. Gray and William T. Houston were later residents. It’s now an attorney’s office.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Daniel House, Circa 1875, Augusta

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Historic Augusta notes that this is the most outstanding example of the Second Empire style in Augusta. Grocer Reuben B. Wilson was the first known resident, circa 1880. Another grocer, Zachariah Daniel owned the house by the early in 1890s.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

John Phinizy House, Circa 1835, Augusta

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One of Augusta’s most important architectural landmarks, the raised Greek Revival home of John Phinizy (7 January 1793-4 July 1884) is thought to be the work of the great Irish-born Georgia architect Charles Cluskey, though this has not been confirmed to my knowledge. Phinizy was of Italian descent, his father Ferdinand having migrated to America from Parma.

Soon after John Phinizy’s death, his son Charles H. Phinizy and his wife, Mary Louise Yancey, hired Tiffany & Company to redecorate the interior (circa 1885). They added the top floor in the 1890s. The family remained in the home until 1933. After brief service as a funeral home, it served until 1996 as the Elks Lodge. It has most recently been used as an event space.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Jacob Phinizy House, 1882, Augusta

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This Second Empire house was built for Jacob Phinizy (9 August 1857-30 May 1924) circa 1882. Phinizy was the great-nephew of John Phinizy, owner of the iconic house next door, and a cotton factor with his family’s firm, F. Phinizy and Company. He also served as a president of the Georgia Railroad Bank. His father’s family was from Oglethorpe County.

Beginning in 1946, the house served for many years as the Poteet Funeral Home. It was modernized at that time by the local architectural firm of Scroggs & Ewing.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Patrick H. Rice House, 1890s, Augusta

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This Queen Anne house, possibly from a Barber plan book, was built for Patrick H. Rice. A recent restoration has replaced unsightly brick porch posts with more accurate versions.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 1926, Augusta

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German-speaking Augustans first organized a Lutheran congregation, Saint Matthew’s, in the 1850s and their 1860 house of worship still stands at another location, home today to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. A congregation catering to English-speaking members, Holy Trinity English Lutheran Church, was established in the 1880s. The two merged in the early 1920s as the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection and built this limestone-clad sanctuary between 1925-1926.

Local architects Philander P. Scroggs (1888-1960) and Whitley L. Ewing (1888-1953) designed the church in the Gothic style. Their firm built numerous structures in early 20th-century Augusta.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Perkins-Cullum House, 1901, Augusta

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This Colonial Revival home was built for lumberman Henry C. Perkins, who owned Perkins Manufacturing and Augusta Sash and Door. It was later home to his daughter, Gertrude, and her husband, St. Julian Cullum. Mr. Cullum owned a shoe store and later, Cullum’s Department Store.

Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places