The Shingle style was an eclectic Victorian movement most popular between 1880-1900. Shingle style houses need not be covered in shingles but need at least one prominent feature containing them, therefore, my best identification for this house. I’ve seen this identified as being originally owned by George Pease but haven’t confirmed it at this time. Whatever the details, it’s a great house.
This house features a very unusual wedge-shaped front.
This house features handmade brick that may have local origins and may be earlier than the date given. Closed Gothic windows on one side of the house suggest it may have been a church at one time. I will update when I learn more.
This was first home to Union Congregational Church, founded in 1892 by an Ohio-born minister in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union hall. The early members were from New England and the Midwest and part of the prohibition settlement that became Demorest. As the Congregationalists never had a large membership, they merged with Demorest Methodist Church in 1947 and remain active today.
Demorest Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
A very small historic downtown remains in Demorest and the existing structures have been nicely restored and are in use. The building on the right, the Starkweather Building or “Brick Block”, is the oldest, built in 1890. The other two-story building is the Chrisler Building, constructed in 1916. It is now home to Piedmont College’s Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art. Sweet Breads restaurant is just beyond it.
Demorest Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Built as the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1902, this structure was significantly altered upon its acquisition by the Demorest Women’s Club in 1954. [The National Register designation is for the Women’s Club, not the church]. Besides the removal of the steeple and chimneys, the interior and foundation were also modified to fit the needs of the club. The Demorest Women’s Club was founded in 1934 and for many years held meetings in member’s homes. Evie Gillespie initiated the effort to acquire the church building after the Men’s Civic Club turned it down, citing it was too dilapidated.
An interesting footnote: Soong Mei-ling [宋美齡] who became Madame Chiang Kai-shek, was hosted by a member of the Methodist Church while she was in eighth grade in 1909-1910. She attended services and Sunday School here.
National Register of Historic Places
This historic depot has been used as a business for many years. I hope the City of Demorest or Piedmont College will consider restoring it if that is an option. It was built by master local carpenter George H. Cason, who also built the Methodist Episcopal Church South (Demorest Women’s Club).
This house, originally a saddlebag and later expanded, was built by John Henry Loudermilk, the maternal grandfather of Johnny Mize. It is a private residence and the house nor the grounds are open to the public. The historic marker placed at the edge of the property by Piedmont College in 2000 notes: National Baseball Hall of Fame member John Robert Mize was born in this house in 1913. While only 15 years old and still in high school, Mize launched his distinguished baseball career playing for Piedmont College. He began his major league career with the St. Louis Cardinals (1936-41) and played for the New York Giants (1942-43 and 1946-49) with a three year interruption for service in the Navy during World War II. In 1949, he joined the New York Yankees, helping the team win five straight World Series titles. Mize was the 1952 Series MVP after hitting homers in three straight games. Johnny Mize was called “The Big Cat” for his sure-handed glove work at first base and his smooth swing. A 10-time All-Star player, he led the National League three years in total bases and four times in slugging percentage. In 1947, he hit 50 home runs while striking out only 42 times, a record that stands today (2000). His ML battling average was .312 with 359 home runs, 1,337 RBIs and 2,011 hits in 1,884 games. Mize was inducted into the Georgia Hall of Fame in 1973 and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. Mize returned to live in his family home in 1974 and died in 1993. He is buried in nearby Yonah Cemetery.
Completely surrounded today by the beautiful campus of Piedmont College, this Folk Victorian house with Queen Anne elements, built by C. R. Pyle, is one of the last surviving relics of a planned prohibition community that never completely materialized. In 1889, a corporation called the Demorest Home, Mining and Improvement Company acquired the vast estate of Henry A. Rosignol for the purpose of creating a model town free from alcohol and vice. The community was to be named Demorest, for prominent prohibitionist and philanthropist William Jennings Demorest of New York. A depression in the 1890s eventually led to the bankruptcy of the corporation but the town grew in spite of it.
After C. R. Pyle sold the house to L. H. Laughton in 1899, a procession of owners followed until it was purchased by Ross Davis in 1939. As early as 1896, during the Pyle’s ownership, rooms were rented in the house by students and faculty at the Demorest Normal School and the J. S. Green Collegiate Institute (now Piedmont College). This tradition continued into the late 20th century. The Davis family always made the house a welcoming space to students and to the community for a host of events and it remains one of the most beloved landmarks in Demorest.
National Register of Historic Places
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 