Oak Place (Huntsville, Alabama)

Last updated

Steele-Fowler House
Oak Place Feb 2012 03.jpg
The house in February 2012
Location Map USA Alabama Huntsville.png
Red pog.svg
USA Alabama location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location808 Maysville Rd., Huntsville, Alabama
Coordinates 34°44′40″N86°33′52″W / 34.74444°N 86.56444°W / 34.74444; -86.56444
Arealess than one acre
Built1840 (1840)
Architect George Steele
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No. 74000422 [1]
Added to NRHPJune 20, 1974

Oak Place (also known as the Steele-Fowler House) is a historic residence in Huntsville, Alabama. It was built by renowned Huntsville architect George Steele in 1840 on 320 acres (130 ha). [2] Steele designed a number of buildings across the South, including the First National Bank building in Huntsville, and the second Madison County Courthouse, which stood from 1840 until 1914. Similar to many of his buildings, Steele designed the Oak Place house in a Greek Revival style, although much more restrained in detail.

The house has a low hipped roof, and is three stories, although it appears as two stories with a basement due to its unusual interior layout. The façade has three steps leading to a one-story, flat-roofed portico supported by two square Doric columns on the corners and two fluted Doric columns in the middle. The entablature is the most decorated part of the house, although it is limited to groups of vertical strakes. Windows flanking the portico are six-over-nine sashes surrounded by square pilasters and Doric capitals with plain entablature and cornice. [3] The interior layout was different than the standard home of the day. It features a central entrance hall, with a large ballroom with 14-foot (4.2-m) ceilings to one side, and two smaller rooms several steps above on the other. In the basement below the two smaller rooms is a dining room, taking advantage of the higher ceiling. There are four bedrooms on the second floor. Like the exterior, the interior was restrained.

Many details were lost when it was converted from a house to a church school building by the East Huntsville Baptist Church. [4] The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Insurance Building, Liverpool</span> Historic site in Merseyside, England

The Aloft Liverpool Hotel, formerly the Royal Insurance Building, is a historic building located at 1-9 North John Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was built as the head office of the Royal Insurance company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lanier Mansion</span> Historic house in Indiana, United States

The Lanier Mansion is a historic house located at 601 West First Street in the Madison Historic District of Madison, Indiana. Built by wealthy banker James F. D. Lanier in 1844, the house was declared a State Memorial in 1926. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994 as one of the nation's finest examples of Greek Revival architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Scarbrough House</span> United States historic place

William Scarbrough House is a historic house in Savannah, Georgia. Built in 1819, and subjected to a number later alterations, it is nationally significant as an early example of Greek Revival architecture, and is one of the few surviving American works of architect William Jay. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973. It is now home to the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, and it has largely been restored to an early 19th-century appearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irvington Town Hall</span> United States historic place

Irvington Town Hall is located on Main Street in the village of Irvington in the U.S. state of New York. In addition to being home to the village government, police department, and until 2000 the public library, it has a public reading room in keeping with the requirements of the original land deed. A 432-seat theatre, used for many local gatherings such as school graduations, was also built on the second story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Burn (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

The Burn, a house built in 1834, is the oldest documented Greek Revival residence in Natchez, Mississippi. It was built on a knoll to the north of the old town area of Natchez. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowndes Grove</span> Historic house in South Carolina, United States

Lowndes Grove, also known as The Grove or Grove Farm, is a waterfront estate built in about 1786 on the Ashley River in Charleston. It is located in the Wagener Terrace neighborhood on a triangular plot of land bordered by St. Margaret Street, 5th Avenue, and 6th Avenue. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on August 30, 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Crane House</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The Gerard Crane House is a private home located on Somerstown Turnpike opposite Old Croton Falls Road in Somers, New York, United States. It is a stone house dating to the mid-19th century, built by an early circus entrepreneur in his later years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Post Office (Canandaigua, New York)</span> United States historic place

The former U.S. Post Office in Canandaigua, New York, is located on North Main Street. It is a Classical Revival granite structure built in 1910 and expanded in 1938. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places both as a contributing property to the Canandaigua Historic District in 1984 and individually in 1988, as part of a Multiple Property Submission of over 200 post offices all over the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoreham Congregational Church</span> Historic church in Vermont, United States

Shoreham Congregational Church is a historic church on School Street in Shoreham, Vermont. Built in 1846 by a local master builder, it is one of the state's finest examples of ecclesiastical Greek Revival architecture, and also housed local town meetings for more than a century. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Baldwin University, Main Building</span> United States historic place

The Mary Baldwin University, Main Building is a historic building on the Mary Baldwin University campus in Staunton, Virginia. It was built in 1844, and is a Greek Revival style educational building. It consists of a two-story, five bay central section, flanked by three-bay two-story wings with full basement and projecting gable ends. The front facade features a four-bay portico with four Greek Doric order columns supporting a Doric entablature and pediment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wind</span> American architect

John Wind was an architect who worked in southwest Georgia in the United States from approximately 1838 until his death in 1863. He was born in Bristol, England, in 1819. John Wind designed the Greenwood, Susina, Oak Lawn, Pebble Hill, Eudora and Fair Oaks monumental plantation houses, the Thomas county courthouse and a few in-town cottages. William Warren Rogers writes "Some of Wind's work still exists and reveals him as one of the South's most talented but, unfortunately, least known architects." John Wind also worked as an inventor, jeweler, master mechanic and surveyor. He devised a clock that remained wound for one year and was awarded a patent for a cotton thresher and cleaner, Patent Number 5369. He was also the co-recipient of a corn husker and sheller patent in 1860. But it was his work as an architect that made him an enduring figure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Post Office (Iowa Falls, Iowa)</span> United States historic place

The United States Post Office is a historic building located in downtown Iowa Falls, Iowa, United States. Built in 1914, the structure was designed in the Neoclassical style, with Oscar Wenderoth as the supervising architect. The 1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago was a major influence in the building's design. The foundation is composed of North Carolina granite, while the walls are dark red brick that is laid in an English cross bond. The main entrance is framed by a portico that is held up by four columns of the Doric order. The interior features woodwork of white oak, a marble-terrazo floor, and a vaulted ceiling. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burritt on the Mountain</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Burritt on the Mountain is an open-air museum in Huntsville, Alabama. The museum grounds on Round Top Mountain, a plateau connected to Monte Sano Mountain, were the estate of local physician William Burritt, who willed his house and land to the city for use as a museum upon his death in 1955. A number of 19th-century rural structures have been added to Burritt's mansion, both in the interest of historical preservation and life re-enactment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Madison Otey House</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Greenlawn is a historic residence between Meridianville and Huntsville, Alabama. The house was built in 1849–50 by William Otey, replacing a log house built by his father in the early 1810s. Following William and his wife's deaths, the house was taken over by one of their granddaughters in 1907. Around 1925, the original Italianate portico was replaced with the current Greek Revival entrance, and a northern wing was added. The house fell vacant in 1963 and was later restored, now sitting at the entrance to a subdivision of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First National Bank (Huntsville, Alabama)</span> United States historic place

The First National Bank is a historic bank building in Huntsville, Alabama. The temple-form Greek Revival structure was built in 1835–1836. Designed by locally famous architect George Steele, it occupies a prominent position, facing the courthouse square and sitting on a bluff directly above the Big Spring. It was the longest-serving bank building in Alabama, operating until 2010 when Regions Bank moved their downtown branch to a new location. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oaklawn (Huntsville, Alabama)</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Oaklawn is a historic residence in Huntsville, Alabama. It was built in 1844 by John Robinson, a longtime revenue commissioner in Madison County who became one of the county's largest landowners. During the Civil War, the house was used by the Union Army as an officers' quarters. The family vacated the house in the late 19th century, and during the Spanish–American War, the grounds were used as an army camp and hospital. In 1919, the house was purchased by the Dilworth family and restored from its poor condition. The house was later owned by Max Luther, a prominent local merchant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Lanford House</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

The William Lanford House is a historic residence in Huntsville, Alabama. The house was built by William Lanford, a native of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Lanford's father, Robert, was an early land speculator who came to Huntsville from Nashville along with LeRoy Pope. William purchased 1,975 acres in 1843 and built his house in 1850. Lanford's daughter, Mary, married physician John R. Slaughter in 1853, who later moved his practice to the house in William Lanford's later life. Upon his death in 1881, the land was divided among Lanford's daughters, with Mary and Dr. Slaughter remaining in the house. After Mary's death in 1913, the house was sold to William Olin Camper in 1919. Camper and his brother Robert were merchants in Madison and Huntsville, and owned the Twickenham Hotel in Huntsville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilmanton Ironworks Library</span> United States historic place

The Gilmanton Ironworks Library is a historic library building at 10 Elm Street in the Iron Works village of Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Built in 1916–17, it was the first Colonial Revival library building in Belknap County. The building, still serving as a branch of the Gilmanton public library system, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pillar Church</span> United States historic place

The Holland Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, now known as the Pillar Church, is a religious structure located at 57 East 10th Street in Holland, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

George Gilliam Steele Sr. was an American architect in Huntsville, Alabama.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  2. Bayer, Linda (Spring 1979). "George Steele: Huntsville's Antebellum Architect" (PDF). Huntsville Historic Quarterly. V (3). Historic Huntsville Foundation: 14–16. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 30, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  3. Floyd, W. Warner (May 3, 1973). "Steele-Fowler House". National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.See also: "Accompanying photos". Archived (PDF) from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  4. Vaughn, F. Charles Jr. (January–April 1983). Marks, Henry S. (ed.). "George Steele: Architect and Builder of the Nineteenth Century" (PDF). Huntsville Historical Review. 13 (1 & 2). Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society: 10–11. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 30, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2014.