After more than 50 years of using and caring for the historic Taylor-Grady House, the Junior League of Athens has moved on from its headquarters on Prince Avenue, and Athens-Clarke County is looking for a new tenant to move into the county-owned antebellum mansion..
The ACC government has owned the house since the late 1960s, when it leased it to the Athens Junior Assembly, which later became the Junior League. Former members said they worked with the City of Athens for years to restore the Greek Revival building, even going so far as to install an elevator to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. In addition to serving as a popular venue for weddings, large receptions and private events, the Taylor-Grady House has been open as a house museum, with 19th-century period pieces either lent or donated to the Junior League, including vases, rugs, paintings and furniture.
Notice of a rent increase from the ACC Commission spurred the departure of the League, whose members learned in 2020 their annual leasing fee would increase from $1 to $38,834, and that the county would no longer pay $8,000 each year to help with the cost of utilities.
The commission’s Government Operations Committee had looked at the amount of money charged for community organizations to use its county-owned buildings and found “there was such a disparity between what Black-run charities and white-run charities were being charged,” said Commissioner Melissa Link, a committee member. “It was clearly racism.”
Link said the committee worked for months to devise an equitable rental formula, using information about market rate, the group’s income and the level of funding from the county. A nonprofit could get an 80% rent reduction if it filed a letter indicating the community benefit of the services it provides. After much debate and discussion, Junior League officials decided not to file a letter. Had the Junior League decided to submit necessary paperwork and had it shown there was a community benefit, its annual rent would have fallen to $7,767, plus all the costs of utilities.
Also, if the league received more than $3,600 from renting the facility, the county wanted 10% of those yearly earnings. Current and past members said all the money they raised was plowed back into the house.
“We discussed it, and we looked into the finances, and we were in the red every year,” said Jordan Shoemaker, a league member on the board of directors. “We loved being there, but we had to look at what it was costing us to continue.”
Commissioner Ovita Thornton said she would have preferred requiring every nonprofit to pay only $1 annually to use a county-owned building, as long as the organizations “open their doors to the community, provide a service and provide maintenance.”
Gavin Hassemer, interim director of the ACC Central Services Department, which manages county-owned properties, said a request for proposals (RFP) has been sent out on the Taylor-Grady House. He’s expecting a different non-profit or a business to take up residence. The Mayor and Commission will determine the amount of rent to charge.
The Junior League was initially supposed to vacate the house by July 26, but received an extension. The group requested another extension that was scheduled for a commission vote Aug. 2 because Lee Epting of Epting Events is interested in the building with its furnishings, so the Junior League did not want to remove them until a decision is made on who will take over stewardship of the house. The RFP period closes on Sept. 13. The extension would last until Nov. 18 or until the ACC Property Committee makes a recommendation, whichever comes first.
Robert Taylor, a wealthy planter and slaveholder, built the house in 1844 and sold it in 1863 to Confederate Maj. William Grady. His son Henry Woodfin Grady, a University of Georgia graduate who later edited the Atlanta Constitution, lived in the house while he was a student. Henry Grady is known for his speeches championing an industrial “New South” in the years after Reconstruction. The house changed hands two more times, and later was abandoned and vandalized in the 1950s and mid-1960s before the city bought it. The house is a National Historic Landmark.
Editor’s Note: The online version of this article has been updated from the print version due to new developments between its writing and print publication.
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