Historic Athens’ 2023 “Places in Peril” list includes four buildings in need of preservation. But during a recent conversation, it was a building that’s not on the current list at the top of executive director Tommy Valentine’s mind.
“We have a growing problem with demolition by neglect in Athens,” Valentine told Flagpole. “We have very good codes on the books, but we’re not seeing enforcement.
“We have folks who are literally intentionally letting these properties fall in on themselves so they can sell the dirt,” he said.
In particular, Valentine said he has received numerous calls about a boarded-up house on the corner of South Milledge Avenue and Harris Street that stands out amidst the Greek houses and other stately mansions lining the corridor. Since the interview, 357 S. Milledge Ave. has been placed on the market.
The house at 357 S. Milledge Ave. did make the list back in 2020. Another example of what Historic Athens called demolition by neglect—the Bond House, an 1893 Victorian at 198 Dearing St.—is on the 2023 Places in Peril list. Valentine also cited the Saye Building in the West Downtown historic district, which First United Methodist Church is seeking to tear down for a parking lot.
In the Athens-Clarke County Historic Preservation Commission’s most recent annual report, member Joanna Beckman delved into demolition by neglect. Sometimes when a historic building falls into disrepair, it’s because an heir can’t be located or the owner lacks funds for upkeep. In some rare cases, though, the neglect is intentional.
“If the property owner simply stops maintaining the property for the express purpose of waiting out the deterioration of the property so that it is no longer possible to save the building, then this is Demolition by Neglect,” Beckman wrote.
Code enforcement officers can cite property owners who allow their property to become unsafe or a nuisance, according to Beckman, but enforcement is hampered by a backlog of complaints in the county attorney’s office. ACC officials can also place a tax lien on the property to pay for repairs or demolition.
As of late February, there were 44 nuisance abatement cases in various states of disrepair, and only one—357 S. Milledge Ave.—was within a local historic district, ACC Attorney Judd Drake told Flagpole. The ones that pose the greatest danger to the public are prioritized, he said. At the time, Drake said his office was pursuing 12 demolitions at an average cost of $15,000–20,000 each.
As for the buildings that did make it onto the Places in Peril list, Ellard Hall, also known as the Weir House, is for sale, as is the Grant-Hill-White-Bradshaw house, better known as the UGA President’s House.
Ellard Hall, at 149 Cobb St., sits in a parking lot at the Clarke County School District’s Prince Avenue headquarters. It was built in 1909 by Mary Lou Weir, a former principal at Chase Street (now Johnnie Lay Burks) Elementary School. The district sought a buyer earlier this spring to move the house to make room for a new student registration building after determining that renovating it would cost more than new construction.
The University System Board of Regents put the UGA president’s former residence, a Greek Revival mansion dating back to 1856, up for sale last year, prompting fears from preservationists and Boulevard residents that the house could be demolished to make way for an out-of-scale new development. Board of Regents spokesperson Kristina Torres told Flagpole that the agency is working with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to preserve the house, but otherwise there has been no update on the sale. “We’ve heard disturbingly little,” Valentine said.
Also on the list is Charlie Williams Pinecrest Lodge, a popular restaurant off Whitehall Road that opened in 1929 and closed in 2004. It has decayed significantly over the past 20 years. The property contains some of the most intact slave quarters in the region, according to Valentine, but it’s just as valuable for its cultural importance. “You have this restaurant that everybody loved and seemed to be this really intersectional space where everyone went,” he said.
While some properties on past lists remain in peril, Historic Athens won a major victory last year when a consortium led by caterer Lee Epting took over the ACC-owned Taylor-Grady House, which the Junior League of Athens had abandoned after a rent dispute with the local government. The Taylor-Grady House will continue functioning as a house museum and event space. “We feel really confident about the future of that space,” Valentine said.
He also said he’s confident that UGA will keep Legion Pool open and has abandoned efforts to close and redevelop the popular gathering place for faculty and staff and their families. State Rep. Spencer Frye (D-Athens) installed signage at St. James Baptist Church Cemetery, a 19th century resting place for African Americans. Plans continue to move forward for turning the Rowland Tract (also known as Beech Haven) along the Middle Oconee River near Atlanta Highway into a public park.
Other past Places in Peril have been lost forever. Landmark fast-food restaurant The Varsity will soon be demolished to make way for a grocery store, parking deck and apartments.
Still others remain in limbo—for example, the Frank C. Maddox Community Center, an American Legion club for Black World War II veterans that later functioned as a daycare. A grant from the Watson Brown Foundation paid for a plan by local architectural firm Arcollab, but little progress has been made since. The ACC government made repairs to the Sandy Creek Pumping Station off the North Oconee River Greenway to stabilize it, but there is still no long-term plan for preservation or future use. The Clarke County school board has yet to respond to the ACC government’s proposal to lease and renovate the long-vacant West Broad School. And the old library, now ACC government offices, at 120 Dougherty St. could be sold and torn down once a new judicial center is built and the city consolidates municipal offices into the current courthouse.
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