This is the second Spencer Longshore House . . . and this one is at 3284 Bankhead Avenue. The first one, a standout two-story Federal Style at 3285 Bankhead, was posted earlier. Spencer liked Bankhead, but as he aged, the two-story climb became burdensome, so circa 1963 he built this long, low Coastal Style adaptationright across the street and moved into it. That freed up his former home to become part of the Arthur Mead Complex. For those who never read my initial Longshore  post,  in 1929 Spencer and his father-in-law founded the Preferred Life Assurance Company which thrived in Montgomery for 50 years, and had its headquarters on South Court in the ante-bellum home of Montgomery’s primary Civil War hero, Tennent Lomax. I think Longshore’s adaptive use of the Lomax House served as an early example of adaptivel preservation for our historic downtown. My good friend Hazel was Spencer’s private secretary for almost a decade. The John Longshore football prognosticator on Channel 8 would be the grandson of this Spencer Longshore. Almost 50 years ago, when I had to drive one of our three school carpool runs, I would ask my wife, “Do I have to take John-John today?”

-Charles Humphries