Interior View

Purchase of this house by the Landmarks Foundation in 1967 signaled the birth of the Old Alabama Town Historic District in Montgomery. This residence, still in its original location,  serves as the anchor piece of the district.  The house, built circa 1850 by architect Charles Ordeman in the newly fashionable Italianate Style, was a showcase of modern design in its day. It featured a full, furnished basement (cool on hot summer days), a well deep enough for a modicum of refrigeration, and possibly the first indoor bathroom in Montgomery.

The Landmarks Foundation was established over forty years ago as the brain-child of preservation buffs, Jimmy Loeb (whose grandfather was a prominent merchant ca 1900- see Page 122), and Milo Howard (who was Director of the Alabama Department of Archives & History). Landmarks first and long-time director, who really made it happen, was Montgomery’s renowned historian, Mary Ann Neeley

The partnership between the Landmarks Foundation and the City of Montgomery, formed in 1967, has resulted in the saving and authentic restoration of 50-plus structures in the historic district called Old Alabama Town. The entire Ordeman-Shaw Disctrict was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1971. (Historic Registry Photos)

-Charles Humphries