The beautifully kept Spencer Longshore House . . . at 3285 Bankhead Avenue. It was designed in the late 1930s to resemble the Federal Style popular along the Atlantic Coast during the 50 years following our Revolutionary War. However, the “broken-scrolled pediment” framing the entrance is a holdover from the preceding Georgian Colonial period. 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 commercial preservation for our 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. Spencer’s second home, across the street, can be found here.

-Charles Humphries