Exploring Montgomery

The storytelling continues… a collection of stories and photos from Exploring Montgomery!

historic registry

The home of John J Dowe and his progeny for a hundred years or more. It is noteworthy, not for what it is, but for what it once was. I had been told that this house was formerly a Victorian adorned Italianate design, which featured “Gorgas Home” curved steps leading […]

Dowe House

June 11, 2018 in Residential tagged dowe / historic registry

This small, little noticed, run-down structure marks one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of Montgomery. In 1888, 15-year old Victor Tulane walked barefoot from Wetumpka to Montgomery, clutching his $15 savings. By age 35, this young Black man had built this Victorian grocery store, at one […]

Victor Tulane Grocery

April 9, 2018 in Commercial tagged grocery / historic registry / tulane / victor

The ground around the Chappell House . . . at 1020 Maxwell Boulevard (nee Bell Street) is more interesting than the structure itself. An Alabama Indian town existed on this site as late as 1775. In 1819 this dirt was part of the Alabama Town which joined New Philadelphia to […]

Wharton-Chappell House

March 9, 2018 in Commercial / Residential tagged chappell / historic registry / housing / wharton

Yancey Law Office — located at the corner of Washington and Perry Streets, directly across from the old Courthouse. From here the firebrand, William Lowndes Yancey, trumpeted for States Rights, and became the South’s leading advocate for secession. Lincoln credited Yancey with starting the Civil War. Yancey wrote Alabama’s Ordinance of Secession. Standing on […]

Yancey Law Office

August 15, 2016 in Commercial tagged historic registry / law / yancey

Jackson House — … at 409 South Union Street, said to be “simple but stylish”, was built in 1853 by Jefferson Jackson, the same man who built Moulton House. Jackson was US Attorney for both the Middle and Northern Districts of Alabama. He was a reluctant secessionist who died in 1862, but his widow […]

Jackson House

April 29, 2016 in Residential tagged community / historic registry / jackson

Cassimus House — at 110 North Jackson Street was built in 1893 and is on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It was erected by Speridon Cassimus, the younger of two Greek brothers who, with their dad, moved to Montgomery ca 1878, the first Greek immigrants to settle here. The family […]

Cassimus House

April 11, 2016 in Residential tagged cassimus / greek / historic registry / house / victorian

Grove Court — now abandoned and forlorn, stands just North of I-85 at the corner of South Court and Grove Streets. It was a 1949 design of PT&N architect, Parker Narrows (my boss and mentor 1951-1955), which won an AIA national design award. Back then there were two such national design winners residing […]

Grove Court Apartment Complex

March 26, 2016 in Commercial tagged apartment / award / grove / historic registry

Edgewood — …at 3175 Thomas Ave is Federal Style, was built as early as 1821 on a plantation several miles from the tiny settlement of Montgomery. In 1855 it was bought by Peachy Gilmer, brother of Gov Gilmer of Georgia. I think that would make Peachy bro-in-law to Alabama’s first two govrenors. […]

Edgewood

March 6, 2016 in Residential tagged edgewood / federal style / historic registry / oldest

Ordeman Townhouse — 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 […]

Ordeman Townhouse

March 3, 2016 in Residential tagged historic registry / italianate / old alabama town / ordeman

Winter Buidling — …at No. 2 Dexter Avenue, sort of dominates Court Square, based on its age, its Early Italianate Style, and its role in history. It was from this building in 1861 that was sent the telegram which authorized the firing on Ft. Sumter, and thus was started the War Between the […]

Winter Building

February 24, 2016 in Commercial tagged historic registry / italianate / winter

Gov Thomas Jones House — The huge scale of the adjacent ACC office building makes the Jones Victorian-style home look like a dollhouse. The house was built ca 1855, but Thomas Jones acquired it in 1866, right after the war. He purchased it from a local lawyer, Daniel Troy. Troy owned the house for only […]

Gov. Thomas Jones House

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged governor / historic registry / jones / mansion / thomas / victorian

…built in 1835 for William Sayre, one of the founders of First Presbyterian Church, Montgomery’s first organized church. It is perhaps “Federal Style Colonial”, with Italianate detail added circa 1850. The house originally stood at the corner of Bibb and Lee Streets, and was moved to its present location in […]

First White House of the CSA

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged confederacy / historic registry / house / jeff davis

Federal Courthouse — Completed 1933 on the site of the Court Street Methodist Church –which moved itself to the new Cloverdale suburb and became First Methodist. The 5-story structure faces Church Street and was designed in Renaissance Style by Montgomery’s renowned architect, Frank Lockwood –probably his outstanding work. It was added to the […]

Federal Courthouse (Old Post Office)

February 22, 2016 in Government tagged court house / federal / historic registry / post office

AME Zion Church — …at 483 Holcombe Street, is home to the oldest African American congregation in our city, and deep within the structure is a part that qualifies as the oldest surviving church building in Montgomery. The church was planted by Court Street Methodist in 1850, and soon thereafter was offered the 1835 wood […]

Old Ship A.M.E. Zion Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged ame / church / historic registry / old ship / zion

Bell Building — …has towered over Montgomery Street for 100 years now. Newton Bell, whose dream it was, died during the construction, but his son, N J Bell Jr, saw it to completion, and his son N J III managed the property until the late 1960s. The building was actually U-shaped, having had […]

Bell Building

February 22, 2016 in Commercial tagged bell / historic registry

…was built by local judge Frederick Rice in 1855. After its ardiouus journey from its former site on Monroe Street, the poor structure was resituated on a lot at the corner of Court and High Streets, but its vast array of outbuildings was lost in the relocation. It now backs […]

Rice-Semple House

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged historic registry / relocated / rice / semple

Murphy House — …at 22 Bibb Street, the present-day offices of the Montgomery Water Works, was built in 1851 for John Murphy, a cotton broker who moved here from Virginia and quickly amassed a goodly fortune. He built this outstanding example of Greek Revival architecture as evidence of his financial status, and there […]

Murphy House

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged greek revival / historic registry / murphy