Battle-Friedman House, 1010 Greensboro Avenue, circa 1905
Houses and homes
Historic house museums
Battle, Alfred
Friedman, Victor Hugo 1878-1965
Friedman, Bernard 1836-1896
The postcard states "A Typical Southern Home, The B. Friedman Residence"
The Battle-Friedman House was built about 1835 by Alfred Battle, a North Carolina native who had come to Tuscaloosa in 1821, and his wife, Millicent. A wealthy planter, Battle owned three plantations south of Tuscaloosa in present day Hale County. In 1875 due to failed Confederate investments, Battle was forced to sell the house to Bernard Friedman, a local merchant who had emigrated from Hungary. Bernard Friedman operated a dry goods store, known as the Atlanta Store, located on the northeast corner of University Boulevard and Greensboro Avenue. The Battle-Friedman House remained in the Friedman family until 1965, when it was willed to the City of Tuscaloosa by Victor Hugo Friedman. The Battle-Friedman House is presently managed by the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society and is available for rental for weddings, receptions etc.
Originally, the house and its outbuildings occupied the entire city block. The house consisted of the two front parlors, central hallway and the rooms above. The columned porch and the rooms at the back of the house were added at various times before the Civil War. The front porch has distinctively Tuscaloosa styled paneled square columns. The exterior of the house is stucco over brick and painted to resemble red marble. Inside, elaborate plasterwork decorates the walls and ceilings of the front parlors and hallways. Some of this is original to the house, but the distinctive art deco nasturtium frieze in the halls was added by the Friedman family in the early part of the twentieth century. The house now contains a fine collection of renaissance revival furniture.
Tuscaloosa News Archive
The Tuscaloosa News
Circa 1905
Jason Townsend (Description)
Elizabeth Bradt (Description)
Postcard
4
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion, Kitchen, 1305 Greensboro Avenue, circa 1950
Houses and homes
Kitchens
The kitchen of the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion during the time the J.P. Burchfields owned the house.
The house was purchased in 1945 by J. P. Burchfield, Jr. and Nell M. Burchfield. At that time the house was completely renovated with preservation of all the architectural design.
In 1955, the house was purchased by the YMCA for $70,000 and was then exchanged with Mr. Victor Hugo Friedman for the north half of the block containing the Battle-Friedman House. The YMCA used the property for a site for the new central YMCA building. Mr. Friedman gave the Burchfield property to Tuscaloosa County for use as a public library.
Jemison Van de Graaff Foundation
Circa 1950
Photograph
37
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Charles N. Maxwell House
Houses and homes
Originally the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles N.Maxwell, constructed in 1911 on the corner of then-unpaved 7th Street and 21st Avenue. The house had entrances on both streets.
Maxwell was a local grocer and served as clerk in the probate office under Probate Judge William Brandon.
Mrs. Maxwell was a charter member of the Kettledrum Club, Alabama's oldest social club for women.
The Maxwell house was demolished in 1969.
Tuscaloosa News Archive
Jason Townsend (Description)
Photograph
89
Tuscaloosa (AL)
George Searcy House, 815 Greensboro Avenue
Houses and homes
School boards
County school systems
Tuscaloosa Public Library
The two-story Searcy House was built in 1904 by George Searcy, a Tuscaloosa banker and businessman. It was sold to Tuscaloosa County in 1925 for $35,000. The building was used for both a public library and the administrative offices of the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education. In 1958 the Library moved to the Jemison Mansion through the generosity of Victor Hugo Friedman.
In 1968 the Board of Education renovated it for more functional office use. At that time, a cylindrical spiral staircase, constructed in 1840 and salvaged from the E.N.C. Snow House which once sat on the site of the present Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, was moved to the Searcy House.
The house was an excellent example of the Neo-revival style of architecture popular at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1904, Tuscaloosa was once again becoming more socially and financially active and the Searcy House was one of the first large houses built in the area since the 1870's.
The house was approximately square with a wide veranda on front and four fluted Ionic columns. The entrance had an arched transom and lights on each side of the door. The details of the woodwork, dentils, rails and supports of the balcony added distinction to the Greek Revival style of the house.
In 2012, the Board of Education acquired the Federal Courthouse Building on Greensboro Avenue after a new Federal Courthouse was built on University Boulevard. The Board of Education sold the Searcy House to Frederick Hahn Sr., the lone bidder, for its appraised value of $600,000. Hahn donated the house to the adjoining First Baptist Church.
Attempts by the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society to save the Searcy House, which was on the "Places in Peril" list of the Alabama Historical Commission, were unsuccessful.
An estate sale to sell of parts of the house was held. Mantels, windows, pocket doors, moldings and other period parts of the house were sold. The spiral staircase was salvaged for use in another historic home or stored for safekeeping. Any remaining items of value were removed to a location for a later sale before the house was demolished in 2014.
Tuscaloosa News Archive
Betty Slowe (Description)
Postcard
125
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Drish House, 2300 17th Street, circa 1925
Houses and Homes
Wrecking
This historic house was built in 1837 by Dr. John R. Drish, a prominent early settler, as the focal point for a plantation that bordered the city limits of Tuscaloosa. It once stood in the center of a 350 acre plantation. William Nichols, the Alabama state architect, is usually credited as influencing the architecture. The exterior of the house, as completed in 1837, featured full width, monumental Doric porticoes to the front and rear, with two-story pilasters dividing each bay on all four sides.
The house was classified as an Italian villa in style and was originally surrounded by formal gardens. Drish remodeled the mansion in the 1850s with the addition of massive columns and then added the three story Italianate tower in the 1860’s in order to compete with Robert Jemison who was building his own mansion in town. Mr. Drish died in the home in 1867 and Sarah Drish passed away in 1884.
Judge W.G. Cochrane lived in the home in the 1880's. The house remained one of the finest residences in the city until 1906 when the City Board of Education purchased the house and established the Jemison School.
In later years, it deteriorated and was bought in 1925 by Charles Turner, who operated an auto wrecking business. Walker Evans, one of America’s most famous photographers, photographed the once grand mansion in the 1930s. His “Tuscaloosa Wrecking Company” is one of his best known photographs and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
In the 1940s, the Southside Baptist Church purchased the house as a meeting site, and, over the years, built a large sanctuary abutting the house and a free standing Sunday school building on the property. In this configuration, the house remained until 1995, when the church, with a dwindling and aging population, closed its doors.
The structure was leased for several years to the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County and then deeded to the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society in July of 2007. The Preservation Society is currently working to stabilize the home and develop a plan for an adaptive reuse of this important area landmark.
Tuscaloosa News Archive
circa 1925
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
145
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Drish House, 2300 17th Street, circa 1907
Houses and homes
Wrecking
This historic house was built in 1837 by Dr. John R. Drish, a prominent early settler, as the focal point for a plantation that bordered the city limits of Tuscaloosa. It once stood in the center of a 350 acre plantation. William Nichols, the Alabama state architect, is usually credited as influencing the architecture. The exterior of the house, as completed in 1837, featured full width, monumental Doric porticoes to the front and rear, with two-story pilasters dividing each bay on all four sides.
The house was classified as an Italian villa in style and was originally surrounded by formal gardens. Drish remodeled the mansion in the 1850s with the addition of massive columns and then added the three story Italianate tower in the 1860’s in order to compete with Robert Jemison who was building his own mansion in town. Mr. Drish died in the home in 1867 and Sarah Drish passed away in 1884.
Judge W.G. Cochrane lived in the home in the 1880's. The house remained one of the finest residences in the city until 1906 when the City Board of Education purchased the house and established the Jemison School.
In later years, it deteriorated and was bought in 1925 by Charles Turner, who operated an auto wrecking business. Walker Evans, one of America’s most famous photographers, photographed the once grand mansion in the 1930s. His “Tuscaloosa Wrecking Company” is one of his best known photographs and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
In the 1940s, the Southside Baptist Church purchased the house as a meeting site, and, over the years, built a large sanctuary abutting the house and a free standing Sunday school building on the property. In this configuration, the house remained until 1995, when the church, with a dwindling and aging population, closed its doors.
The structure was leased for several years to the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County and then deeded to the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society in July of 2007. The Preservation Society is currently working to stabilize the home and develop a plan for an adaptive reuse of this important area landmark.
Tuscaloosa News Archive
circa 1907
Betty Slowe (Description)
Postcard
167
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Minor-Searcy-Owens House, 2606 8th Street
Houses and homes
The Minor-Searcy-Owens House was originally built in 1826 by Judge Henry Minor. Judge Minor was a member of the Alabama Supreme Court as well as a member of first University of Alabama Board of Trustees.
In 1857 the house was sold to Ann Sorsby Ross. The house would become known as the Searcy house after Ann's daughter, Anne, married Dr. James Thomas Searcy and the couple moved in with her mother. Dr. Searcy would become the second Superintendent of Bryce Hospital in 1892.
The house remained in the Searcy family until it was sold multiple times in the early 20th century. The house then fell into disrepair until it was purchased in the late 1970s, first by the Tuscaloosa Preservation Society, then by Pat Hobson who restored the home. Following the restoration, the home was purchased in 1999 by attorney John Owens. It is now used as the office of Owens & Millsaps, LLP and is now known as the Minor-Searcy-Owens House.
The house is described by architectural historians as "frontier" style architecture because of its square, heavy proportions. A three-story frame building, it is an adaptation of the Classic Revival style. The house has a portico of six, square, paneled columns, topped by a heavy cornice. The structure has a bricked first floor and front steps going from ground level to the second floor. Double front doors, with glass transom and side panels on either side, provide entrance to the house. In the basement or first floor, were the dining room, kitchen and a storage room. The basement has two double windows on either side of the steps. The home has large, spacious rooms with the original, low ceilings and the original mantels. The square entrance hall displays an interesting reverse staircase.
(Information from Old Tuskaloosa Magazine and "Past Horizons," Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society, 1978 used in description)
Tuscaloosa News
Tuscaloosa News Archive
March 30, 2011
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
265
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Monnish-Nicol House, 14 Monnish Drive, 2011
Houses and homes
The house, an excellent copy of antebellum architecture, was built in 1907 by Frederick W. Monnish. The house was built with the finest first grade pine lumber from long-leaf pine as Monnish owned a saw mill at the time it was built.
In 1958, the structure was moved 100 feet back from its original site to allow additional family members to build on the Monnish property. The home has remained in the family since that time.
For additional information see Past Horizons, p.26
Frederick William (F. W.) Monnish was born in Frankfurt Germany on September 18, 1859. At the age of 17, he emigrated to America landing at New Orleans. He then traveled to his uncle's home near Coaling, Alabama where he was employed doing odd jobs for his uncle making $8 per month plus room and board.
He organized a lumber company and married Lillian Olmstead. After saving $1,000, the Monnishes moved to Tuscaloosa. Between 1900 and 1910, F. W. was the superintendent of the Tuscaloosa Belt Railway.
His greatest success and his most important contribution to the growth of Tuscaloosa was in the real estate business. He gained control of the Tuscaloosa Coal, Iron and Land Company making possible the development of lands east and south of Tuscaloosa.
Monnish was fatally wounded by a shopkeeper, J. Thomas Harris, and died at his summer home in Ridge Crest, NC in 1920.
Tuscaloosa News
Tuscaloosa News
March 30, 2011
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
266
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Collier-Cunningham House, 1003 Queen City Avenue
Houses and homes
This home sits at the corner of Paul W. Bryant Drive and Queen City Avenue in Tuscaloosa and was built in the first years of the 20th century, circa 1906.
According to "Past Horizons," published by the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society in 1978:
It consists of four rooms on the first floor, two on each side of a hall the length of the house. The same plan is followed on the second floor. The woodwork is plain and solid, not carved and decorated as in the antebellum houses. Also, it has no Victorian gingerbread work. There is a porch across the front and on each side supported by Ionic columns. The structure has 28 windows with blinds at each. The kitchen and an extra room have been added to the back
Tuscaloosa News
Tuscaloosa News
March 30, 2011
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
267
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Guild-Verner House, 1904 University Boulevard, circa 1978
Houses and homes
Guild, Dr. James
Verner, C. B.
Built about 1822 by Dr. James Guild, the house was the first brick residence in the city. Guild was a trustee of the University of Alabama and the Alabama Insane (now Bryce) Hospital, a member of the state legislature, and a practicing physician.
His son, Dr. Lafayette Guild, was chief medical officer for Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War.
The house was sold to John Snow in 1881 and two years later to his brother, Dr. Charles Snow. The Snows were double first cousins of President John Quincy Adams.
The C.B. Verners acquired the house in 1911 and added the columns, side porch and other classic details. The house was originally Georgian style but currently is Greek Revival style architecture.
The house suffered through many owners, a fire, and vandalism until concerned citizens prevailed upon the Tuscaloosa City Commission to save the landmark. In 1977, the Home Builders Association of Tuscaloosa, Inc. restored the house and the staffs of the Home Builders and the Tuscaloosa Board of Realtors moved into it.
Currently, it houses the office of S.T. Bunn Construction Company, Inc.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
("Past Horizons," Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society, 1978)
Tuscaloosa News Archive
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
277
Tuscaloosa (AL)