Bonar Hall
From Archiplanet
| Bonar Hall | |
| Designer | Unknown |
| Location | Madison, Georgia, USA |
| Date | 1885 |
| Building Type | Housing |
| Construction System | Brick |
| Architectural Style | Late Georgian |
| Street Address | Dixie Ave. Walk Score |
| Notes |
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| National Register of Historic Places | |
| Name | Bonar Hall |
| ID Number | 72000388 |
| NRHP Status | Listed In The National Register |
| Certification Date | 01/20/1972 |
| Level of Significance | National |
| NRHP Documents | Text (pdf) ; Photos (pdf) |
Bonar Hall, at 962 Dixie Avenue, Madison, GA, was one of the first of Madison's dozen or so grand-style homes built during the city's heyday, 1840-60, at the time of the cotton boom leading up to the Civil War. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, the 2-story brick townhouse was built by John Byne Walker, an early Morgan county pioneer, and his heiress bride, Eliza Fannin and sat on a large track of land that she inherited. The first bricks, made on John Byne's plantations, were laid on February 25th, 1839, starting with the brick kitchen; they moved in 15 months later. Designed by a unknown professional architect, the main house, known then as the John Byne Walker Townhouse, was originally a four-over-four traditional Georgian manor house with rooms 20’x 20’, eight fireplaces, 18"-thick walls, silver doorknobs and 13' ceilings. The Georgian-style house featured a small 1-story portico with four white columns, with small brick "summer houses" on either side (now a tea house and an orangery) and, in back, a 3-room brick kitchen flanked on either side by matching his and her brick “necessaries”. Today, the 13-acre estate includes, in addition, the original formal boxwood garden, a slave cabin (c. 1830), two post-war tenant houses, a classic 1880's Victorian carriage house, a 1920's log smoke house, and a working well. A cotton-growing magnate, John Byne Walker was one of the wealthiest men in Morgan County at the time of the Civil War, owning over 200 slaves and over 10,000 acres in Morgan County, GA and Wharton County, TX, to which he travelled yearly between 1846 and 1862. One of the original backers of the Georgia railroad, he was the city's leading benefactor of the Baptist Church, donating among other things all the brick for the construction of the Baptist College (1849), the town's first post-secondary school, and the First Baptist Church. Walker brick were also used in the construction of numerous other public buildings; those still standing include the train depot and the Methodist (now Episcopal) and Presbyterian churches. All of the Walker's sons joined the Panola Guards, and one was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. Immediately after the Battle of Chickamauga (9/18-20/1863), the house became for the better part of a year a make-shift hospital, with the Walker's taking in Rebels from the famous Texas Brigade, known as the “shock troops” of the Army of Northern Virginia, wounded in that battle. Walker was ruined by the war and died a pauper. In 1880, the house was purchased by the prominent Broughton family of Madison. The William A. Broughton's made significant changes; the major ones that remain include the elaborate Victorian veranda which replaced the front portico, the stencilled ceilings in the double parlor, and the carriage house. In 1920, the house was purchased by a cotton plantation owner, Mrs. Josie Bacon, formerly Mrs. Edward T. Newton. She was a relative of Eliza Fannin and brought with her all of the family furnishings which fill the house today, including one of the ornate floor-to-ceiling mirrors from Atlanta's historic Kimball House hotel and a table that General Sherman dined on while passing through Burke County. She named the house after her oldest relative, Charles Bonar; the portrait (c. 1760) of his son, William Bonar, hangs in the sitting room. Miss Josie's husband, William T. Bacon, spearheaded the effort to create UGA's student newspaper, The Red & Black, and was elected Editor-in Chief its first year. He was later publisher and editor of The Madisonian newspaper for 50 years and State Senator. In 1968, he was elected posthumously to the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame. Miss Josie's daughter, Therese Newton, inherited the house and was one of Robert Ripley's closest friends, visiting him frequently. Believe it or not, the two sturdy dog houses in the rear were built for the two dalmatians given by him around 1948 following a visit here. Her nephew, Alex Newton, and his wife, Betsy Wagenhauser, have been slowly restoring the house since her death in 1994, including rebuilding the front brick wall in pierced diamond design. The portraits of the original owners, their relatives, are hanging in the matching double parlor; that of Mattie Walker, one of the Walker's nine children, is upstairs. In 2004, Bonar Hall became the main set for Warm Springs, the award-winning film starring Kenneth Branagh as Roosevelt and Cynthia Nixon as Eleanor about FDR's soul-searching struggle with polio during the 1920's. – Alex Newton, owner
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National Register of Historic Places
