Redland Restoration- Harris County,GA

Personal Country Home of Frederick Spitzmiller, of Spitzmiller & Norris, and the proud recipient of The Philip Trammell Shutze Award 2010 for Preservation/Restoration for “Redland” presented by The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America-Southeast Chapter. Featured in Southern Views Magazine Feb/March 2009

Built in the vernacular Greek Revival style, this handsome raised cottage was constructed in 1852 and is the personal residence of Mr. Spitzmiller. By 2005, the house and fifty acres were all that remained, of what once had been a large working plantation in southwest Georgia. It had never, in its one hundred and fifty years, passed out of the original family’s ownership. Members of the family felt that they had held on to the house and property as long as was practical. The area where the house was located had become a populous residential and business suburb, therefore it was decided that the land would be sold for commercial development and the house, if it were to be saved, would have to be moved to another location.

Mr. Spitzmiller purchased the house and moved it to a new rural site. Family farms and a number of antebellum houses characterized the new area- – - it seemed ideal for this old house. Moving the house was relatively simple owing to the mortise and tenon construction used by the original builder. It was separated, longitudinally, by removing the pegged joists and rafters of the central hall leaving the framing of the front and rear rooms intact; the joists and rafters then were numbered so that they could be put back exactly as they had been taken out. The bricks and stones of the chimneys and foundations were dismantled, placed on pallets and moved along with the house.

At the new site, on a slight rise of land, great care was taken to position and orient the house as it had been originally. Foundation footings were poured and timber cribbing set to support the house temporarily while new foundation walls were being built… The parlor crown molding and ceiling medallion survived the move very well also- – -only to be dislodged by the work of the framing crew as they reset the roof! Fortunately large fragments of the moldings were saved and provided the correct profile to enable their recreation. The original 7’-6” windows were re-strung using the original sash weights, which made them operate beautifully.

Although the basic plan of the house was retained, rooms were given new uses: the right rear bedroom became the kitchen; the left rear bedroom became the master bath and closet. To create a dining area, a screen of Doric columns was inserted a third of the way along the forty-foot center hall.

Interior vertical circulation between floors had never existed in the house and was now needed. A new stair was designed and installed in the front part of the center hall. Thus former root cellar became two additional bedrooms with baths, a laundry room and a painting studio.