Cave Spring Residential Historic District

Cave Spring City, Floyd County, GA

Description

The Cave Spring Residential Historic District [†] encompasses several intact blocks of housing and two churches along Alabama Road and Rivers Street west of downtown. The houses are detached, wood-framed, single-family residences. They range in size from relatively large "mansions" (by Cave Spring standards) to small cottages and in date from the mid-nineteenth century to the early-twentieth century. Styles represented include Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Victorian Eclectic, and Queen Anne. Many of the houses are rather plain and simple; others feature elaborate detailing and nearly academically correct designs. The Greek Revival houses are located at the intersection of Rivers Street ard Fannin Street; one features an overscaled, full-width, columned portico, and another, an otherwise rambling country house, features a fine two-story portico with balcony. Gothic Revival houses are well-represented in the district and are scattered the length of Alabama Road; they range from plain weatherboarded houses with steep gables and dormers to board-and-battened houses with bargeboarded dormers and steep chimneys to elaborately detailed cottages that might have been taken from the best of Andrew Jackson Downingf s handbook designs. A single Italianate house, one-story high with a hipped roof, bracketed porch, bay windows, and bracketed cornice, is situated on high ground along Rivers Street near Fannin Street. Victorian Electic houses tend to be clustered at either end of Alabama Road and range from very plain to highly ornamented with shingles and stick work. Victorian houses otherwise devoid of ornamentation often have some Eastlake woodwork high in a gable. An asymmetrically massed, elaborately detailed Queen Anne-style residence is located south east of the intersection of Alabama Road and Mill Street; simpler versions of the style are situated nearby. Near the west end of Rivers Street is a cluster of several small, early-twentieth-century, wood-framed, weatherboarded or board-and-battened cottages.

Most of these houses, especially the larger ones along Alabama Road, are situated near the middle of their rectangular-shaped lots and are set back from the street a more-or-less uniform distance. The lots themselves, especially the front yards, are informally landscaped with trees, shrubbery, lawn, low re taining walls, and an occasional fence. These front yards, especially along Alabama Road, tend to blend together into a continuous streetscape. Street trees and sidewalks line both sides of Alabama Road as well. Two churches are also located in this district, and both front on Alabama Road. One, at the northeast corner of Alabama Road and Fannin Street, is a plain, gable-roofed, brick structure enlivened only by piers and spandrel panels. The other is a board-and-battened Gothic Revival building situated midway between Fannin and Mill streets on the south side of Alabama Road. The major intrusion in the dis trict is a two-story brick apartment building on the northwest corner of Ala bama Road and Fannin Street. Other intrusions are primarily brick or frame ranch houses. The streets in this district are a major part of the overall gridiron plan of the city.

Significance

Architecture.

The Cave Spring Residential Historic District is significant in terms of architecture because of its concentration of nineteenth- and earlytwentieth-century houses along two principal streets which gives this part of the city a distinct residential neighborhood atmosphere. This effect is due to

the variety of house styles and types related to one another by a uniform setback from the gridiron streets, by the limited range of building materials, and by landscaping. The district is also significant for its fine collection of residential architecture. This architecture echoes, in a modest vernacularized manner, the prevailing national norms, and it also represents the kind of domestic architecture found in the small towns in this part of the state. Most of the major nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century styles are present, including Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Victorian Eclectic, Queen Anne and Bungalow. All reflect their carpenter-builder origins in terms of craftsmanship, design, and detailing; some make obvious references to the popular patternbooks of the day, including those by >a href="https://www.livingplaces.com/people/andrew-jackson-downing.html">>. Quite exceptional is the number of Gothic Revival residences, ranging from the plain to the ornate, and the Gothic Revival church — representing a mid-nineteenth-century style not so often found in a state dominated by the Greek Revival.

Landscape Architecture.

The Cave Spring Residential Historic District is significant in terms of landscape architecture because of the way in which landscaping ties together the architecture to create a distinct residential environment. This effect is achieved primarily by the street trees and the continuously landscaped front yards. It is typical of late-nineteenth-century landscape practice in America. The district also contains good examples of latenineteenth- and early-twentieth-century lot landscaping. The broad lawns with informally arranged trees and shrubs, and the low retaining walls, are all period characteristics. The street trees, precisely aligned along either side of Alabama Road, reflect the Victorian preference for the urbane as well. The changes in the landscaping of the properties in this district, from a succession of dreary, fenced-in enclosures at the middle of the nineteenth century to a series of informally landscaped grounds by the end of the nineteenth century, reflect the nineteenth-century changes in attitude toward landscaping, from a dull, pragmatic, expedient outlook to a more imaginative and aesthetic approach.

Community Planning and Development

The Cave Spring Residential Historic District is significant in terms of community planning and development because it represents the growth of a residential neighborhood in a town that was "planned" only by virtue of a gridiron street plan linked to country roads. Its development was neither inevitable nor fortuitous; rather, it resulted from need and a convenient location along a major street. Once started, it grew upon itself in a self-supporting cycle. This rather ad-hoc development of a residential neighborhood along a major street in an otherwise undifferentiated gridiron is typical of small-town growth in the nineteenth century. The district is also significant for the way in which it incorporates a large part of the original gridiron street layout.

Religion

The establishment of two churches in a primarily residential district is significant to the Cave Spring Residential Historic District. In 1856, land was given to the trustees of the Methodist church on which to build a church. The Methodist church, built in 1882, was the third structure built by the Methodists as their place of worship. This structure replaced a wooden building that was also located on the property. It is significant that the church chose to construct the new building on the same lot in 1882 and remain in a developing residential area. The Methodist parsonage was built shortly after the 1882 church building was built. It replaced an earlier structure that served as the Methodist parsonage. Located near the Methodist church on Alabama Road is the Presbyterian church, built ca. 1870. Located in the midst of a residential district, these institutions have influenced major developments in the growth of Cave Spring. Although the Presbyterian church has no longer been used since 1977, the Methodist church still functions as a major institution in Cave Spring.

Local History

The Cave Spring Residential Historic District is significant in that it evolved as a result of the establishment of commercial, industrial, educational, and religious activities near the spring. During the early years of the settlement, much of the land in the residential district was owned by several large landowners, such as Joseph Rivers. Rivers established his home in the area around 1850 and at that time constructed a boardinghouse to serve as a residence for students attending the Cave Spring schools. His boardinghouse was later owned by P.J. King, a noted educator at the Hearn Academy. Also in the residential district are two of the churches of Cave Spring. The Methodist church was given a lot on which to build its church in 1856 and has remained an active institution in the residential district since that time. The Presbyterian church also established its church in the residential district ca. 1870. As the commercial and industrial atmosphere of Cave Spring rapidly developed after the Civil War, many merchants and industrialists located their homes in the district. Felix Corput, a Belgian, migrated to Cave Spring in 1886 and established a mercantile business in the commercial district. He was also instrumental in organizing the Farmer's Alliance Cooperative Company in the late1880s. His home in the residential district was later owned by another prominent citizen, Joseph B. Rolator. Rolator, a medical doctor by profession, was the benefactor of the Hearn Academy site, now known as Rolator Park, in 1931. Also residing in the district was the owner of the flyscreen factory, Frank C. Wright. The residential district was comprised of many citizens who developed Cave Spring commercially, industrially, educationally, and religiously.

Street Names
Alabama Road • Fannin Street • Rivers Street • Route 100