Tag Archives: Nichols House

Valdosta’s Penn Station to be torn down –Alfred Willis @ VCC 2014-10-23

Received as a response to Outside corporation trumps Valdosta citizens about historical Nichols house? –Jim Parker @ VCC 2014-10-23. -jsq

The City Council’s deliberations on the 23rd had nothing to do with any construction project, but rather focused on the sale of a parcel — as Councilman Carroll’s message of the 25th accurately conveys. The Council’s vote was historic because it signified openly the supremacy of certain private property interests (specifically, those entailed in selling as a form of enjoyment) over civic cultural interests, at least within the municipality of Valdosta. In doing so it gave Valdosta’s citizens a peek behind a curtain that had remained drawn over historic preservation here since 1980. The construction of buildings, the demolition of buildings, the remodeling or moving of buildings, the maintenance and preservation of buildings, their sale and their purchase, their adaptive reuse — all of those processes are historical processes that turn on the resolution of conflicts among interests. Thus they all reveal structures of power and the machinations of powerful individuals and groups. How could they not?

The construction of the Nichols house in the early 1950s showed with a degree of clarity that probably no other Valdosta building of that time did, the identity, values, attitudes, and mode of operation of Valdosta’s leadership. Its demolition will Continue reading →

Outside corporation trumps Valdosta citizens about historical Nichols house? –Jim Parker @ VCC 2014-10-23

Received 27 October 2014 about Whose rights come first? –Tim Carroll. -jsq

So because the owner of the property, which appeared to be a national property owning corporation for the fraternity’s local chapters, couldn’t, or more likely, didn’t want to see the cultural and architectural significance of the Nichols’ House, and merely wanted to unload the property as quick as possible, their property rights trump all other citizens of Valdosta in regards to our historical/cultural history and what we may wish to preserve? Do private entities, which may not even live here, have carte blanche to run roughshod and do whatever they please in our city irregardless of the interests of the citizens that do?

If you think I have a “lack of true understanding Continue reading →

Whose rights come first? –Tim Carroll @ VCC 2014-10-23

Received 25 October 2014 on Too bad about the Nichols House –Jim Parker @ VCC 2014-10-23. -jsq

I realize many may think none on council heard what Dr. Willis had to say, but that was not the case. What I think was missed by many in the audience was the fact that the owner of this property was not the applicant of this request, but was adamantly opposed to it. Not only did they have an offer on the table to sell, but it was pending the outcome of the vote regarding historic designation. To take away the rights of a property owner at the request of another is a very tricky thing. Whose rights come first? This was a tough decision in and unto itself. To suggest that only the monetary value of the property for taxation purposes drove the decision demonstrates a lack of true understanding of the all the pertinent facts of this case.

-Tim Carroll

I think the applicant’s frat alumnus attorney speaking for 15 minutes against probably tipped off most people about that first point. -jsq

Too bad about the Nichols House –Jim Parker @ VCC 2014-10-23

Received 23 October 2014 on Alfred Willis comments at Valdosta Historic Preservation 2014-10-06. I added the [vote correction] and the links. -jsq

I attended tonight’s City Council meeting, and heard Dr Willis’ impassioned advocacy of the Council approving the historical preservation of the Nichols’ House. Our Historic Preservation Commission reviewed this and request recommended approval by a vote of five to one. Dr Willis sold me on the merits. Unfortunately, the Council must not have heard what I did, and unanimously voted against [actually all but one against] approving the designation. It looks to me, that as it stands, demolition of the house could commence tomorrow, and the replacement construction of the apartments for VSU students can commence.

A huge number of apartment buildings have been built over the past few years. First with the large complexes of Blanton Commons, The Gardens, and The Grove, to the numerous buildings along West Mary, Baytree Drive, Boone Drive and Oak Street, among others. Plans are still on tap for the major development of the entire city block just south of campus (one that I can actually appreciate). The question was mentioned to me tonight whether Continue reading →

Alfred Willis comments at Valdosta Historic Preservation 2014-10-06

600x222 Nichols House, in Valdosta's Ultramodern Masterpiece: The Nichols House on Baytree, by Alfred Willis, 1 October 2014

Nichols House, in Valdosta’s Ultramodern Masterpiece: The Nichols House on Baytree

One of the (many) meetings that LAKE has not been covering is the Valdosta Historic Preservation Commission.
Dr. Alfred Willis speaking at VSU

Dr. Alfred Willis speaking at VSU

At the October 2014 meeting, the commission considered the issue of the Nichols House (corner of Baytree and Azalea). Alfred Willis sent his comments from that meeting to LAKE for publication.

Earlier in the month, LAKE covered Dr. Willis’ presentation at VSU about the Nichols House article here and video playlist .

I am Alfred Willis of 4153 Stone Hall Boulevard, Hermitage, TN. I am a consultant in architectural history and I speak for my clients, the Alden Park Homeowners’ Association. My clients engaged me to study a group of buildings threatened with demolition as part of a proposed student-housing complex. They were concerned by Continue reading →

Video: Baytree Nichols House, Alfred Willis Lecture @ VSU 2014-10-01

First all-electric house in Valdosta, new materials, unusual arrangement of space for indoor-outdoor living on the same level outside as in, with light throughout because mostly only one room wide, in a western atomic ranch house adapted for Valdosta. Will what Dr. Willis had to say about “a replete instance of the diffusion of Californian” be enough to preserve the masterpiece of Lloyd Greer Sr. (1885-1952) from development?

Announced as Continue reading →

Nichols House frat no longer; maybe historic preservation @ VCC 2014-09-11

LAKE has video, but meanwhile, so you can prepare for the Oct. 1st talk about that historic Nichols House, here’s some background.

Chip Harp wrote for Valdosta Today 17 September 2014,

In last week’s Valdosta City Council meeting, Council voted 5-2 in favor of re-zoning nearly 4 acres of land in the Alden Park Community, near the campus. Some neighbors in the community stand firmly against the development, which would include a 180-bed student housing complex, and say it takes away from their neighborhood, based on a report from WCTV’s Winnie Wright.

Winnie Wright reported for WCTV 16 September 2014, The Historic Standing Of One Home Could Determine Future Of Surrounding Community, Continue reading →

Valdosta’s Ultramodern Masterpiece: The Nichols House on Baytree —Alfred Willis Lecture 2014-10-01

Received yesterday in PDF. This is the historic structure where Turner Brooks wants to build a subdivision. -jsq

300x232 Talk Flyer, in Valdosta's Ultramodern Masterpiece: The Nichols House on Baytree, by Alfred Willis, 1 October 2014 7:00pm – Wednesday, October 1st, 2014
Valdosta State University
Bailey Science Center, Room 1011

This event is FREE and open to all.
Parking is also free in the Georgia Avenue Parking lots.
* For more information please contact Colleen McDonough,
229-333-5759 or cmcdonou@valdosta.edu

The Nichols house is a replete instance of the diffusion of Californian on the Nichols House & Valdosta Architecture design ideals in the postwar decade, the work that brought architect Lloyd Greer’s career to its culmination, and the starting point for the careers of several leading Valdosta architects of the next generation. Continue reading →