In December 2001, the Atlanta Preservation Center (APC) purchased Atlanta's most significant and endangered historical home, the antebellum Lemuel P. Grant Mansion in the Grant Park Historic District. Without this purchase, the house would have been demolished to build two new homes.

Although now one-story, the buff stucco Italianate mansion once stood three-stories high. It was built in 1856 by Lemuel Pratt Grant (1817-1893), a city pioneer, railroad magnate and philanthropist, who donated 100 acres to the city for Grant Park. Surviving the Civil War, the house was the birthplace of golf legend Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones and was, at one time, a passion of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind.

After Grant’s death in 1893, the home remained in the possession of his family. His grandson Bryan and wife shared their home with Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Jones whose son Bobby Jones was born in 1902.

Despite what Grant wrote in his diary in 1879 – “ My house escaped the torch which was so generally applied by Sherman’s hosts on leaving Atlanta” – beginning in the 1940s, neglect and fires took their toll. Parts of the once grand mansion, with its two-foot thick walls, 10-foot windows, nine fireplaces and a ballroom, were left open to the elements. The house was an insult to its former self and its community.

In 1941, Margaret Mitchell loaned money to Boyd Taylor to buy the Grant Mansion for $3,000 and turn it into an Atlanta museum in order to preserve it. Six years later she sued Taylor, who was supposed to be the caretaker of the house, for letting it deteriorate further. However, she lost the suit.

“After a period of neglect and controversial treatment, we are proud to give this unique resource what is necessary for its return as a major representative of Atlanta’s historic past and as a home for Atlanta Preservation Center’s future,” said Boyd Coons, Executive Director of the Atlanta Preservation Center.

After APC purchased the house in 2001, they made it suitable for offices and moved their headquarters here. In 2006, they completed the stabilization of the historic walls and in 2007 bought an adjoining lot to return the property to its 1906 boundaries. Since 2008, APC has reinstalled the floor and roof of the exposed east and west wings and repaired the historic windows. In 2011 the organization replaced the front and back porches. House and grounds restoration and improvements are ongoing. With assistance and generosity from L.P. Grant’s descendants, dedicated individuals and organizations and a cadre of skilled crafts people, the house is being returned to its architecturally accurate origins.

As you explore this unique and historic home this evening, remember that you can support the restoration of this Atlanta treasure by donating to the Atlanta Preservation Center.
Please visit their website or by calling 404-688-3353.