Magnolia Hall, also known as the McCrary-Otts House, is a historic
Greek Revival mansion in
Greensboro, Alabama. It is a
contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
to the
Greensboro Historic District, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, and was individually listed on the National Register in 2021.
It was recorded by the
Historic American Buildings Survey in late March 1936.
History
Greensboro became increasingly prosperous during the cotton boom of the mid-19th century. In 1850, William Murphy, a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
and
legislator, sold a prime lot to David F. McCrary, a prominent cotton
broker and
planter who had originally come from
North Carolina and married Elizabeth Cowan Lowry, daughter of a leading Alabama family. McCrary had Murphy's house moved and hired the well known architect B.F. Parsons, originally from
Massachusetts, to design a mansion, which was completed in 1858. The ''Alabama Beacon'' reported that the house cost $10,000, a very large sum at the time.
[''Alabama Beacon,'' Greensboro, Alabama, April 24, 1857. Archived at the Alabama Historical Commission.]
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Mr. McCrary's finances survived the War; he opened the Greensboro Bank and Exchange in 1871. On his death in 1888, the McCrary's only living child, Lelia Jane, and her husband, the noted
Presbyterian divine Dr. John M.P. Otts, inherited the property. Otts had given the first sermon to
Confederate troops at
Fort Sumter.
Their son James and his wife Sadie bought the house from his siblings in the 1920s. It remained in the McCrary-Otts family until 1970, when it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. M.D. Baines. The house was sold again in 2011.
Architecture
A detailed, twelve-page building contract for Magnolia Hall was discovered by Dr. David Nelson, a McCrary descendant.
[Copy of contract in possession of Dr. Nelson and also at Magnolia Hall.] Few such contracts describing the construction of antebellum mansions have survived. This one calls for porticoes, north and south, each with six fluted columns, of the "Grecian Ionic Order...the Entablature and Mouldings all to harmonize with it...and proportioned after the order."
In addition it calls for double balconies of delicate iron grill work, and colored glass transoms around the doors. Inside are large four-over-four rooms, 14-foot ceilings, chandelier medallions, and a grand, mahogany-railed staircase in the spacious hallway. W. E. Yerby, in his ''History of Greensboro'', concluded that Magnolia Hall "is indisputably one of the finest antebellum mansions in Alabama...
nda perfect example of late Greek Revival architecture."
See also
*
Magnolia Grove (Greensboro, Alabama)
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Hale County, Alabama
References
Further reading
*
External links
* {{HABS , survey=AL-265 , id=al0220 , title=McCrary-Otts House, 805 Otts Street, Greensboro, Hale County, AL , photos=21 , color= , dwgs=9 , data=2 , cap=
Houses completed in 1855
Greek Revival houses in Alabama
Houses in Hale County, Alabama
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Alabama
Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama
National Register of Historic Places in Hale County, Alabama
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
1855 establishments in Alabama
Greensboro, Alabama