The May Patterson Goodrum House is a historic home in the Buckhead neighborhood of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

completed in 1932. It is also known as the Peacock House. It is an English Regency style mansion designed by Atlanta architect

Philip T. Shutze Philip Trammell Shutze (August 18, 1890 – October 17, 1982) was an American architect. He became a partner in 1927 of Hentz, Adler & Shutze. He is known for his neo-classical architecture. Designed the HM Patterson & son spring Hill chapel, ...

and is considered one of his "finest works." It was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 2013.

Design

The house is a large English Regency style mansion with a -story central block flanked by two-story wings which project forward. The exterior is constructed of brick, and covered with smooth stucco scored in a way to look like stone. The entryway features ionic columns. The rear of the house faces a semicircular terrace and features two-story bow windows. Decorations inside the house include murals by

Allyn Cox Allyn Cox (June 5, 1896 – September 26, 1982) was an American artist known for his murals, including those he painted in the United States Capitol and the U. S. Department of State. Early life Cox was a son of Kenyon Cox and his wife, the f ...

and Athos Menaboni as well as carvings and plasterwork by Herbert J. Millard. Several features of the house including the murals in the dining room and the balustrade in the central hall incorporate chinoiserie design elements. The

Architectural League of New York The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines". The league dates from 1881, when Cass Gilbert organized meetings at the Salmagundi Club for ...

gave the house an honorable mention award in 1932. The house was covered in national magazines of the time including ''

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

'', '' House & Garden'' and '' Town & Country''.

History

May E. Patterson (1891–1976) was a native of Atlanta, whose father was a stonecutter and contractor. She worked as a clerk at various retail establishments. James J. Goodrum Jr. (1879–1928) was a native of

Newnan, Georgia Newnan is a city in Metro Atlanta and the county seat of Coweta County, Georgia, about southwest of Atlanta. Its population was 42,549 at the 2020 census, up from 33,039 in 2010. History Newnan was established as county seat of Coweta Coun ...

who had founded a chain of retail stores at age 27 and then sold it a few years later to

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

. He then pursued an investment career with

Trust Company of Georgia SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...

at which he was very successful. He managed the $25 million

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, ...

in 1919. Patterson and Goodrum married in New York City in 1926, but Goodrum died in 1928. After her husband's death, Mrs. Goodrum bought two tracts of land on West Paces Ferry Road between Habersham and Arden roads. She hired architect Philip Trammell Shutze to design a house and gardens for the property. By August 1929 he had completed designs for the house. Goodrum was living in the house by September 1930 but it wasn't fully completed until 1932. Some elements of the gardens weren't completed until 1936. Mrs

In 1938 May Goodrum married architect Francis L. Abreu (1896–1969). The couple were active in Atlanta society and supported numerous charitable causes including

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

and the Atlanta Humane Society. In 1944 May was named the first "Atlanta's Woman of the Year" for her charitable work. In 1958 the Abreus sold the house and retired to Sea Island, Georgia where they lived in a beach house named South Wind, also designed by Shutze. The Abreus sold the Atlanta house to Mary Phillips Rushton (1896–1984) founder of a toy company. Rushton made a few modifications to the house including kitchen changes and adding an elevator. Rushton also kept peacocks on the property, and so the house became known as the Peacock House. The birds sometimes annoyed the motorists passing on West Paces Ferry Road. When Rushton died in 1984, the property was sold to Jerry Cates, who subdivided and sold off part of the property, removing some parts of the wall and elements of the gardens. In April and May 1984 the house was opened to the public as the "Decorator's Show House" as a fundraiser for the

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center. History Though earlier organizations bearing the same name date b ...

. It has also hosted the 26th annual Preservation Gala for Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation in 2010. Later in 1984 the home was purchased by the

Southern Center for International Studies The Southern Center for International Studies (SCIS), founded in 1962, is a non-profit, private organization dedicated to international study. Located in Atlanta, GA, it hosts several annual events, such as the Retired Secretaries of Defense Co ...

for $1.5 million and it served as the group's headquarters from November of that year to 2009. Modifications to the property during this time included some fire escapes added to the second floor, and parking areas which eliminated further elements of the garden. During this period the property was also available as a wedding venue. The home was purchased in 2009 for $3.5 million by the Watson-Brown Foundation, which restored it. The home is operated as a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

with a full-time curator, and is only available to visit by appointment. The same foundation also operates other house museums in Georgia including

Hickory Hill Hickory Hill may refer to several places: United States (by state) * Hickory Hill, Arkansas * Hickory Hill, Florida * Hickory Hill (Thomson, Georgia), National Register of Historic Places listings in McDuffie County, Georgia, listed on the NRHP i ...

Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...

and the

T. R. R. Cobb House The T. R. R. Cobb House built in 1842 is an historic octagon house originally located at 194 Prince Avenue in Athens, Georgia. On June 30, 1975, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The original part of the home of Thomas ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

References

Notes

Sources

* (Includes 52 photos from March 2013) * {{cite magazine, title=Mrs. James Jefferson Goodrum's House at Atlanta , magazine=Town & Country , volume=87 , issue=4078 , date=April 15, 1932 , pages=30–35 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gdVAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA30 , access-date=July 13, 2020 , via=

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

, ref={{harvid, Town & Country, April 15, 1932 (Includes 6 photos from 1932)

External links