The Tate House is a historic property east of

Tate, Georgia Tate is an unincorporated community in Pickens County, Georgia, United States. The Georgia Marble Company and Tate Historic District in Tate is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic district is centered on GA 53 betwee ...

Georgia State Route 53 State Route 53 (SR 53) is a west-to-east state highway located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The highway travels from the Alabama state line west of Cave Spring northeast, then east, then southeast to US 129 ...

. Colonel Samuel Tate began construction in 1923 and the mansion was completed in 1928. Designed by

Walker and Weeks Walker and Weeks was an architecture firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded by Frank Ray Walker (September 29, 1877 - July 9, 1949) and Harry E. Weeks (October 2, 1871 - December 21, 1935). Background Harry Weeks was born October 2, 1871, in W. S ...

, architects in the

Neo-Classical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

, the home is made of pink and white marble (Etowah Marble) supplied by Tate's

Georgia Marble Company The Georgia Marble Company was founded in 1884 by Samuel Tate. Tate leased out all the land in Pickens County, Georgia, United States, that contained rich Georgia marble. Pickens County has a vein of marble long, a half mile wide, and up to deep. ...

, and sometimes called the "Pink Palace" or "Pink Marble Mansion". Tate was president of the marble company. In 1938 Colonel Sam Tate died and the mansion began to fall into disrepair. The surviving Tates (Luke & Flora) resided in the mansion until 1955 when they left the home unoccupied. The Tate House is two stories, rectangular, with a hipped roof, two interior chimneys, and a pedimented tetrastyle front entrance portico. At the rear is a slightly projecting pedimented section with a one-story portico. The interior features excellent mural wallpaper and parquet marble floors. In 1974, Mrs. Ann Shattuck of Bisbee, AZ and her husband at the time, Mr. Columbus J. Southerland,; © 1979 ''Georgia Life Magazine''; Vol. 6 #3 (Winter 1979);accessed 31 December 2013 bought the house; it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on May 17, 1974. Ann & Columbus then divorced and she later married Joseph P. Laird in 1981, who completed some of the restorations himself, including the beautifully built sand filled bar in the pub. The restoration project was completed 10 years after the initial purchase by Ann, and it was opened to the public in 1985. In January 2001, the estate was purchased by Holbrook Properties, LP. Lois Holbrook and Marsha Mann plan to continue the restoration of the mansion and gardens. It is a

contributing building 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 distric ...

in the Georgia Marble Company and Tate Historic District.

References

External links

The Historic Tate House
Houses completed in 1923 Houses in Pickens County, Georgia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) National Register of Historic Places in Pickens County, Georgia {{GeorgiaUS-struct-stub