Magnolia Hall, also known as the McCrary-Otts House, is a historic

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

mansion in

Greensboro, Alabama Greensboro is a city in Hale County, Alabama, Hale County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census the population was 2,497, down from 2,731 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Hale County, Alabama, ...

, United States. 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 dist ...

to the Greensboro Historic District, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, and was individually listed on the National Register in 2021. It was recorded by the

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

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 is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

legislator A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nat ...

, sold a prime lot to David F. McCrary, a prominent cotton

broker A broker is a person or entity that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller. This may be done for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither ...

and planter who had originally come from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

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 Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, 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 Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

divine Dr. John M.P. Otts, inherited the property. Otts had given the first sermon to

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

troops at

Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a historical Coastal defense and fortification#Sea forts, sea fort located near Charleston, South Carolina. Constructed on an artificial island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor in 1829, the fort was built in response to the W ...

. 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."

References

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

History

Architecture

See also

References

Further reading

External links