Newtown Historic Architecture Survey

This Storymap showcases the architectural history of the Newtown area in Athens, Georgia. It is an interactive, web-based tool was produced by the FindIt Program and uses data collected during a historic architecture survey that UGA students conducted during the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters. The  FindIt Program  is housed at the  Center for Community Design & Preservation  at the University of Georgia  College of Environment and Design  (CED). FindIt is a unique student learning experience whereby graduate students in historic preservation, landscape architecture, and urban planning are trained to identify and document cultural resources, such as historic buildings, landscapes, and other structures. 

The Newtown survey was commissioned by  Historic Athens  and the  Athens-Clarke County Planning Department  to understand the history of this older neighborhood. For the purposes of this survey, the historic resources were predominantly evaluated for their architectural integrity, and not their local or cultural significance.

This Storymap includes an interactive map of each property surveyed, a history of the neighborhood, and findings from the survey. Scroll to continue, or use the headings at the top. A link to the full report is provided at the bottom of this page.

The map below shows the Newtown area within Athens, a red border demarcating the survey area. FindIt documented all buildings over 40 years old, completing a Georgia Historic Resources survey form for each property. The survey area was situated within the western border of Barber Street, the eastern border of the railroad, the northern border of the Bobby Snipes Water Resources Center, and the southern border of the railroad as it intersects with Pulaski Street.

Below is an interactive map with photos and a description of each property surveyed. For instructions on how to use the interactive map, continue to scroll down the page past the map.

Map Instructions

Choose a Property: Hovering over a point will bring up a description of a property. To read the full information, click Read More.

Find an Address: click the search icon in the upper left corner of the map. Next, type an address in the searchbar to locate a specific property.

Expand/Exit Full Screen: click the double-arrow icon in the upper right corner of the map

Navigate Map: click and drag with a mouse (PC) or slide with your finger (mobile)

Zoom In/Out: click the + and - icons in the lower right corner OR use the scroll wheel on a mouse (PC) OR pinch-to-zoom in and out (mobile)

Return to Area Boundary: click the home icon in the lower right corner of the map

LOCATION

The city of Athens was established in 1785 as the location of a university. The Newtown neighborhood is located in the west quadrant of Athens, north of Downtown, with the boundaries of Barber Street to the west, the Bobby Snipes Water Resource Center to the north, and the railroad to the east and south. Situated along the Oconee River, Athens grew to be a center for the textile industry as cotton was readily available from the neighboring plantations. The city developed in industry with several mills and manufacturing companies. Athens was also an economic center for Black people in the region, having the largest concentration of Black businesses, including lawyers, doctors, and dentists, as well as merchants and entertainment venues.

The name “Newtown” can be traced back to the late 1800s, the beginning of the neighborhood, and is exhibited in Athens City Directories and Maps and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.  

INDUSTRY

Several of the industries adjacent to Newtown were established in the first ten years of the twentieth century. In 1913, the R. L. Moss Manufacturing Company, makers of sashes, doors, and windows was operating along the Southern Railroad line. Just west of the railroad tracks was the Gulf Refining Company. In 1893, the Athens Water Works was built along the Oconee River to provide clean water for the city. A new water treatment plant was built along the North Oconee River starting in 1935 as an upgrade, abandoning the original plant. Standard Oil Company developed west of the railroad tracks along Standard Oil Road.

Formation of the Newtown neighborhood began in the first two decades of the twentieth century with the neighborhood well populated by 1926. In Newtown’s early years, the neighborhood contained three landmark structures, two churches and a school. Dorsey Tabernacle Baptist Church, also simply referred to as Newtown Baptist Church, was established in 1889. The church, originally located on Savannah Avenue at the corner of Cleveland Avenue, relocated to 135 Mulberry Street in 1974. The second church in the Newtown neighborhood was St. John’s A.M.E Church on Stephens Street near Atlanta Avenue. St. John’s, no longer extant by 1967, still owns the parcel on which the church was situated.

Following the Civil War and emancipation, Athens became a center for secondary black education signaling the emergence of a significant black middle class. In Athens there were several prominent schools for African Americans including The Knox School, later renamed the Knox Institute, the Methodist School, and Jeruel Academy. The Knox Institute, which opened in 1868, was the first school for blacks in Athens. By 1913, Knox Institute covered 12 grades and offered music and domestic science classes in addition to the typical curriculum. The great success of this school lead to the establishment of others around Athens.

The Newtown Grammar School was built in 1911-1912 as a four-room grade school with 17 teachers. The Newtown School, a public school for Athens’s black children, was built because the other public black schools had become overcrowded.

The first houses in Newtown were built along Cleveland Avenue, west of the railroad, as well as along Pulaski, Tibbetts, and Kendene Streets. The neighborhood expanded north populating, Atlanta, Athens, Macon, Savannah (previously Atlantic) Avenues, and Stevens and Barber Streets. The 1920-1921 Athens City Directory lists the residents of the Newtown neighborhood by street and details which houses were occupied by Black individuals and families. Nearly all the houses on Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, and Cleveland Avenues were occupied by Black residents. 

The Newtown neighborhood is now home to a broader demography of Athens residents of all races — including young couples with children, single people, and students of the University of Georgia. Though the neighborhood has evolved from its origins as a predominantly Black residential neighborhood, its architectural resources reflect its history, demonstrated through the numerous working-class homes and public housing sites. Newtown is primarily residential but does include some commercial resources including Marmalade Pottery/Southern Star Studio, Hurley Funeral Home & Cremarions Services (previously Newtown Grammar School), and Athens Area Homeless Shelter. Gilree Upholstry, located on Pulaski Street, is a Black-owned business that has been a staple of the Newtown neighborhood for decades.

Newtown is one of many prized Athens neighborhoods celebrated for its cultural and architectural significance, and beloved by its current residents.

FindIt documented a total of 152 historic buildings within the Newtown neighborhood, with the majority constructed between 1910 and 1929. These resources are predominately single-family residential structures, with a few public housing units.

The residential building types and architectural styles found in Newtown are typical of the early to mid-twentieth century resources that are commonly found in communities of the Southeastern United States. “Building type” refers to the overall form of the building as well as the general layout of the interior rooms. “Architectural Style” is the decoration or ornamentation that has been put on a house, and often reflects the needs and tastes of a particular time and a place.

The building types in Newtown are varied, but the two most represented building types are the Saddlebag and the Gabled Ell Cottage. Saddlebags represent 13.8% of the houses in Newtown and Gabled Ell Cottages 11.8%. Architectural styles found in Newtown include Craftsman and Folk Victorian. While the survey team identified many of the houses as having “No Academic Style”, it should be noted that this means the building is historic but does not exhibit characteristics or elements of an “academic style” of architecture and is considered a vernacular representation.

Many buildings in Newtown exhibit some form of historic integrity issues. Many of the pre-World War II buildings have undergone significant alterations, including additions, porch removal or enclosure, synthetic siding, as well as window or door replacement. These alterations often affect the design, materials, or workmanship of the particular resource, which invariably negatively affect the historic feeling and significance. Furthermore, the alterations must be assessed when determining the authenticity or integrity of a historic structure during the National Register of Historic Places nomination process.

Despite these issues Newtown still has the ability to demonstrate its history through its historic resources and built environment. The Newtown neighborhood is worthy of more robust research to address the cultural and social history of Black Athenians, particularly the community that built this neighborhood. Digging deeper into this history is a valuable and necessary pursuit in order to inspire increased education, advocacy, and protection. 

Most Colonial Revival buildings are symmetrical. A central entranceway is elaborated with a pediment supported by pilasters or columns. The use of broken pediments, fanlights and sidelights is common. Classical cornices with dentils or modillions are usually present. The roof may be hipped or side-gabled with dormers. Windows have double-hung sashes, usually with six-over-six or nine-over-nine panes. Walls are of masonry, masonry-veneer or wood.

The Craftsman house has a low-pitched roof giving a generally horizontal effect. The widely over-hanging eaves are open with exposed rafters. Large gables have decora-tive brackets or braces at the eaves and roof dormers are common. Porches have short square columns set on heavy masonry piers extending to the ground. Craftsman houses are most often asymmetrical with a generally open and functional plan.

Folk Victorian houses were built across Georgia as simple house forms with Victorian-era decorative detailing such as jigsaw woodworks including brackets, spindlework and gingerbread trim. Popular during the mid to late 19th century, features were borrowed from elaborate styles like Queen Anne or Italianate added onto places like porches and roof gables

A property evaluated as ‘No Academic Style,’ contains no elements of High Style architecture, and is considered a vernacular representation. Residential and commercial structures may have elements of ‘High Style’ architecture but not enough to be considered a ‘High Style’ example.

This is the signature Ranch House style for Georgia. It is typically represented by the red brick Ranch House that visually emphasizes the fundamentals of form, roofline, and window openings.

Buildings with ‘unknown’ architectural style may be representational architecture or architecture parlant which have elements or features that allude to classical styles, but which do not prescribe to any particular ‘high’ or vernacular style. An ‘unknown’ may also be obscured by vegetation or construction materials and require further investigation.

The full FindIt Newtown report is available  here .  FindIt  is sponsored by the Georgia Transmission Corporation in partnership with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs-Historic Preservation Division, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Information Technology Outreach Services at UGA's Carl Vinson Institute of Government. A Georgia Historic Resources survey form was completed for each property over 40 years old. The information collected by the field survey was entered into Georgia’s Natural, Archaeological, Historic Resources Geographic Information Systems (GNAHRGIS) database under survey ID 2395, “FindIt Clarke County,” and can be accessed at:  https://www.gnahrgis.org/ .