Col. William McKinley House - Barrowville, Milledgeville Georgia

Date added: July 23, 2023 Categories: Georgia House Plantations & Farms Gothic Revival

The significance of McKinley House is primarily architectural. It is a pure example of a Downing Gothic-style cottage and has remained in the hands of family of the original owner. It has been preserved practically unaltered since its construction. A second area of significance stems from the plantation records kept by Col. McKinley concerning the agriculture and weather of the region in the late 1850s, making this site most interesting from the standpoint of American civilization and agriculture.

The McKinley House is a Gothic-style cottage which, with minor modifications, was directly adapted from Plate XXVI, "A Country-House in the Pointed Style" described in A. J. Downing's The Architecture of Country Houses, which was published in 1850. Col. McKinley owned this book which is still in the library of the McKinley House, with Plate 26 removed.

On July 27th, 1858, William McKinley laid the cornerstone for his new brick house, made of bricks kilned by McKinley at a brickyard he set up for this purpose. The house was to be called Barrowville, named for his first wife, Patience Barrow. The brick walls began to go up on September 6th, 1858. Masons began the second story two months later on November 1^st. The house was completed shortly after the new year 1859. Col. McKinley kept a detailed record of the construction of the house.

Among the family papers in the library of the house is a bid for the construction of the house by one "Demarest." He was probably the carpenter for the house, as in 1856-57 Demarest, Alling and Company were paid for carpentry work on the Central Building, State Lunatic Asylum (Powell Building, Central State Hospital), and in 1857-58 Demarest, Baldwin and Company were paid for carpentry work on the same. From the bid and subsequent adjustments, it appears that brackets were eliminated from the piazza and that a lookout in the original plan ("Platform on top, rail and scuttle-latter") were also eliminated for economic reasons.

Other notations by McKinley that "Mullaly and two men began to blast rock for my house" and "Rock mason, Mullaly and Keough finished basement of my house" probably refer to Mr. Mullally of Hancock County, a bricklayer who bid on the erection of a wall at the State Lunatic Asylum in 1858-59.

Col. William McKinley was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, on November 30th, 1809. He moved with his parents, while still a child, to Georgia. He graduated with honors from Franklin College (now the University of Georgia) and studied law under Judge Joseph Henry Lumpkin. In 1835, he was elected to the legislature from Oglethorpe County. He married Miss Patience Barrow in Milledgeville in 1836 and they made their home in Lexington until she died in 1847.

Col. McKinley then married Mrs. L. Anne Sims, a widow. They moved to Baldwin County in 1850 and lived in a house known as "Beulah". Col. McKinley then built "Barrowville."

In addition to law, Col. McKinley was very interested in agriculture and experimental farming. He possessed a fine library which included books on architecture and landscaping.

His title, colonel, derived from the Civil War when he served in the Governor's Horse Guards. At the time of Sherman's March to the Sea, Barrowville was made headquarters of a Federal encampment. Col. McKinley made notes of this time which are still in his library.

Col. McKinley died on May 2^nd, 1878.

Building Description

The porch is constructed of wood and is pierced by two arches on either side of the central section and an arch on each end of the porch. The porch columns are square and connected by a wood porch railing. Two floor-length windows, evenly spaced, with 6/9 lights, flank either side of the entryway. The main door has rectangular sidelights and a transom above. It enframes a double door, three panels to a side.

The fenestration of the second story, south facade, consists of double windows centered in the elevation on either side of the projecting central portion. These windows are smaller than any of the others in the house, having 4/4 lights in each section. A pair of doors with diamond-shaped panes of glass, set in a brick arch, open onto a balcony projecting from the central portion. The balcony railing is of the type produced by Wickersham's New York Wire Railing Works and may possibly have been made by him as he was working in Georgia and Milledgeville at the time of the construction of the McKinley House.

A circular window is centered in the gable end of the central projecting portion. The gable end itself is ornamented by an intricately carved verge board.

The chimneys are double and set on the ridge of the roof, a pair on the east section of the ridge and a pair on the west section. They are made of brick, of square plan and set square on their bases.

The roof is shingled in diamond-shaped shingles. The gutter is formed as the outside of the projecting eaves and is made of copper.

Originally called for in the plans was a parapet surrounding a narrow walk on the roof, probably like that in Design # 24 "A Cottage Villa in the Rural Gothic Style" from the same book, from which the plan for the McKinley House was taken. This parapet along with brackets was eliminated as an economy measure.

As expressed by Downing himself, it is "The combination of the aspiring lines of the roof with the horizontal lines of the veranda, which expresses picturesqueness and domesticity very successfully". The bold manner in which the chimney tops spring upward from the roof also reinforce the contrast between horizontal and vertical members.

The rear or north elevation also has a projecting central gabled section. This is entered not on center but from a porch on the east side. This porch wraps around the corner of the house. To the west of the central projecting room is an enclosed addition, now used as a kitchen. The present owner is of the opinion that this addition is quite early if not contemporary with the construction of the house.

In the rear gable end, first story, is a triple window, the central section of which has 9/9 lights, with a single line of side lights on each side.

The five windows of the second story, rear facade, have 6/6 lights and are evenly spaced. Over the windows in the projecting portion are brick dripstone caps or labels as Downing calls them. These were not specified in the original plans in which Downing is explicit that the only "label" should be over the front door.

Downing's description of the design is as follows: "A Sensible solid, unpretending country house, with an air of substantial comfort and refinement, not overpowered by architectural style, but indicating intelligent, domestic life in the country, such is the character we have endeavored to express in the exterior and interior of this design. The symmetry and proportion which characterize the exterior express love of balance, while the solidity of all the ornamental parts denotes the love of the substantial, etc., which belong to the sensible mind."

The main entrance hall is unoccupied by stairs. It therefore becomes an additional room, connected to the library by sliding doors. The position of the triple window at the end of the library lights the hall and creates the effect of a central space running the entire length of the house, front to back. The effect of the hall size is also increased by the use of sliding doors between the hall and the two front rooms. The interior trim of the windows and doors, both fixed and sliding, is a battered, Greek Ear enframement. All the fireplaces on the first floor have a similar enframement. The doors were stained a rich dark color, almost black. Some of the staining has been removed revealing white pine.

In the west front room, the ceiling is formed by two inclined planes. This ceiling is traversed-by ribs. The effect is not only airy but also emphasizes a feeling of verticality. The east front room has a modified, more simple, version of the same treatment.

A door near the back of the entrance hall leads to the dining room or middle west room. From this room, a door leads to the west rear room, or kitchen, which corresponds in position to a porch on the east rear end of the house. As do the front rooms, this room has a fireplace with enframement as described previously.

Opposite the door to the dining room is a door to an enclosed stairhall leading to the second floor. The second-floor plan consists of five rooms and entry from the stairhall.

The fireplaces upstairs are framed with a simple horizontal jamb supported by rectangular side jambs.

Behind the McKinley House is the original smokehouse. This is a one-story building with central gable-roofed pavilion and two flat-roofed side wings. It has vertical board siding recommended by Downing for farm buildings. Opposite this smokehouse is the cottage in which Col. McKinley lived while supervising the construction of the house. This is a simple one-story cottage with a shed porch and central chimney. There is a basement on the south end of the cottage.