Abandoned Hotel Reidsville GA

Alexander Hotel, Reidsville Georgia

Date added: August 01, 2023 Categories: Georgia Hotel

The Alexander Hotel is the best remaining example of a Victorian Eclectic style building in Reidsville, where, during the 1890s, many structures were built in this style. It is one of the few small-town hotels, designed in the Victorian Eclectic style remaining in the state. The basically simple building with irregular floor plan and exterior wood decoration is typical of this style as interpreted by small-town builder/architects. The Alexander Hotel is particularly important because of the quality and abundance of its decorative trim which includes cut wood shingles in the gables and turned columns, sawn work and spindle work on the porches and balconies. The hotel was designed and built by D. J. Nobles, a "master carpenter" from nearby Hagan, in Evans County. Nobles is known to have designed over twenty extant buildings in Hagan and as many more in the surrounding area.

His residential work is typified by his lavish use of decorative wood trim on exterior porches and by his extensive use of tongue-and-groove boarding for interior finish work.

The building served a dual function as residence of the Alexander family and as small town hotel, a combination that seems quite common for the period. The Alexander Hotel was completed in 1892, the same year Reidsville, because of its central location, was named the new county seat of Tattnall County. It is probably the oldest remaining commercial building in the town. The hotel was the grandest of several such hotels built in Reidsville during the 1890s, a period of rapid growth for the town. It is the only one surviving. The proximity of the Alexander Hotel to the Courthouse, and the modern conveniences provided by the Alexanders made it the most popular in town. The building was the first in Tattnall County to have electricity (provided by a Delco Plant in the yard) and a telephone. The living room and dining room were the largest in town and made the hotel a popular meeting place for clubs and private parties. Judges and lawyers from as far away as Atlanta stayed there when in Reidsville for court week.

By the 1930s, when the hotel passed into the hands of the Alexander's daughter and her husband, Judge and Mrs. D. L. Stanfield, the pervasive use of the automobile had all but eliminated the need for hotel room space in Reidsville.

In addition to serving as their residence and the judge's office, the house was run by the Stanfield's as an apartment house for unmarried teachers who worked at the school which adjoined the property.

Dr. Orlando L. Alexander, the hotels original owner, was a locally prominent physician, trained at Johns Hopkins University, who in 1905 was appointed a delegate to serve on a state-wide medical conference.

It was his wife Emma who urged him to build the combined residence-hotel and who managed the hotel.

Building Description

The Alexander Hotel, built in 1892, is a two-story wood frame Victorian structure with two twentieth-century additions. It sits on an eleven-acre property on West Brazell Street in the center of Reidsville, Tattnall County, Georgia. Six historic outbuildings, including a barn, tool shed, servant quarters, storage building, chicken coop, and flower pit are located near the hotel.

The Alexander Hotel is a gable-roofed, wood-frame building that rests on brick piers. The original 1892 structure is a long rectangular building paralleling Brazell Street with a wing that extends forward near the northeast end. Two-story "L" shaped porches flank both sides of this wing and the long axis of the hotel. The main entrance, a door flanked by rectangular side lights and overlights, is located on the southeast porch. In the 1920s a second wing, also with a two-story porch, was added to the northwest side. In the 1930's the first floor of the porch along the southwest side was enclosed and extended outward to create more enclosed interior space. The original structure and the 1920s wing are sheathed with German or novelty siding; the 1930s addition has simple weatherboarding. Three interior chimneys rise through the original structure and a fourth exterior chimney is located on the west wall of the 1920s wing. In the 1892 section, the two-over-two windows and the doors are capped with pediment-like moldings.

The basically plain-style building is embellished with a number of decorative elements which give it a Victorian "gingerbread" character. The main roof covering is pressed metal shingles. Two gable ends in the 1892 section have decorative cut shingles and turned brackets under the eaves. The 1892 porches and two hooded balconies on the first-floor feature elaborate jig-saw and spindle work in the frieze area; turned, bracketed columns; and railing with turned balusters and a handrail with decorative cutouts. The balcony hoods are crowned with additional spindle work, and the effect is lacy and decorative. Considering the general state of the building, the trim is remarkably well preserved, but many areas have some damage.

The hotel has an irregular floor plan. In the 1892 portion of the building the first floor includes a foyer with a stairway, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and two bedrooms. The second floor has four small "guest" bedrooms and three larger ones. The 1920s addition has an office, a small foyer and a bathroom on the first floor, a kitchen area, a foyer, and another small room on the second. Interior finish details are simple. Walls and ceilings in the 1892 portion of the building are sheathed with beaded tongue and groove boards, laid diagonally below a wide chair rail and vertically above. The same wide, beaded molding with patera blocks is used for the downstairs chair rail, most window and door surrounds and many mantel elements.

Six historic outbuildings are located near the hotel. To the west is a tool shed/storehouse, servant quarters, and hen house, all in very dilapidated condition. The gable-roofed frame tool shed/storehouse has a dog trot plan and is located on the site of a smokehouse. The servant quarters, which may have originally been a detached cookhouse, is a small frame structure sheathed with crude weatherboards and finished inside with tongue-and-groove boards. To the southwest of the hotel, close to Brazell Street, is a brick flower pit, originally glassed on three sides, with a door on the fourth, and with a sunken wood floor. Beyond the flower pit is a storage shed, completely covered with corrugated tin, and a small, wood-frame barn. The barn is open through the center, with animal stalls on one side, feed cribs on the other, and a hayloft above.

The Alexander Hotel property, once landscaped with flower and vegetable gardens, is now overgrown with vines, young trees, and brush, except in the immediate area of the hotel. A few flowering bulbs remain from beds that were scattered throughout the yard. Behind the 1920s wing were located a grape arbor, the family's large vegetable garden, and an even larger field for growing corn and peas. A white picket fence once separated the hotel from Brazell Street.

The Alexander Hotel property is located in the commercial area of downtown Reidsville. Immediately to the northeast, on the adjoining property, is the Tattnall County Courthouse, the County Jail, and several other small county office buildings. Across Brazell Street are an auto parts store, a gas station, and several office buildings. The terrain drops off suddenly on the north side into a swampy, overgrown area known as Buzzard Bay.