17 gorgeous Alabama mansions lost to history

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Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com

17 gorgeous Alabama mansions lost to history

BY KELLY KAZEK

After writing recently about some of the most beautiful buildings we’ve demolished in Alabama, some readers asked me about homes we’ve lost. I put together this list of 17 once-gorgeous mansions that are no longer standing, the victims of either demolition or fire. After the initial home, the unique Vestavia Estate, the houses are listed in alphabetical order.

READ MORE: "11 of the most beautiful buildings we've demolished in Alabama"

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(Source: Bham Wiki)

1. Vestavia Estate, ca. 1920s, Birmingham

This unusual circular home in Birmingham was inspired by a Roman Temple. Called Vestavia, it was built atop Shades Mountain by Dr. George Ward in the 1920s as a country house. Vestavia was 70 feet high and 186 feet in circumference and featured "20 columns, each 9 feet in circumference, according to Bham Wiki. It was the centerpiece of a 20-acre estate that included gardens and a replica of the Sybil Temple. The area surrounding the site of the estate is now called Vestavia Hills and is marked by Ward's Sybil Temple, which was relocated to a hill along U.S. Highway 31."

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(Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Ward, a former mayor of Birmingham, intended his temple replica on the property as his mausoleum but when he died in 1940, a city ordinance prevented his burial on the grounds so he was interred in Elmwood Cemetery. The property was sold to Vestavia Hills Baptist Church in 1958 and for a time acted as part of the church. The unique building was demolished in the late 1960s.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

2. Bestor House, 1882, Mobile

The home built in 1882 in Mobile by attorney Daniel Perrin Bestor Jr. was known for its detailed iron work. The brick mansion was located on the northeast corner of Government and Joachim streets. It has a decorative tower on the third floor. It was demolished in the 1930s.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

Another view of the Bestor House in Mobile.

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(Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History)

3. Crocheron Mansion, 1847, Dallas County

A mansion built by Richard Conner Crocheron was located in Cahaba, the state's first capital city, now known as Old Cahawba Archaeological site. The home, built in 1847, burned in the early 1900s, leaving some of the columns, called the "Crocheron Columns." The columns likely survived because they were made of custom-shaped bricks, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, and could not be used to build other structures. Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forest and Union Gen. James Wilson discussed an exchange of prisoners captured during the Battle of Selma at the house, according to ExploreSouthernHistory.com.

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(AL.com File Photo

The ruins of the Crocheron Mansion in Cahaba.

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(Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History)

4. Dicksonia Plantation, c. 1830, Lowndesboro

Construction of Dicksonia Plantation was begun in 1830 by David White. It was built as a one-story home but it was extensively remodeled in 1856 by its second owner Wiley Turner. That home, built of wood, burned in 1939 and was replaced by near-replica thought to be fireproof. The home made of cast-concrete and steel was completed 1940 but it also burned in 1964. See photos of its ruins, which are on private property, at AlabamaHeritage.com.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

5. Emanuel Mansion, 1836, Mobile

The home of Jonathan Emanuel was built in 1836 at 251 Government St. in Mobile. According to the Facebook page Historic Photographs of Southwest Alabama, the three-story, Greek Revival-style mansion was designed by James Gallier, “the famous architect who was designing many of Mobile's structures at this time. Architectural scholars consider it to have been one of Alabama's "most outstanding early urban residences.” The home was demolished in 1936. The site is now occupied by the Admiral Semmes Hotel.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

Inside Emanuel Mansion in Mobile.

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(Source: Photos of Rural Southwest Alabama Facebook page)

6. Forest Hall, 1857, Marion

Forest Hall was built in 1857 in Perry County and burned in the early 1900s. According to the Facebook page Historic Photos of Southwest Alabama, "This grand two-story Italianate style mansion, with a four-story tower, was built by Leonidas N. Walthall. Walthall was the brother-in-law of Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, builder of Kenworthy Hall. It stood near Kenworthy Hall, across the road on a hill on the south side of Alabama Highway 14/Green Street."

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

7. Forks of Cypress, 1830, Florence

The Greek Revival mansion called Forks of Cypress was designed by architect William Nichols for James and Sally Moore Jackson. Completed in 1830, the home was the only Greek Revival house in Alabama to feature a two-story colonnade around all four sides that was composed of 24 columns. The Lauderdale County home was struck by lightning and burned in 1966. Today, only the columns remain and they are located on private property. The owners allow tours by appointment.

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(Source: Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress)

Ruins of Forks of Cypress today.

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(Photo of The Grove edited to remove aging/Huntsville-Madison County Public Library)

8. The Grove, c. 1815, Huntsville

The Grove was built in Madison County as early as 1815 by Huntsville founder Leroy Pope, according to historian Henry Turner. The mansion on the corner of Gallatin and Williams streets was the largest home in the state when it was completed. Originally, the estate encompassed 33 acres. It was owned by Gen. Bartley Martin Lowe, a cotton broker and bank president known as the "merchant prince" of Huntsville from 1839-1844.  Local historian Jacque Reeves said The Grove was dismantled in the 1920s because "descendants could no longer afford to maintain it and they could not stand to see anyone else live in it." The property was still owned by descendants until the 1970s when it was sold to the Huntsville housing Authority. The Grove was the first residence Gen. Ormsby Mitchell took over when his troops occupied Huntsville during the Civil War.

 READ MORE: Relic of The Grove discovered by Huntsville historian.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

9. Dr. William Hughes home, 1845, Aliceville

According to the Wikipedia page "List of Plantations in Alabama," this home was built from 1845–50, and featured elaborate plaster work on its interior. The Pickens County home was demolished in 1939. It is shown here in the mid-1930s.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

Stairway in the William Hughes Home in Aliceville.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

10. Kirkpatrick House, pre-Civil War, Old Cahawba

The antebellum Kirkpatrick home in Old Cahawba or Cahaba, burned in 1935. Its date of construction is unclear but the site director, Linda Derry, said it was shortly before the Civil War. A two-story slave quarters built by the Kirkpatricks is still standing. The Dallas County town of Cahaba was Alabama's capital from 1820-1826 but became a ghost town not long after the Civil War. It is now Old Cahawba Archaeological Park.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

Interior of the Kirkpatrick House.

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(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

11. McGill-Chandler House, ca. 1850, Mobile

The McGill-Chandler House was built in ca. 1850 on Government Street in Mobile, between Jackson and Joachim streets. It would be used in the late 1800s as Catholic boys school called McGill Institute. It was demolished in 1953 to make room for the Admiral Semmes Motor Hotel, which was also later demolished. The site is now a parking lot.

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(Source: History Museum of Mobile)

The McGill-Chandler House was the childhood home of Florence "Florie" Chandler Maybrick, the wife of a man once identified, but never confirmed, as Jack the Ripper. Instead, Florie would be the one convicted of murder. In the late 1880s, Florie was sent to prison for murdering her husband James Maybrick in London, although many thought she was convicted unfairly. Five decades after her death in 1941, a man purported to possess a diary that identified James Maybrick as Jack the Ripper, a much-contested theory. Click here to read the full story.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

12. Mount Ida, 1840, Talladega

Construction on Mount Ida was begun in 1840 by wealthy planter Walker Reynolds. The mansion was struck by lightning and burned in 1956 but portions of its brick-and-plaster columns remain.

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(Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History)

13. Perine Mansion, c. 1852, Old Chawba

Originally built as a cotton factory in about 1852, the massive building was converted to a home by E.M. Perine, a New York merchant related to the Crocheron family. According to the website CivilWarAlbum,com, the home had the plentiful artesian water from a nearby well pumped through pipes installed in the walls of the house, cooling it in the summer months.

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(Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Another view of the Perine Mansion.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

14. Pollard Mansion, 1853, Montgomery

The Charles Teed Pollard house was built in 1853 on Jefferson Street in Montgomery. It was destroyed in 1938.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

15. Price-Eddins-Rosenau House, 1833, Tuscaloosa

Price-Eddins-Rosenau House was located at 919 Greensboro Ave. in Tuscaloosa. It was built in 1833 and demolished in 1954.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

16. Rocky Hill Castle, c. 1858, Town Creek

Rocky Hill Castle, an Italianate mansion complete with a free-standing six-story Gothic tower, was built by James Edmonds Saunders between Courtland and Town Creek in Lawrence County. The tower may have been used to house slaves and then servants. The home was used as a Confederate hospital during the Civil War and is the subject of numerous ghost tales, including one recorded in Kathryn Tucker Windham's "13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey." Postcards were created showing a photo and inscribed "Haunted Castle." In 1961, the home had to be demolished after years of neglect had led it to deteriorate.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

17. Umbria Plantation, c. 1830, Sawyerville

Umbria Plantation was built in Hale County about 1830 by Samuel Pickens, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. It was destroyed by fire in 1973.

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(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)

Interior of Umbria Plantation.

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