2238 Perkerson Road Southwest
Atlanta, GA, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Jeremiah S. Gilbert House (Gilbert House)

Statement of Significant:

The Jeremiah S. Gilbert House is significant to the architectural and local history of Atlanta. The Gilbert House is one of few structures in Southwest Atlanta of the Reconstruction era to survive urban growth. It reflects building techniques of Atlanta after the Civil War. Members of the Gilbert family were prominent members of Atlanta society.

The Gilbert House is significant to the architectural history of Atlanta. One of few structures of the Reconstruction era to survive twentieth-century development, the Gilbert House employs a distinctive form of building technology. Due to scarce building supplies, a loss in transportation and commerce, and the rapid rebuilding of Atlanta after the Civil War, Jeremiah Gilbert determined to build his house out of materials found on his farm. He constructed the exterior walls of fieldstone and a mortar-like substance of clay and sand. He constructed the walls in wooden forms twelve inches at a time until the "mortar" dried. This method was advocated by Orson S. Fowler in 1853 in The Octagon House: A Home for All. He says, "I should temper clay, just as I would to make brick, and then mingle in stones, large and small, with this clay, or else lay them in, as the clay is shoveled into the wall."

Another example of rural building techniques is found in the wooden lintels over the windows located in the screened porch on the rear of the house. Rough, irregular pieces of wood serve as the lintels. Fowler again stresses the use of materials found on the building site: "... any piece of timber, or stick of wood, even, thrown across the top, will serve every practical purpose." The Gilbert House serves as an example of how rural Georgians had to compensate due to the expense and scarcity of building supplies after the Civil War.

Jeremiah S. Gilbert (1839-1932) was the son of an early settler of Fulton County, William Gilbert (ca. 1807-1864). William was the first physician in Fulton County and served as a member of the Georgia General Assembly in 1843. Jeremiah's grandfather, Charner Humphries (1795-1855), owned and operated the first-known inn in the area, Whitehall. After acquiring 500 acres of land from his father on January 7, 1861, Jeremiah married Sarah Matilda Perkerson, an early settler of Fulton County and the county's second sheriff. The land had been previously owned by Jeremiah's grandfather, Charner Humphries. It is believed that the couple settled in a small log cabin, but it is not known who built the cabin or when it was built. In October, 1861, Gilbert enlisted in one of the first companies to organize in Georgia to defend the Confederacy, the Third Regiment Georgia State Troops. Serving the duration of the war, Gilbert returned to Atlanta to find his home destroyed by Union troops. This is when he began the construction of the house that exists today. He established and operated a farm on the property surrounding the farmhouse. A successful farmer, Gilbert contributed to the growth of the developing community, and on many occasions related stories of Reconstruction in Atlanta to historians and interested neighbors. His recollections have proven invaluable concerning the growth of Atlanta during several periods of history.

After Jeremiah Gilbert's death in 1932, the farmhouse and surrounding property were willed to his daughter, Annie Belle, a school teacher. Annie Belle and Gussie, her sister, continued to live in the farmhouse until 1968. Jeremi- ah's sons, William, Hugh, and Jeremiah Otis, visited their birthplace often. William was a prominent surgeon and physician in Atlanta, while Jeremiah Otis practiced dentistry in Atlanta, also. Hugh served as the tax assessor for Ful- ton County for twenty years. The property remained in the Gilbert family until the City of Atlanta purchased the property from Jeremiah's granddaughters in 1971. The house has remained vacant since that time. The City of Atlanta utilizes a portion of the land as Avery Park, a neighborhood recreational area.
No formal archaeology has been reported for the Jeremiah S. Gilbert House. An archaeological report would be useful in determining developmental periods of the Gilbert family property as well as information concerning activities that occurred on the Gilbert property.