292 Moreland Ave NE
Atlanta, GA, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Victor H. Kriegshaber House (The Wrecking Bar;Atlanta Art and Glass Supply)

Statement of Significance:

292 Moreland Avenue is historically significant for its association with Victor Hugo Kriegshaber, the original owner who commissioned this house to be built just before 1900 and who lived there until 1924. Kriegshaber was a leader in the cultural and commercial development of Atlanta during the first third of this century. The Kriegshaber residence is also a fine example of architect Willis F. Denny's work. Denny practiced only a few years in Atlanta before his early death, but managed to design many of the city's most pretentious public and private structures before 1905. Stylistically, the house is a noteworthy transitional statement combining late Victorian and eclectic details.

Some mention should be made of the last two owners of significance. Jack Rand owned the house from 1940 to 1970 and also held a dancing school there until 1964 and is responsible for many renovations and alterations described in Section Seven. He purchased the house from Hugh Holmes, who ran the house as the Centenary Methodist Protestant Church from 1929 to 1940, and sold the house to Wilma Stone who now operates a retail outlet for American and Euro- pean architectural antiques. Mrs. Stone and her partners have made further alterations to accommodate a vast collection of chimneypieces, columns, capitals, some furniture and other architectural leftovers from destroyed buildings. The Kriegshaber residence is now called The Wrecking Bar. The Atlanta Art and Glass Company, featuring stained- and leaded-glass designs, operates out of the basement.

The historical significance of the Kriegshaber residence is limited to its earliest owner, who occupied the house between 1900 and 1924. Victor Hugo Kriegshaber was born in 1859 to Prussian immigrants living in Louisville, Kentucky. He did not make his home in Atlanta until 1889, when he left his civil engineer's position with the Central of Georgia Railway to become a contractor and soon after president for 43 years of his own building materials supply company. Nine years after his arrival in Atlanta, Kriegshaber was able to afford his elegant showplace on the periphery of Inman Park. He served in executive positions for countless business, civic, philanthropic and cultural organizations. His "kudos" include: president of the Jewish Charities and of the Jewish Educational Alliance, founder and president of the Atlanta Terra Cotta Company, vice president of the National Builder's Supply Association. Kriegshaber was also director of the local council of Boy Scouts of America and president of the Hebrew Orphan's Home. He was instrumental in bringing Emory University to Atlanta. As president of the Atlanta Music Festival Association, Kriegshaber brought singers from the Metropolitan Opera, and the Met now brings seven full operas each year to Atlanta. His belief in the ability of local musicians and choristers led to the establishment of the Atlanta Philharmonic Society, of which he remained president until his death in 1934. Today, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra continues a tradition that this prominent Atlantan began 65 years ago. For its association with V.H. Kriegshaber and the impact he wielded on growing Atlanta, 292 Moreland Avenue is historically highly significant on a local level.

The second figure of significance associated with the house is its architect, Willis Franklin Denny. Educated at Mercer and Cornell, Denny was only 26 years old when he designed the Kriegshaber residence. Five years later, he died of complications from a severe cold. Nonetheless, in his short ten- ure as an Atlanta architect, Denny completed many of Atlanta's grand hotels, churches and private residences. Most of these are still standing, and one, the A.G. Rhoades residence, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The others include the magnificent Piedmont and Majestic hotels, the First Methodist Church, the Hebrew Synagogue, St. Mark's Methodist Church, and the Fleming G. duBignon mansion. He was also architect of his hometown courthouse in Louisville, Georgia. Denny married Miss Gertrude Elizabeth Moreland in 1895, and according to Jack Rand, lived next door to the Krieg- shabers in what is now the Bass High School Recreation Hall. The house is a spacious two-story wooden-frame structure with second-story porches flanked by columns reaching the full height of the front elevation's portico. After Denny's death in 1905, his widow and her sister remained in the house and were neighbors of Jack Rand, who asserts that Moreland Avenue was named for the Moreland family.

The adjacent Inman Park, now listed on the National Register, is famous not only for its fine examples of Victorian architecture, but also for the prominent Atlantans who lived there, including Joel Hurt and others, who is helped build this first suburb of Atlanta.

From 1929 to 1940, Hugh Holmes operated the Centenary Methodist Protes- tant Church in this structure. It was owned from 1940 to 1970 by Jack Rand, who held a dancing school here until 1964. Bought by Wilma Stone in 1970, it is now operated as a retail outlet for architectural antiques.

Due to its association with V.H. Kriegshaber, an important figure in the turn-of-the-century development of Atlanta, and architect Willis F. Denny, the structure is of historical significance to the area.