Augusta -- Phinizy House

Caption on verso. Postcard published by Cranford Club, 1926 // Post Cards of Quality, The Albertype Co., Brooklyn, N.Y. // Photo by Montell.

"The three story Georgian style home was built for his family residence in 1835 by John Phinizy, a wealthy Augusta merchant and businessman. The original home consisted of three floors with an oval two story porch and observatory on the west side of the building. The original home had an outside kitchen which was connected to the main house by a covered walkway, stables, and four smaller homes where the parking lot now sits. John Phinizy passed the home to his son Charles H. Phinizy, whose wife, Mary Lou remodeled the home in 1885, adding the Victorian interior features such as the parlor mantles, parquet floors, leather walls in the second floor entry hallway and beautiful leaded and stained glass windows. Mrs. Phinizy also had the fourth floor added, and during her declining years had a pulley-type elevator installed between the first and second floors, which was one of, if not, the first elevator, installed in a private residence in Augusta. In 1933, Miss Mary Lou Phinizy, the Phinizy's daughter sold the home to Henry W. Poteet and Edward Platt Grealish who used the home as a funeral home. In 1938, they sold the home to Augusta Lodge No. 205, B.P.O. of Elks. In 1949, the Elks added the two story wing on the west side of the building adding two large ballrooms. The home was used until the early 1990's by the Elks as their Club and Conference Center. In January 1996, William G. Hatcher, Sr., owner of MAU, Inc., began renovating the main floor of the building...During 1997, the Greene Street side of the original structure underwent a major facade renovation. Renovations will continue in and outside the building. " (Marion Hatcher Center, http://www.mhatchercenter.com/history, 2003)