Living downtown is pleasure and responsibility

The decay of historic downtown housing has become an issue important to the administration of Georgia College & State University.

GC&SU President Dorothy Leland has appointed Dr. Mark Pelton, dean of Extended University, Research and Graduate Services, to investigate ways the school can assure housing downtown is up to historic code.

“Some landlords do an excellent job of maintaining their rental homes and working to ensure that their tenants behave in a responsible manner. Others are less diligent,” Pelton said.

Pelton and his family have lived in a historic home since 1995. He said the upkeep can be a chore, but the long-term care of the downtown area is crucial to GC&SU’s historic offerings.

“GC&SU is a unique university as it is the only campus in Georgia that is completely located within a historic district that is on the National Register of Historic Places. This provides a wonderful teaching opportunity for students to learn about Georgia and local history, as well as civic responsibility,” Pelton said.

Paul Sedor, a GC&SU senior who lives in the historic district, blames the downtown historic society and their strict rules for many downtown housing maintenance issues.

“The historic society, in my opinion, makes it too expensive to renovate, so then slum lords come in and divide beautiful houses up for college students to live in,” Sedor said. “When they do this, they make no improvements, and the places get worse and worse, but they know that students will rent them.”

Expenses associated with working on a historic home can be great, considering the very specific guidelines laid out by the Georgia Historic Preservation division of the Department of Natural Resources. For instance, all historic fence lines must be maintained where they originally existed, and materials used in any restoration or renovation must be approved.

“Preservation of character-defining elements of historic buildings is a top priority,” the Georgia Historic Preservation guidelines state, “and alteration and repairs should accurately represent the historic qualities of the buildings. Original documentation therefore should be used for restoration work whenever possible. Where original documentation is not available, interpretations of similar elements that occurred in the area may be considered.”

Sedor’s apartment, located just above Downtown Hair Designs, was renovated a few years ago. He said he’s lucky to have such good landlords.

“The reason I take care of my place is because I like to live in a nice and clean environment. If I had rented some of the other places I was looking at, I would have fixed up the insides. Fortunately, my landlords have chosen to have a nice apartment and want it to stay that way,” Sedor said. “It was very nice when I moved in. The place has been kept in great condition, and it feels like home when I’m here. I’ve had other apartments, and they just don’t feel as much like home.”

Sedor said although the home is beautiful now, its history tells a darker side of downtown Milledgeville.

“The building used to be owned by a man named J. A. Mayfield. Downstairs was J. A. Mayfield Meat Market, now Downtown Hair Designs, and the upstairs was a whorehouse, now my apartment. In the upstairs, there were five bedrooms and a half-bath in the front for the men to wash up in. In the back, behind all the bedrooms, there was a community lounge, a small kitchen and a full-bathroom for the girls to share. So to visitors, all they saw was a long hallway with five bedroom doors and one bathroom door. For the restoration, they tore down all of the interior walls to make a common area and two larger bedrooms,” Sedor said.

Director of Experiential Learning and History Professor Dr. Robin Harris’ downtown home is filled with history as well.

“Our house belonged to the Myrick family. Susan Myrick, a long-time journalist for the Macon Telegraph & News, and famous for coaching “Gone With the Wind” actors with their Southern accents, was one of the daughters of the family. Her mother had a small private school in the house,” Harris said. “When you enter our front door, there is a large window frame that currently holds a mirror. The former window allowed Mrs. Myrick to entertain guests in the parlor while still keeping a close eye on her students studying in the room that currently has been sub-divided to become our pantry and laundry room.”

After passing on the house in 1979 due to financial reasons, Harris and her husband Don kept a close eye on their dream home. Finally, in 1997, they received a sign that meant they should own it.

“We always used to ride by [the house] and think about how nice it would be to live there. Then, in 1997, when it came up for sale again, my husband decided to call and see if we could possibly afford it. When the telephone number was the same as his birthday, he just knew it was meant to be this time!” Harris said.

Harris said when students move into a historic home that is not well maintained by its landlord, students are less likely to take good care of it.

“I think students often see historic houses as just old, particularly if the owners have not made sufficient efforts to restore and maintain the houses appropriately. If the owners don’t take care of their houses, why should student renters?” she said.

Harris said she and her husband have avoided any problems traditionally associated with living downtown: disruptive students and front-porch thefts. The greater problems, she said, are the sounds of city living.

“I know some people get upset with the noise, the traffic, etc., but we knew all that would go with choosing to live downtown. After all, the college has been here for over 100 years; you have to anticipate that some inconveniences go with picking a location so close to a college campus,” Harris said.

Even after spending nearly $20,000 in the structural repair to the foundation, and living in a home near a main thoroughfare, Harris speaks highly of life in historic downtown Milledgeville. Her vision of downtown living-one of a cooperative community of students and faculty-paints a portrait of small-town closeness.

“I would like to see the students and those living in the historic district get to know and appreciate one another,” Harris said. “I think that mutual partnerships could easily be developed. Students love home-cooked meals and people living downtown would often love to have some young people to help out with various tasks. Why can’t we establish a network that could benefit both parties? Isn’t that what a sense of community is all about?”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 25 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry