2006 Tour Homes

441 North Peachtree Street – The Nesbit House
632 Sunset Drive – The Beutell Farm
633 Sunset Drive – The Manton House
62 South Barton Street – The Johnson House
659 South Peachtree Street – The Nash House

441 North Peachtree Street – The Nesbit House

Many Norcross families had ties to the railroad, and the Nesbit family’s were exceptionally close. Joseph Nesbit, the original owner of this house, was a conductor for the Southern Railway. His parents were also in the transportation business, as they owned the Nesbit Ferry, which for many years transported travelers across the Chattahoochee River. Around 1904, Joseph Nesbit had this house built on a two-acre tract of land with lumber cut in Milton County (now North Fulton County) and had it fashioned in the classic Carpenter Gothic style.

Joseph and his wife, Minnie, had five children and were well known for their entertaining. Whenever Minnie Nesbit made a new dress, she and her husband had a party so that she could show it off. Consequently, many parties were held in this grand house, and the owners and their guests used the large center hallway for dancing.

When you see this lovely house you will find it hard to believe that at one time its interior had been chopped up into four apartment units that were rented by the week. When Gary and Ida Cobb bought the house in 1976, Norcross was undergoing its first renaissance wave, with newcomers buying older homes and rehabilitating them. The Cobbs worked tirelessly to return the house to its original state and undertook such projects as replacing the knob-and-tube wiring, closing off the back hallway to install a bathroom, rebuilding the two chimneys, reconstructing the widow’s walk, and turning the house back into a single-family dwelling. Sometimes house projects provide unexpected surprises, as when the Cobbs were fixing the windows in the master bedroom. When they pulled away the moulding around the second window they found, within the wall, a drawing of a rooster signed by Reps Miller, dated 1926. Reps, a carpenter who worked on many houses in the city, had been hired by the Nesbits to install a second window in the master bedroom. He placed this hidden treasure in the wall, and fifty or so years later the Cobbs, much to their delight, discovered it.

When Sean and Coleen Matthews bought the house six years ago, they became only the fourth owners in its 102-year existence. Although the house still needed some updates, they immediately fell in love with it. As this is Coleen’s first house, she has relied upon Sean’s vision and, coupled with her sense of style, the two have added their personal touches while respecting the understated elegance intended by the original owners.

Enter through the large front door into the inviting wide central hallway. Once inside, one cannot help but notice the many original architectural elements that make this house so interesting. Look to the back of the hallway where the large newel posts grace the staircase. After attempting to strip the many layers of paint off the stairs and posts, the Matthews opted for a simple, dramatic effect by painting the newel posts and stairs black, accented with white trim. As you alight to the second floor, directly in front of you will be the widow’s walk that can be seen from North Peachtree Street – an architectural accent that has intrigued passersby for decades. The house’s eight original rooms are set off of the central hallways, both up and downstairs, and provide a sense of symmetry and order. Each room has its own fireplace (currently five of the eight are operational), and all of the mantels are original. Of particular interest is the tile detail around each fireplace, the unusual pattern in the wide doors found in each room, the heart-pine flooring throughout the house, and the original wide bead board that beautifully accents the newly updated kitchen. In each upstairs room, including the hallway, are the original tongue-and-groove ceilings. The Matthews have added other touches, including relocating the house’s claw foot tub to the guest bathroom, installing a natural chandelier in the formal dining room, and enclosing a screened porch to extend their kitchen.

You’ll enjoy seeing how a young family has balanced the old with the new to create a delightful living space that allows the natural beauty of this home’s original craftsmanship to blossom once again. The Nesbit house, as in yesteryear, is once again one of Norcross’ signature residences.

632 Sunset Drive – The Beutell Farm

It may be hard to believe, but this spacious house, with its mid-twentieth century exterior, actually began its life as a four-room cottage in the late 19th century, when Norcross was just a nascent railroad town. Although known to locals for many years as the Hughes House, this house is actually much older than when Thomas Hughes owned it and added on to it in the 1950s. We do know from court records that the land and possibly the house was owned in the 1930s by E. H. Dean, who sold in it in the 1940s to Mr. Robert Eldridge, who in turn sold it to Thomas Hughes in the 1950s. It wasn’t until recently, when people who had lived in the house as children in the 1920s contacted the current owners, that we were able to piece together more of this house’s story.

According to brother and sister Monroe Samples and Clois Samples Kirkpatrick, the Beutell family from Atlanta owned this house, and the 50-acre farm on which it was situated, in the 1920s. Like many southern landowners, they rented their land to tenant farmers. In the 1920s, Mark and Lessie Samples and their family occupied the house and worked its farm until the early days of the Great Depression. At that time, the house was a small four-room cottage with no indoor plumbing or heating. Monroe, the youngest in his family, recalled that they used to heat irons to warm their beds during winter nights and kept chamber pots under each bed. The two fireplaces and chimneys are original to the house and were, in the 1920s, its only source of heat. Back then, the front door faced the street. Where the parlor is now situated was the original master bedroom. Part of the current owners’ master bedroom had once been a room where the Samples’ five sons slept. The spiral staircase sits in the space formerly occupied by a third bedroom, and the English-style decorated den was the original kitchen. In those days, the Samples’ closest neighbor was to the northwest, across the “holler” and up on the next hill. Sunset Drive, then named Church Street and nicknamed “Holy Row,” ended at this house. By the 1930s, the Samples, like thousands of other southerners who had been dependent upon the land, migrated elsewhere to find steadier work.

By the mid twentieth-century, the Hughes family had purchased the house and increased its size to approximately 4,000 square feet. They also installed a swimming pool, one of the first within the city limits. Thomas Hughes was the owner of Norcross Lumber Supply Company, and he donated the lumber to build the gazebo in Thrasher Park. Mr. Hughes, Mr. Fickling, and Mr. Johnson were the primary landowners who initiated the Norcross Hills subdivision. After Mr. Hughes’ wife died, he subdivided the six acres on which this house sat and, in 1974, sold his house to Helen and Bob Baker, a Doraville couple who filled the house with their three sons and hosted lots of parties. B&W Automotive Sales in downtown Norcross was Bob Baker’s business and is still in operation today. After many happy years in this house, Helen Baker sold it in the late 1990s, and those owners sold the house to Noel and Kevin Kyle, the current owners.

Since purchasing the house, the Kyles have updated it by uncovering the 1950s wood flooring found throughout, expanding the back porch, adding a coffered ceiling in the den, straightening uneven walls, and rebuilding the den’s fireplace mantel. Although the original footprint of this house has been encircled by mid-twentieth century additions, the Kyles are proud of its heritage, and today their house resonates with a comfortable twenty-first century elegance that draws from its rich past.

Since the 1920s, this house has earned a reputation for being a happy home in which families are raised and friends are
welcome. The current owners are no exception, as they are raising their three young children here and extend southern
hospitality to all who visit. Step onto their grand back porch and you will feel as if you are at a country resort; once inside, you can’t help but be embraced by the warmth of this house that has been the genesis of so many families’ memories.

633 Sunset Drive – The Manton House

Norcross is such a charming city and desirable location that some have moved here and built new homes that look older, yet blend seamlessly with the historic landscape of the city.

The house that Jennifer and Blake Manton built in 2005 is a wonderful example of newer residential architecture that complements the existing historic housing that has been thoughtfully preserved throughout Norcross’ historic district. The exterior of this picturesque house is reminiscent of homes in historic Savannah. Once inside, the house’s architectural details and subtle yet colorful palette imbue visitors with a sense of timelessness, as the owners’ twentyfirst century sense of style and design have successfully combined stately architecture that recalls classic American craftsmanship.

As you enter this grand house you’ll see how a mixture of old and new have come together to create a warm and friendly, yet upscale living space for this young family. The wide, welcoming hallway in which you enter the house harkens back to the central hallway motif used in many late nineteenth and early-twentieth century American homes. To the left of this hallway is the formal dining room, in which craftsman-style windows and high ceilings evoke a feeling of yesteryear, yet the bold, colorful folk art and the antique heirloom desk combine to provide an overall sense of warmth to the room. To the right of the hallway is a wide staircase that beckons to the second floor. Straight ahead lies this house’s most outstanding feature — the expansive family room/kitchen that spans the entire width of the house, with double French doors opening to a back porch and many windows that provide vistas to the side yards and the large back garden. Even with all of its modern style, this room also has design elements that are characteristic of older homes. The cabinets in the kitchen are tea-stained, and the ceiling detail combination of bead board and beams provides warmth and a sense of stability in this large yet inviting space. Other, more subtle details also help evoke an earlier era, such as the use of subway tile for the kitchen and bar area backsplashes and a large farm table in the dining area that a folk artist constructed from old pine planks. As in the formal dining room, large pieces of folk art project bright colors into the room, providing whimsy for both owners and visitors to enjoy. Overall, this room is perfect for gathering the family or for entertaining and socializing with friends. Exit off of this lovely room onto the back porch, which has become an extension of the great room where family and friends join to relax as children play in the spacious back garden.

Jennifer has successfully utilized her innate sense of style and her artistic talents in decorating her house in a mostly primitive style. She has a great knack for selecting pieces from antique flea markets and turning them into the focal point of any room. The pretty painted sideboards in her dining and family rooms are ones that she has selected and restored that are reflective of her extraordinary vision and confident creativity. Everywhere you look in this house, you can spot innovative design touches that are undeniably her handiwork such as the painted ceilings throughout the house, her mother’s recycled dining room sideboard that is now the powder room vanity, and the fun 1950s vintage “Cowboy and Indian” theme used to decorate her son’s bedroom.

When touring this grand home, you will agree that the owners spared nothing in ensuring the house would have the look and feel of a genuine historic home with all of today’s design conveniences. The careful attention to detail and the introduction of the new with respect for the old has made the Manton house one of the most unique and admired residences in Norcross.

62 South Barton Street – The Johnson House

This wonderful example of Queen Anne Victorian architecture is a landmark historic home in this centrally located neighborhood. Even the street on which the house sits is significant, as Barton Street was named for John J. Thrasher’s son, Barton Thrasher. A.A. Johnson, a Norcross pioneer businessman, built this house around 1904, and it remained in his family for over seventy-five years.

The Johnson family has a long and rich legacy in these parts that predates the founding of Norcross. A.A’s father, Thomas P. Johnson, was a Gwinnett County farmer who died of measles at the age of 33 while serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. A.A., who at the time was only eight years old, became the “man of the house,” assuming responsibility for the family home. In 1880, he married Mary Hudson of neighboring DeKalb County. Johnson continued to farm, but in 1885 he moved his family to the new city of Norcross and built a two-story house on the corner of North Peachtree Street and “Holy Row” (now Sunset Drive). Nineteen years and 12 children later, he sold that house and built this grand Queen Anne Victorian. Later, the house he had previously owned burned to the ground. The Johnson family owned quite a bit of land in Norcross that stretched up Park Drive and down Holcomb Bridge Road, long before there was a Peachtree Industrial Boulevard or Peachtree Parkway. Behind the house on Barton was a fairly good sized lake, called Johnson’s Lake that afforded good fishing, boating, swimming, and picnicking, and was also used for baptismal ceremonies.

Although he had a successful farm and peach orchard business, the growth of the new town of Norcross may have inspired Johnson to enter the merchandise business. In 1885 he and his cousin, A.A. Martin, opened a general store in downtown Norcross at 15 Jones Street. Though this partnership dissolved in 1889, the store continued under Johnson’s proprietorship. After his retirement in 1935, Johnson’s sons, and eventually his grandsons, took over the business. During his life, Johnson served the city as president of the Bank of Norcross and was also a deacon in the Norcross Baptist Church. He died in 1939, his wife having predeceased him by nine years; both are buried in the Norcross Cemetery. The store he founded became known as Johnson’s Store, and operated continuously for 103 years before it closed in 1988. At that time, it was the oldest store in Norcross and was the second oldest continuing business in Gwinnett County. During its entire life, it had been family-owned.

The Johnson homestead, like Johnson’s Store, remained in the family for many years until it was sold in 1981. Two of A.A’s daughters, Ruth and Myrte, were the last family members to live in the house. In the 1990s, a subsequent owner subdivided the large lot on which the house stood, making room for newer homes to be built. In 2004, Michael and Susan Bryant, a young couple desiring an older house in an established neighborhood, moved from their “in town” Atlanta house to this graceful Victorian. Since then, they have added their special touches to the house, balancing a young and growing family with an elegant interior design that includes ceiling medallions, screen-printed wallpaper, and an elegantly updated master bedroom/bath suite.

Along with the new updates, this house boasts many original architectural details. With its heart-pine floors, 11-foot ceilings, front door stained-glass transom, original dining room tin ceiling, tin moldings in various rooms, a butler’s pantry, and six fireplaces, the Johnson house is a wonderful mixing of the old and the new. This grand old Queen Anne, which used to be prominent from the view on Holcomb Bridge Road, is now tucked regally between two newer homes in this historic neighborhood, winning a whole new generation of admirers.

659 South Peachtree Street – The Nash House

Norcross is home to many beautiful older houses situated throughout the city. Even as you head out of town, four historic homes line the left of South Peachtree Street, overlooking the old Southern Railway line. The Nash house is the last of these homes.

In the early 1930s, Royston Merritt, one of the town’s barbers and husband of Willie Nash Merritt, purchased at auction the property on which this house now sits. Mr. Merritt then sold it to his wife’s sister, Mrs. J. V. Bolton. At the time of purchase, there was a small house here that was torn down to make room for a new house for Mrs. Bolton’s father, Mr. Mayfield Nash, and three of his daughters. Mr. Nash was a widower, his wife, Angelyn, having died in 1929. The Nashes had been farmers and their union had produced nine children, seven girls and two boys. When this house was completed sometime around 1934, four members of the Nash family moved in: Mr. Nash, two of his widowed daughters, and his single daughter, Ida, who never married. Just a few years later, in 1937, Mayfield Nash died, leaving the house to his daughters. Ida Nash, who was the last remaining family member living in the house before she died several decades later, was a graduate of Norcross High School and spent most of her adult life working for Rhodes Millinery company in Atlanta. Each day, she rode the passenger train Air Line Belle to and from the city, and she worshiped each Sunday at Norcross First Baptist Church. After her death, Ron and Cathy Padgett bought the house in 1980 from Ida Nash’s estate, which had 42 heirs.

The Padgetts are only the second family to own this house. In the 1970s, they moved from their Grant Park house to a Snellville subdivision. Soon after, they realized that subdivision life was not for them, and they looked for an older house to move to with their young family. When they found the Nash house and the charming community that Historic Norcross provided, they knew they had found their home, and they have lived here for the past 26 years.

Since moving to this house, the Padgetts have made several modifications while retaining its historic integrity. For example, they enlarged the living room to accommodate their growing family by enclosing a side porch and incorporating the original dining room, where their baby grand piano now sits. They also enclosed an old porch in the right rear of the house to create their charming new dining room, which is highlighted with a red ceiling that they found in Rome, Georgia. While renovating the kitchen, the Padgetts uncovered the brick of one of the house’s original chimneys to give that room a warm architectural accent. While touring this charming bungalow, you’ll find other original architectural elements such as the tongue-and-groove ceilings in every room.

The Padgetts have also honored the historic feel of this home by decorating it with family heirlooms such as Cathy’s great grandmother’s toile coal box and her mother’s corner hutch. An interesting collection of antique shoes from “Mr. Jeter’s General Store” in Dresden, Tennessee adorn the mantel of the original fireplace in the living room, and a reclaimed iron bed has a new home in their guest room.

Don’t miss the trolley trip to the south side of town to see how this house’s sunny and bright exterior complements the warmth found within this cozy home. The unique layout, the owners’ eclectic mix of antique and vintage furnishings, and the whimsical container garden make the Nash house a delight to tour.