John Marlor (1789–1835) was an England-born,

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

-raised master builder whose work in Milledgeville,

Baldwin County, Georgia Baldwin County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, its population was 43,799. The county seat is Milledgeville, which was developed along the Oconee River. Baldwin County is part ...

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

from 1804 to 1868, combined several classical style elements to create the American architecture style known as "Milledgeville Federal", characterized by a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

ed front entrances under two-story double-columned

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

es with

cantilevered A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

second story

balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

, curved

staircase A stairwell or stair room is a room in a building where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between floors so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway ...

s, and side-

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roofs.Daniel McDonald: "Marlor presented the face of Antebellum Milledgeville" in ''The Union Recorder'', http://unionrecorder.com/features/x155345382/Marlor-presented-the-face-of-Antebellum-Milledgeville/print , April 25, 2008.

Life and career

Born February 11, 1789, in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, little is known about Marlor's early years, but it has been speculated that he was

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

d to a builder or taught himself from house-builders' plan-books. He moved from Charleston to Milledgeville in 1815, and began a nearly 20-year career that shaped the town's architectural heritage. Marlor's reinterpretation of prevailing Georgian and Federal structures brought about an early

classical revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

in central Georgia architecture. The sophistication of his creations is more in keeping with that of an architect than an artisan.James C. Bonner: ''Milledgeville, Georgia's Antebellum Capital'', University of Georgia Press, Athens, Ga., 1978, p. 37. As he gained experience, his signature architectural features became increasingly complex, as evidenced in his structures preserved in Milledgeville. When builder Daniel Pratt moved to Milledgeville in 1821, Marlor hired him, beginning a collaboration that later grew to include builder Elam Alexander. Marlor's construction labor was performed primarily by seven enslaved African-Americans, all of whom were trained

carpenters Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters trad ...

. He owned several thousand acres of timber land and a

lumber mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimens ...

, from which he drew for his building materials. Marlor died on October 13, 1835, in Milledgeville, where he is interred in

Memory Hill Cemetery Memory Hill Cemetery is an American cemetery in Milledgeville, Georgia. The cemetery opened in 1804. Notable interments * Thomas Petters Carnes (1762–1822), United States Representative for Georgia and state court judge. * George Pierce Do ...

,Friends of Baldwin County Cemeteries, Inc.: ''Memory Hill Cemetery Walking Tour'', http://friendsofcems.org/MemoryHill/Brochure8_5X14.pdf, 2012. his tombstone featuring engraved builder's tools.Evening Blues: Find A Grave Memorial# 8256023, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8256023/john-marlor, Record added: Jan 10, 2004. Named to honor his contributions to the city's heritage, Milledgeville's John Marlor Arts Center includes two historic structures, the 1830 John Marlor House, adapted into offices of the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Allied Arts Center and the Elizabeth Marlor Bethune Art Gallery, and the 1911 Allen's Market Building, adapted into theatre, meeting and studio space.Milledgeville, Capitals, Columns & Culture: ''John Marlor Art Center'', https://www.visitmilledgeville.org/listings/brown-stetson-sanford-house/6/, accessed 4 Jul 2013.

Architectural legacy in Milledgeville

* John Marlor House, built in 1830 as a wedding present for his second wife Ann Carlton, now housing offices and an art gallery as headquarters for a complex of historic structures and an art center.Georgia Department of Economic Development: ''Georgia’s Guide to the Civil War'', http://www.visitsavannah.com/media/483310/guide-to-the-civil-war.pdf , 2013. * Brown-Stetson-Sanford House, built with a Marlor trademark spiral staircase, later converted to a hotel to serve visitors and legislators during the city's years as capital of Georgia and from 1951 to 1966 into a tea room, before being donated to the Old Capital Historical Society who moved it to West Hancock Street in 1966.Historical Marker Database: ''Brown-Stetson-Sanford House'', http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=13141, accessed 4 Jul 2013.Milledgeville, Capitals, Columns & Culture: ''Brown-Stetson-Sanford House'', https://www.visitmilledgeville.org/listings/brown-stetson-sanford-house/6/ , accessed 4 Jul 2013. * Newell-Watts House, a late Georgian, early

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

home originally owned by the same family for more than 100 years.Alexander Cain: Newell-Watts House holds 100 years of family history, '' The Union Recorder'', http://unionrecorder.com/local/x155355691/Newell-Watts-House-holds-100-years-of-family-history/print, September 21, 2007. * Stovall-Conn-Gardner House, "13 Columns", a two story

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of those terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'', in modern Am ...

structure with

elements; the thirteen columns are believed to represent the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

united during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

.C. Smith: ''Stovall - Conn - Gardner House "Thirteen Columns"'', https://www.flickr.com/photos/drivebybiscuits1/318190294/, taken on November 15, 2006. * Masonic Temple of Benevolent Lodge No. 3, F. & A. M., the oldest

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

building in Georgia in continuous usage, dedicated on June 24, 1834; considered by many to be Marlor's best work, with an especially fine cantilevered staircase.The Historical Marker Database, '' Masonic Temple of Benevolent Lodge No 3, F. & A. M.'', http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=36729 , accessed 4 Jul 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marlor, John 1789 births 1835 deaths 19th-century American architects British emigrants to the United States People from Charleston, South Carolina Burials at Memory Hill Cemetery