Lathemtown Historic District, Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House, 11582 Cumming Highway (State Route 20), Lathemtown

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-D. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House is located at Cumming Highway/State Route 20 (SR 20) in Cherokee County, Georgia. The resource sits on the south side of the highway and stands just west of Orange Church Circle. The house is located at latitude: longitude: This point was taken from the center of the Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House. It was obtained on September 10, using Google Earth There is no restriction on its release to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-D. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House is a contributing resource to the Lathemtown Historic District. The early twentieth-century residence supports Lathemtown s significance as an intact, rural historic district. The house stands as representation of the agricultural community s continued growth and development during the first half of the twentieth century. See the Lathemtown Historic District (HABS No. GA-2445) overview for further discussion of overall district significance. Historians: Marvin Brown, M.A., Senior Architectural Historian, AECOM Sarah Potere, Architectural Historian, AECOM Report Completed October

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-D. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is implementing plans to widen State Route 20 from two to six lanes between Scott Road (near Canton) and North Corners Parkway (near Cumming). The project corridor spans approximately miles and falls within Cherokee and Forsyth Counties. As a result of this roadway expansion, all or part of the Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House will be demolished. Mitigation efforts were explored and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was developed between the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer.

This Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation (historical narrative report and large format photography) was prepared in accordance with the stipulations of the MOA. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 2) Description: The Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House stands on the south side of SR 20 to the west of the highway s intersection with the eastern end of Orange Church Circle. The house is oriented to the north and sits toward the front of its lot. A concrete-block garage is situated to the building s southeast and dates to the early/mid twentieth-century. 1 The early twentieth-century residence stands one-story tall and is of frame construction.

It was originally constructed as a center-hall plan with a three-bay, front block and a two-block rear ell. The front-block features a side-gabled roof with a raked cornice and cornice returns. During the early/mid twentieth- century a large, shed-roof addition was added to the rear (south) facade of the front block and the western (side) facade of the rear ell (Figure 3 through Figure 5). The house is clad in original weatherboards and its roof is topped with replacement standing-seam metal. Exterior-end, shouldered, brick chimneys topped with metal caps rise on either gable end of the main block. The bottom half of the western chimney has been reinforced with concrete, textured to resemble fieldstone.

The house rests on a brick-pier foundation, which has been infilled with concrete block. A large, three-bay, Craftsman-style, pedimented portico embraces the front (north) facade and appears to be an early addition, likely dating to the or The appendage spans almost the entirety of the facade and is supported by four, Tuscan posts resting on brick bases. Weatherboards adorn its pediment, which is edged by a wide, unadorned fascia. It displays deep-set eaves and is framed on either edge by cornice returns. A small, square, wood-framed window is centered on the pediment and set in a wood surround. Fixed board and batten shutters frame the window on either side and appear to be twentieth-century additions. Three openings are sheltered beneath the wide portico.

A centrally placed doorway holds a Craftsman-style door, which was likely an early alteration. Set in a wood surround, the single-leaf door features a large, central, rectangular light which is framed by a geometric arrangement of smaller rectangle and square lights. The door is flanked on either side by full-height, one-over-one, double-hung, wood-sash windows. They are framed by original wood surrounds and flanked on either side by fixed board-and-batten shutters. No window or door openings are found at the front block s western or eastern gable-ends. Extending to the building s south, the rear ells features a pedimented dormer at its southeast corner. It is oriented to the east, and like the eastern-gable of the main block, the dormer is clad in diamond-shaped, wood shingles.

Centered on the dormer is a small, fixed, square, wooden window in a wooden surround. Two openings are found on this elevation of the rear ell. They include a centrally placed doorway which holds a fiberglass replacement unit and a paired set of 1 Historic aerials reveal that the garage was in place by Historic Aerials, aerials, (images) aerial image search of Cumming Highway, Netronline, accessed September LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 3) three-over-one, double-hung, wood-sash windows which are found near the facade s southern edge. A three-bay, shed-roof porch extends from the center of the facade and frames the door.

The porch, which is a twenty-first-century addition, features a brick-clad deck and is supported by square wooden posts spanned by square wooden balustrades. The south (rear) facade of the rear ell features a set of paired three-over-one, double-hung, wood-sash windows placed slightly off-center. A small crawlspace access is found at the western corner of the block s foundation. Featuring the same exterior cladding as the original house, and resting on a continuous brick foundation, the building s early/mid twentieth-century shed- roof addition displays three-over-one, double-hung, wood-sash windows, which are found on the addition s rear (south) facade. A small, front-gabled, concrete-block building is located to the southeast of the Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House.

The building s placement, overall size, and the presence concrete skirt, which spans the width of the building at its front (north) facade, suggests the building may have originally functioned as a single-car garage. All of the building s facades are exposed concrete-block, except the center portion of the front (north) facade which is partly clad in fiber cement siding and appears to cover an original single-car garage opening. A single fiberglass door is found at the eastern corner of this enclosed opening on the north elevation. History: County tax records assign a construction date of to this house. Census records suggest it was erected in the Ethel West and Charles Wesley ( Charlie ) Lathem the house s first occupants, were married prior to the taking of the census.

In that year, they were living with their infant daughter, Jewell, in the house of Charlie s parents , W.A. and Arizona D. Lathem. Charlie worked as a salesman at his father s general store across the road. 2 In when he registered for the draft, Charlie continued to work for his father, running the gin and mill that stood behind the store. 3 In Charlie and Ethel lived in their own house, which they owned mortgage free, with their four children, Jewell, Inez, Herbert, and Catherine. Charlie continued to run the family cotton gin and reported his occupation as engineer to the census taker. The census places Charlie and Ethel in the same house along with Jewell and their two youngest children, Ray and Nelle. 4 By this date, Charlie was running W.A.

Lathem and Sons with his two older brothers, Marvin and Jack. The cotton gin ceased operation in the but the 2 Cherokee County Tax Assessor, Property Record Search of Cumming U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Census. 3 U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, Charles Lathem, accessed June-August, ancestry.com/. 4 U.S. Federal Census Bureau, and Federal Censuses. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 4) three brothers ran the store until about Charlie s primary job was operating the mule barn (HABS GA-2445-I) standing to the store s east.5 Jewell Lathem, who never married, acquired title to the house following the deaths of parents Charlie and Ethel in and respectively.

A plat map drawn the year before Ethel s death depicts the frame house in the northern portion of the 0.394-acre tract. The plat map does not detail the presence of the garage; however, historic aerial imagery reveals a building in its location as early as perhaps earlier. When Jewell died in her sister, Nelle Lathem Wallace, sold the house individually and as executrix of Jewell s estate to Peter Pauline. This was the first time it left family hands. He remodeled the house for office use. It now holds a veterinary practice. 6

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2445-D. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Atlanta Constitution. Charlie Lathem. Obituary. March 22, Accessed June https://www.newspapers.com/ 20Lathem& match=1. . Jewell Lathem. Obituary. December 14, Accessed June Jewell%20 Lathem&match =1. Cherokee County Board of Tax Assessors. Property Records Search for Cumming Highway Accessed April http://gis.cherokeega.com/ Cherokee County Clerk of Courts, Canton. Deed Book 15, Page Deed Book Page Deed Book Page Cherokee County Planning Commission.

Public Hearing Minutes, May 3, Accessed April 5 Mary Helen Cissell, Living, Laughing and Loving in Old Lathemtown (Orange, GA: Orange United Methodist Women, 6 Charlie Lathem, Obituary, Atlanta Constitution, March 22, accessed June https://www.newspapers.com/ Lathem, Jewell, Obituary, Atlanta Constitution December 14, accessed June =1; Cherokee County Plat Book 15/Page 104 Cherokee County Deed Book 312/Page 178 and Deed Book 8956/Page 300 Cherokee County Planning Commission, Public Hearing minutes, May 3, LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 5) Cissell, Mary Helen. Living Laughing and Loving in Old Lathemtown. Orange, GA: Orange United Methodist Church, Netronline. Historic Aerials: Cherokee County.

Electronic resource accessed September United States Bureau of the Census. United States Federal Census. Accessed June-August https://www.ancestry.com/. U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, Charles Lathem. Accessed June-August, https://www.ancestry.com/. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 6) Supplemental Materials 1. Figures Georgia GIO State Imagery September Figure 1: Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House District Locator Map. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 7) Figure 2: Ethel W. and Charles W. Lathem House Site Map. LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No.

GA-2445-D (Page 8) Figure 3: Oblique view of House, north (front) and west (side) facades. View looking southeast. (Photograph by Sarah Potere, July LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 9) Figure 4: Oblique view of House, north (front) and east (side) facades. View looking southwest. (Photograph by Sarah Potere, July LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 10) Figure 5: East (side) facade of House. View looking west. (Photograph by Sarah Potere, July LATHEMTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, ETHEL W. AND CHARLES W. LATHEM HOUSE HABS No. GA-2445-D (Page 11) Figure 6: Oblique of Garage, north (front) and east (side) facades. (Photograph by Sarah Potere, July