Burns Cottage, 988 Alloway Place Southeast, Atlanta

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2449. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

988 Alloway Place Southeast, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, The Cottage faces west to Alloway Place. The front fa ade of the cottage faces west. The coordinates for the cottage are Latitude: and Longitude: and were obtained using Google Earth in April There is no restriction on the release of the locational data to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2449. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Burns Club was established in and is a literary society devoted to the works and legacy of Scottish poet and lyricist, Robert Burns. Burns is remembered in Scotland today as The National Bard and is highly regarded for writing in the Scottish vernacular dialect of the Century as well as the English language. Many of his works were politically charged aligning with Scottish nationalistic sympathies. Burns Clubs exist throughout the U.S. and the world. They attract people that harbor an affinity toward literature and Scottish culture. The Burns Club Cottage is a unique structure within the U.S. and the city of Atlanta, for the former reason that it is the only known replica of Robert Burns Century cottage in Scotland, which is a merge of a Scottish Blackhouse with a Crofter s Cottage.

The latter reason is that it makes use of local Stone Mountain granite for the exterior. History: On the stormy night of January 25, the one hundred and thirty-seventh anniversary of the birth of the great Scottish bard, Robert Burns, a group of Atlantans met at the invitation of Dr. Joseph Jacobs in the banquet room of the Aragon Hotel to organize the Burns Club of Atlanta.1 The story of the Burns Cottage begins with the Burns Club Atlanta. The organization first formed on January 25, The importance of this date being the anniversary of Robert Burns birth. A group of white men met at the Aragon Hotel, in Atlanta, GA.2 The first President of the Burns Club was Dr. Joseph Jacobs. Jacobs owned a pharmacy in Five Points Atlanta.

His business was the first to serve Coca-Cola on May 8, Over the next decade, the Burns Club would meet at the Aragon Hotel, local restaurants, and homes of its various members. The Constitution of the Club stated that its purpose was to do honor to the memory 1 GARRETT, FRANKLIN M. In Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, pg. 2 The Aragon Hotel would stand on the Southwest Corner of Ellis Street and Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta. This property is now a Marta Station entrance. 3 The Birth of a Refreshing Idea: Coca Cola History. https://www.coca birth of a refreshing idea/. BURNS COTTAGE HABS NO. GA-2449 PAGE 2 and genius of Robert Burns, the Poet, and to promote the social pleasures of its members.

4 Membership of the club was restricted to white men 18 years and older. In the Burns Club took steps to Incorporate their organization. On April 29, the Burns Club of Atlanta filed their Petition for Incorporation. In this charter was stated the intent to erect and furnish a building to be called Burns Cottage. 5 The club s petition was granted on June Dr. Joseph Jacobs would supply the Burns Club with the land it needed for building its new clubhouse. He purchased a 10-acre tract of land for near the Soldiers Home on Confederate Avenue (now United Avenue) west of Grant Park.6 Members of the Burns Club would be required to purchase a $25 bond in order to provide the necessary funds to purchase the land from Dr. Jacobs.

Having decided to build a headquarters, the Burns Club members chose to replicate the birthplace of Robert Burns in Scotland. The birthplace of Robert Burns is located in Ayrshire, Scotland. The building was constructed in by Burns father, and Robert Burns would be born there in The Scottish cottage is made of clay with a thatched roof and is comprised of four rooms. The barn, byre (room for the animals), ben (living room), and butt (bedroom and kitchen). The rooms at the Atlanta Burns Cottage are laid out in the same plan as they exist in Scotland. The building also keeps the angled bend to the rectangular plan necessitated by the bend of the road in Scotland along which the original cottage fronts.

The form the building takes is that of a Scottish Blackhouse, which was built with stone and a thatched roof and housed the residents and the animals. The Scottish cottage also has traits of being a Crofter s Cottage in that its walls are made of clay. The Atlanta Burns Cottage being constructed of stone more closely follows the type of Blackhouse.7 To complete the picture, the street outside the Atlanta Burns Club was also christened Alloway after the road of the same name in Scotland.

The structure is unique to the city of Atlanta for reproducing the home of a foreign author but also for adapting local building materials in its construction; granite quarried from Stone Mountain was used for the exterior elevations in place of the rubble stone and clay used on the original structure in Scotland. The Burns Cottage has many interesting features. The exterior wall is almost two feet thick. The body of the building bends oddly but does so to mirror its Scottish forebear. The 4 Constitution and By Laws of the Burns Club of Atlanta. Box 1, Folder 5, Burns Club of Atlanta, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center. 5 Petition for Incorporation, Charter of The Burns Club f Atlanta. Burns Club Archives. 6 Fulton County, GA Book of Deeds page 75. May 16, 7 Fenton, A.

and Walker, B., The Rural Architecture of Scotland, John Donald, p. 74 BURNS COTTAGE HABS NO. GA-2449 PAGE 3 windows of the structure are deep with the openings set at an angle in the walls. The windows are also of different sizes and shapes. With the Burns Cottage there were multiple types of flooring in its various rooms. In the newest parts of the building (the addition, kitchen, and restrooms), the flooring is comprised of tile and concrete slabs of differing sizes. The flooring of the Butt and Ben Rooms, being in the original section of the cottage used the granite materials utilized for the exterior walls. Thus, the stones on the floors of these two rooms are misshapen like the stones of the exterior. Throughout the building there are many unique items.

In the Barn/Byre area there are three friezes on the East wall of important founders of The Burns Club of Atlanta including the pharmacist, Dr. Joseph Jacobs. Many tartans denoting various Scottish Clans drape the walls. Throughout the Cottage, there are many framed lithographs, maps, paintings, and other decorative pieces. The Burns Club is active to this day and continues to host all club activities at The Burns Cottage including monthly meetings, a Fail Ceilidh, a Spring Ceilidh, a Christmas Dinner, and Burns Night, which is the annual birthday dinner to honor Robert Burns.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2449. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Birth of a Refreshing Idea: Coca-Cola History. https://www.coca- Burns Club of Atlanta archives, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center. Charter of The Burns Club of Atlanta Petition for Incorporation April 29, Fenton, A. and Walker, B., The Rural Architecture of Scotland, John Donald, Garrett, Franklin M. In Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, University of Georgia Press, Georgia. Fulton County, Book of Deeds page 75. May 16, Thomas Kenneth H., Burns Cottage, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington DC: U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service,