Allison Ericson, Valdosta Today News Director:
VALDOSTA–The Nichols House, also known as VSU’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house on 400 Baytree Rd. will not be re-zoned for historical preservation. The Alden Park Home Owners Association requested that the home be evaluated and considered a designated historical property. The Valdosta City Council denied the request by a 6-1 vote deeming the house undeserving of the designated historical property title.
In a previous Valdosta City Council meeting, the council voted 5-2 in favor of rezoning four acres of land in the Alden Park community.
The property is currently owned by the Georgia Sigma Housing Corporation. The GSHC has a contract with Turner Brooks LLC. which plans to build a 160-bed apartment complex on the property once the house is either moved or demolished.
Ed Smith, representative for the Georgia Sigma Housing Corporation said, “When the housing corporation purchased this housing in 2003 there was no historical designation on this property or on public record. This property was purchased not to be a historical property, the property was purchased for the appropriate use of a fraternity. I can assure you we would not have purchased a valuable historical property for use by a fraternity.”
Smith stated that the house was not valued by residents until the idea of apartments being built in its place became public knowledge. The GSHC only received one offer on the property after being listed for several months and attempting to sell it to VSU.
“The housing corporation is absolutely opposed to the designation of this property as a historical property. The housing corporation was not part of this application and if we had been asked we would have told them ‘no’,” Smith said.
Dr. Alfred Willis, expert in architectural history and representative for the Alden Park Homeowners Association had opposing views on the property.
Willis said, “The Nichols house does meet the standards of a historic property,it is not nearly historic, it is significantly historic. There is, in my professional opinion no more significant 20th century house in Valdosta.”
In the beginning of October the house became eligible for the national registry of historical properties. APHA has been fighting to designate the house as a historical property since the beginning of summer when plans of demolition were introduced to Valdosta citizens.
“Its only rival is the Cresent, the Nichols house is now the best documented historic house in Lowndes County, for that reason alone it will be a house most likely to be studied by the future historians of Valdosta,” Willis said. “It ranks among one of Valdosta’s most architectural remarkable structures, it exemplifies techinical excellence, it documents support of historical trends, it is connected with numerous historical figures including Lloyd Greer. It is valued not only to Valdosta but also to Lowndes County, the state of Georgia, and the United States.”
The fate of the house is yet to be determined, whether it is moved or demolished, the house remains a VSU fraternity icon to some and a historical piece of architecture to others.
