Friends of Athens-Limestone Public Library have planned an experience for this year’s Library Luncheon that’s a departure from the usual author’s lecture. This year’s event combines an al fresco luncheon at Jerry and Tillie Daniel’s house at 311 Hobbs Street with a short walk to 111 North Madison Street where homeowner Scott Smith and architect Frank Nola will talk about the year-long experience of restoring original detail to the Greek Revival home Smith bought last April.

One thing won’t change: Mary Hand is in charge of the menu which includes chicken mousse, macaroni salad, a marinated vegetable salad, roll, iced tea, and for dessert, an old-fashioned lemon bisque with brownies. The boxed lunches will be served on the Daniels’ patio, less than half a block away from the Greek Revival home where Nola and Smith will be waiting to greet guests and talk to them about the restoration project.

Smith, who grew up in Athens, says his interests have always run to taking things apart and putting them back together. In youth, it was cars; in adulthood, it was houses.

“When I returned to Athens, I really wanted to live in one of Athens’ old homes,” he says, “but it seemed that none of them were the right one. Then I found this one.”

According to information that came to Smith via the Internet from Dennis Simpson, a great-great-great-great grandson of Samuel Tanner, the house at 111 North Madison “was his third and final house since he moved to Limestone County in February 1824 from Huntsville.”

Simpson said none of Tanner’s children were born in that house.

Simpson identified Tanner as the first mayor of Athens. He said Tanner died in 1874.

Smith says the home built for Samuel Tanner “was at least influenced by (architect) Hiram Higgins.”

“One of Hiram Higgins’ signature details in Athens and Talladega was the three-part window,” says Smith. “You’ll see that architectural detail elsewhere, but it’s not as widespread as in Athens. The Greek Revival style, sometimes referred to as the national style, came into prominence in residential architecture in the 1820s. It predominated right up until the Civil War. Even today, it’s a popular style for public buildings.”

Greek Revival architecture, Smith explains, is generally characterized by a symmetrical plan with a centralized portico. Greek Revival homes in the South often have two-story porticos.

Other Greek Revival elements include a low-pitched gabled or hipped roof; enormous windows and doors; a front door surrounded by narrow sidelights with a rectangular line of transom lights above; and window sashes with six-pane glazing.

Smith says a lot of the Greek Revival detail was lost when the Tanner home was renovated early in the 20th Century, more in the Colonial Revival style. Fortunately, Smith adds, some of the original trim which was removed was used elsewhere in the house. It must have been a bit like a treasure hunt when Smith found original baseboards that had been recycled to trim out a closet.

During the restoration process, Smith studied Greek Revival houses of close proximity, also going online to a Library of Congress Web site showing pictures taken during a government survey of buildings in the 1930s, with architectural details still intact.

He calls the renovation experience “a pretty consuming project,” but also says it gave him a deeper appreciation for architecture.

How to go…

Tickets for Athens-Limestone Public Library Friends Spring Garden Luncheon are $10 each. Cost includes lunch and a visit to a circa 1840 Greek Revival Home. Call the library at 232-1233 for information.