January 2013

 

In The Pillared City, John S. Sledge presents a richly illustrated overview of the Greek Revival period in Mobile, Alabama (1825–70), when high style and vernacular columned buildings were erected on the city’s streets.
 

Using a wealth of resources such as deeds and diaries, Sledge reveals the architectural accomplishments that helped Mobile emerge from its position as a rustic backwater to become a prominent international seaport. Sledge explains how these buildings reflect coastal and national trends, and details the surprisingly advanced construction techniques required of the architects and builders.

Sledge offers more than an architectural history, incorporating stories such as how the triple blows of bankruptcy, yellow fever, and fire nearly obliterated Mobile in 1839. The eventful histories behind prominent landmarks such as Barton Academy, Government Street Presbyterian Church, Christ Episcopal Church, Oakleigh, Stewartfield, Georgia Cottage, and the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion are detailed, as are the lives of historical figures like Henry Hitchcock, James and Charles Dakin, James Gallier, Signor Vito Viti, John Trenier, Sr., and Augusta Jane Evans.

Featuring more than fifty-five contemporary black-and-white photographs by Sheila Hagler and a rich array of historical images, The Pillared City captures the grace and allure of Mobile’s antebellum style.

 

Oakleigh is one of the most beautifully adapted Greek Revival residences in the South. Now a house museum, it draws approximately ten thousand visitors each year and is the site of a popular candlelight Christmas ceremony. Photo by Sheila Hagler

The Pillared City
Greek Revival Mobile
By John S. Sledge
Photography by Sheila Hagler
Cloth, $42.95
978-0-8203-3020-4
The book is available from major and independent booksellers as well as directly from the University of Georgia Press.
Ugapress.org

John S. Sledge is an architectural historian with the Mobile Historic Development Commission and book editor for the Mobile Press-Register. Sheila Hagler is a professional photographer living in Grand Bay, Alabama. Sledge and Hagler previously collaborated on Cities of Silence: A Guide to Mobile’s Historic Cemeteries and An Ornament to the City: Old Mobile Ironwork (Georgia).