By Roger Bakeman. The Smith-Benning house at the corner of Oakdale Road and Benning Place is absolutely unique in our neighborhood. Perhaps you have wondered about its history. Here is your chance to find out. Owner Robert Craig (a retired Georgia Tech architectural historian) will give his second talk on the 45-year preservation/rehabilitation of the c 1883 Smith-Benning House August 13, 6:30-7:30 at the DeKalb History Center (the old courthouse in Decatur). All talks are free and open to the public.
According to Dr. Craig, “In this second ‘must see’ episode of the three-part series of presentations on the preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation of the Smith-Benning House (c.1883-5), Robert Craig illustrates the prodigious task of saving one of the Dekalb County’s most significant private houses. A background account of restoring nine other houses in Atlanta as well as an abandoned commercial building, serves to explain how the project was funded. The Smith-Benning House itself, was completely derelict at the time of the Craigs’ purchase 45 years ago, uninhabited and uninhabitable, and empty of any furnishings. The house was virtually gutted on the interior, with heart of pine woodwork spoiled by white paint, which Carole Craig has masterfully restored. Asbestos-clad on the exterior with rotted trim, missing chimney caps, leaking roof, a collapsing verandah, missing balustrades, and decay at every turn, the house posed a formidable challenge and demanded a heroic response. Today it is a preserved and fully restored landmark in Candler Park, proudly overseeing the corner of Oakdale Road and Benning Place, highlighted by a unique garden of preserved Victorian plantings, statuary, axial vistas and geometric order, masonry garden walls, and a Lutyens-inspired stone and heavy timber pergola (featured in the recent June talk). Documenting progress in restoring the house itself, in Part II of this series, Dr. Craig shares images of the extensive restoration in progress and offers an arm-chair tour of the restored and furnished house, inside and out. “