The 101-year-old Georgian Revival-style home at 78 Peachtree Circle looks like it’s always been there. Sitting atop a small rise, fronted by magnolias and other mature trees, the three-story house blends perfectly into the historic Ansley Park neighborhood.
But natives of a certain age will remember that the house used to be two miles away in Buckhead and, like many of the city’s historic homes and buildings before and since, was facing demolition.
That is, until a fateful night in 2012, when Roger Smith and his husband, the late preservation advocate Christopher M. Jones, were at a function at the Atlanta History Center and were approached by City Council member Mary Norwood.
“Mary came up to us and pulled Christopher away into a corner for a private conversation,” Smith recalled. “She told him the house was going to be demolished, and I think he decided that night we had to save it.”
The next day, Jones and Smith were taking a tour of the Randolph-Lucas House, which had been a fixture at the intersection of Peachtree Road and Lindbergh Drive since 1924 – even after condos were built directly behind it. The house would become a literary landmark in 1988 after a painting of it appeared on the cover of Anne Rivers Siddons’ bestselling novel “Peachtree Road” and was a primary setting in the story.
Designed by P. Thornton Mayre, the home was originally built for attorney and businessman Hollins Nicholas Randolph, the great-great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson. Randolph and his wife lived in the home for a decade before selling it to Margaret Lucas in 1935. Her husband, Arthur, operated several cinemas around the city.
When the Lucas family sold the property to the 2500 Peachtree Condo Association in 1998, the house was moved slightly forward on the lot and was meant to be used as a clubhouse and event facility, but by 2013, the HOA had applied for a demolition permit. That’s when Norwood approached Smith and Jones.
Smith remembers being surprised that the interior of the house was in relatively good shape despite years of no upkeep. “My mother was with us, and she just had a fit over it,” Smith said. “Christopher was planning on saving it, and my mother was planning on moving in.”
Shortly thereafter, Smith and Jones found the lot in Ansley Park and convinced developer John Wieland to not only sell them the property but also allow them to move the house across what was about to become the One Museum Place condos. There was plenty of city red tape to cut, and Jones was “constantly on the phone” over permissions and hold-ups.
A year later, the house’s top two floors were separated from the ground floor and loaded onto trucks for the move to Ansley Park. The move took hours, with Georgia Power crews moving electric lines as it inched down Peachtree. Smith and Jones sold their home on Beverly Road and moved into an apartment building on 16th Street, located behind the lot, to oversee the renovation of their new home. It was not an easy time.
“There was this misnomer that we had all this money to do this project, when actually it was a shell game every month to see what we could pay for and complete,” Smith recalled. “This wasn’t your usual renovation; it took care and planning and research to get it just right. Every step felt like pushing a ‘55 Buick uphill. But it was worth every cent.”
A few years into the renovation, Smith recalled that Jones started to have migraine headaches. As the stress of renovating the house wore on, Smith’s beloved mother died, and then Jones’ migraines became worse. He was eventually diagnosed with aggressive cranial lymphoma. “It broke my heart,” Smith said candidly.
Jones died in January 2019, just a few months shy of the main renovation being complete. He never got to live in his dream house.
“That’s been a blow,” Smith said. “Christopher was the mastermind who made it happen. The house dominated our lives for the last seven years of Christopher’s life, but I have no regrets. I’ve enjoyed being here every minute. I wouldn’t take anything for all the memories. That’s why Christopher’s name needs to be on the house. It wouldn’t be here without him.”
This past July, the city of Atlanta re-designated the Randolph-Lucas-Jones House as a landmark building, preserving it from demolition or exterior alteration. Smith said the Atlanta Preservation Center and its executive director, David Y. Mitchell, were instrumental in getting the designation.
“The Randolph-Lucas-Jones House was one of the last remaining residential mansions along Peachtree,” Mitchell said. “The condo association wanted to demolish the house, but Christopher Jones and Roger Smith courageously decided this was not acceptable. We are indebted to these two men for putting aside the arguments and economic fears of how and ensuring that we now have an example of why Atlanta is amazing and beautiful in perpetuity.”
And while safe, Smith carries on with renovations to the home with Jones’ spirit in mind. There’s no doubt, he would be pleased.
The main floor, which Smith opens for special events like the Piedmont Ball, is meticulously restored to its former glory with period-appropriate furniture and decorative plaster walls. The original mechanisms to close the heavy exterior shutters were also carefully restored, Smith’s grandmother’s chandelier hangs over the formal dining room table. A large, gourmet kitchen planned by Jones also seamlessly meshes with the historic elements of the house.
The second floor is also complete with two bedrooms, but the third floor, which will eventually become the primary suite, is still in the works. A garage and lap pool at the rear of the property are also future projects.
“Part of the mission of this house is to be an ongoing story about historic preservation in Atlanta,” Smith said. “I love opening this house to the community so people can see what’s possible. Because of Christopher’s vision and tenacity, this home is a permanent piece of Atlanta history. And for 101-years-old, she’s doing well.”
