{"nrhp_refnum":"09000585","name":"Donaldson-Bannister House and Cemetery","other_names":["Chesnut House"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"4831 Chamblee-Dunwoody Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dunwoody","county":"DeKalb County","state":"GA","lat":33.934598203000064,"lon":-84.31725155699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-08-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A local historic district at 4831 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody, DeKalb County, Georgia, made up of a c. 1870 two-story house built for William J. Donaldson, several outbuildings, a well and a 27-plot family cemetery.","why_significant":"The house is significant in architecture as an example of Colonial Revival design applied in 1935 to an older Plantation Plain-type house, in the \"Williamsburg\" manner, by architect Francis Palmer Smith for owner Lois Bannister. The family cemetery is significant in landscape architecture as a good example of a rural agricultural homestead funerary landscape in Georgia before the mid-20th century.","narrative":"Built around 1870 for farmer William J. Donaldson, this two-story house on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody began as a central-hall Plantation Plain-type dwelling on a farm that grew to more than 1,000 acres. A rear ell was added in the 1880s. After the farm was divided and sold in 1935, Lois Pattillo Bannister bought the house and hired architect Francis Palmer Smith to remake it in Colonial Revival style influenced by Colonial Williamsburg. He added a columned portico, three wall dormers, pedimented door surrounds, paneled cabinets and moldings, and the house grew to eleven rooms. Bannister also added a barn, guesthouse and garage and had the grounds landscaped with gardens and brick walks. Donaldson's washhouse, commissary, blacksmith shop and well remain. A fenced cemetery holds 27 plots of Donaldson family members who died between 1883 and 1931. A 1998 tornado badly damaged the house, which was then restored to its 1935 exterior. It is now a museum, significant for its architecture and its cemetery landscape.","period_of_significance":"c.1870-1942","architect_builder":"Smith, Francis Palmer-architect","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Current function is museum; the house was restored to its 1935 exterior appearance after a 1998 tornado.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.122788-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/09000585.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000585/c4cd16cfd0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000585/c4cd16cfd0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Dawn DeLucia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donaldson-Bannister_House_and_Cemetery_Dunwoody_GA_2012.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Dawn DeLucia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donaldson-Bannister_House_and_Cemetery_Dunwoody_GA_2012.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207765","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donaldson-Bannister_House_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105759605"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/dekalb-county/donaldson-bannister-house-and-cemetery-09000585/"}