{"nrhp_refnum":"71000251","name":"Cowles House","other_names":["Stratford Academy","Overlook"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"988 Bond St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Macon","county":"Bibb County","state":"GA","lat":32.84234962200003,"lon":-83.63448144499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-06-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Classical Revival mansion at 988 Bond Street in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, built in 1836 by Elam Alexander for Jerry Cowles. It later housed Stratford Academy, a private school.","why_significant":"The nomination calls the house Macon's architectural masterpiece, with a Roman Doric colonnade, a free-hanging winding staircase and a glass-covered cupola. It is also tied to a series of prominent Macon figures, including Jerry Cowles, Joseph Bond, S.T. Coleman, J.W. Cabaniss and B.P. O'Neal. Cowles was a major early supporter of Wesleyan College and of Macon's banking and railroad development.","narrative":"Overlooking the Ocmulgee River valley, this two-story Classical Revival mansion at 988 Bond Street in Macon was built in 1836 by Elam Alexander for Jerry Cowles, a young New Yorker seeking his fortune. Pale brown stucco, green shutters, a small circular iron balcony and a colonnade of Roman Doric columns define its appearance. Inside, a free-hanging winding staircase rises to a glass-covered cupola, and a ballroom once spanned the width of the house. Wings were added in the 1850s under Joseph Bond. Cowles gave generously to Wesleyan College and was prominent in banking and railroads. Later owners included merchant and railroad promoter S.T. Coleman, whose ballroom hosted a ball for Winnie Davis in 1887, banker J.W. Cabaniss, and B.P. O'Neal, who named it Overlook in 1905. In recent years it has served as Stratford Academy, a private school that has kept the house as an architectural and historical landmark.","period_of_significance":"1836","architect_builder":"Elam Alexander (builder)","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in fair condition; rearranged for school use as Stratford Academy, with marble mantels and other fragile fittings removed to storage for later reinstallation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.406602-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/71000251.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000251/16c28c19d5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000251/16c28c19d5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Blastoids","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cowles_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Blastoids</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:Cowles_House.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"74000658","name":"Macon Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/macon-historic-district-74000658/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207000","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowles%E2%80%93Woodruff_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16952404"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/bibb-county/cowles-house-71000251/"}