{"nrhp_refnum":"71000259","name":"Johnston-Hay House","other_names":["P.L. Hay House","William B. Johnston-Hay House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"934 Georgia Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Macon","county":"Bibb County","state":"GA","lat":32.84069337400007,"lon":-83.63434708799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-05-27","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1973-11-07","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 24-room Italian Renaissance villa at 934 Georgia Avenue in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, built of brick between 1855 and 1860 for William B. Johnston. It is also known as the P.L. Hay House.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the finest and most elaborate residence in Macon and one of the most outstanding in the United States. It is also tied to Johnston's role in Confederate finance, including the Macon Depository, and to later owner P. L. Hay, a Macon business and civic leader who preserved it.","narrative":"Built between 1855 and 1860 on a sloping site overlooking Macon and the river, this 24-room brick villa was designed in the Italian Renaissance manner for banker and businessman William B. Johnston, who brought plans, artisans and furnishings from Italy after his honeymoon. Its features include a Corinthian-columned portico, a glass-slab porch floor lighting the wine cellar below, a carved mahogany staircase concealing a secret room, a skylit ballroom with a 30-foot ceiling, and an octagonal stone cupola. Johnston helped run the Confederate Depository in Macon, and the house was reportedly shelled during the 1864 siege. His daughter and her husband, Judge William H. Felton, lived there afterward. In 1925 it was sold to P. L. Hay, founder of an insurance company, who filled it with art and furnishings. The nomination describes it as among the most remarkable houses in the Southeast, for both its architecture and its residents.","period_of_significance":"1855-1860","architect_builder":"Drawings credited to T. Thomas & Sons, Architects, of New York City; other sources cite construction under architect James B. Ayers","architectural_style":"Italian Renaissance Villa","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and the building as occupied; the form states the house is open to the public as a museum, furnished with antiques.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.997079-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/71000259.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000259/e1f316ea3b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000259/e1f316ea3b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Estaylormd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hay_House,_Macon_GA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Estaylormd</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hay_House,_Macon_GA.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/93207033","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston%E2%80%93Felton%E2%80%93Hay_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6268609"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/bibb-county/johnston-hay-house-71000259/"}