{"nrhp_refnum":"82002382","name":"Banks County Jail","other_names":["Old Banks County Jail"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Silver Shoals Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Homer","county":"Banks County","state":"GA","lat":34.335177206000026,"lon":-83.48889946699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-07-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick county jail with a 1912 one-story frame addition, built in 1906 on Silver Shoals Road in Homer, Banks County, Georgia, beside the county courthouse and other public buildings.","why_significant":"It is significant in architecture as a modest Romanesque design by Atlanta architect J.W. Golucke, and for an intact collection of jail hardware by nationally known makers. In local history it was the third county jail and apparently the first of fireproof construction. Its outward appearance resembles a house or civic building rather than a jail.","narrative":"Built in 1906 on Silver Shoals Road in Homer, the old Banks County Jail is a two-story brick building with a one-story frame kitchen wing added around 1912. The jailer and family lived in rooms on the first floor, while the second floor held the jail, including cells, a maximum security room for felons, and a gallows. Most of the iron hardware came from the Stewart Jail Works Company of Cincinnati, and the maximum security cell was made by P.J. Pauly and Bro. of St. Louis. Atlanta architect J.W. Golucke designed the modest Romanesque building, which looks more like a house or school than a jail. It was the county's third jail and apparently the first built to be fireproof, using brick walls, concrete floors and plaster finishes. It stands on the site of the 1885 jail, and some materials from that building were reused. The county used it until 1972, and it has been vacant since then.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"J.W. Golucke & Company, Architect; Atlanta Fire Proofing Company, Builder","architectural_style":"Romanesque","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacated in 1972 when a new jail was built; it has remained vacant since, and is used once a year as a Halloween \"spook house\" by the Banks County Chamber of Commerce.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.347042-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/82002382.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002382/2de2f678d5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002382/2de2f678d5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_Banks_County_Jail.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Upstateherd</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:Former_Banks_County_Jail.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206885","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q125923041"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/banks-county/banks-county-jail-82002382/"}