Washington Avenue Historic District
Why it's listed
Washington Avenue Historic District is a neighborhood of 19th and early 20th century houses just east of Marietta's downtown square. Washington Avenue and Lawrence Street were among the ten original streets laid out by surveyor James Anderson in 1835, following a Savannah-type plan. Washington Avenue housed merchants, lawyers and local officials, while Lawrence Street held more modest homes of middle and working class families. The district includes an 1860 Greek Revival house at 241 Washington Avenue, the 1887 Schilling-Prosser Queen Anne house, the Classical Revival former Cole Manor, a Craftsman house on Lawrence Street and many vernacular Victorian cottages. Some buildings survived the Civil War, partly because owner Henry Cole supported the Union. Cole later donated land for the national cemetery nearby. Many houses now serve as offices, giving the avenue the name "Lawyer's Row". The district was listed for its architecture and its role in the town's planning and development.
Significance in brief: The district is significant under criteria A and C. It preserves part of Marietta's original 1835 town plan and shows how middle, upper and working class housing developed. It also holds a range of styles from Greek Revival to Craftsman, and some pre-Civil War buildings survived the 1864 burning.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 89001102, listed August 10, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Lawrence St., Rigsby St., Washington Ave., and Haynes St., Marietta |
|---|---|
| County | Cobb County |
| Listed | August 10, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89001102 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1835-1938 |
| Architectural style | Mid-19th Century/Greek Revival; Late Victorian/Queen Anne; Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals/Classical Revival; Late 19th & 20th Century American Movements/Bungalow |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Historic and current use is residential, but many buildings have been rehabilitated as offices, especially law offices along what is now called "Lawyer's Row". |
| Acreage | 11 |
| Coordinates | 33.95270, -84.54340 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 89001102.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q49576955
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.