Vickery House
Also known as: Shirley House
Why it's listed
Built between 1900 and 1905 on Grogan Street in Lavonia, this two-story frame house was the home of C. W. Vickery, a local merchant who founded the Vickery Bank. It follows a central hall plan and has a one-story flat-roofed porch on square wooden piers that wraps around three sides. Two low, wide gables with bracketed eaves face the street, and the entrance has a rectangular transom and sidelights. Windows are six-over-six. Vickery's son and his wife later lived there, and the family kept the property until Joseph N. Shirley bought it shortly after World War II. By then it had been divided into apartments, and later changes included removing part of the central hall wall, enclosing rooms on the east porch and adding a rear outside stair. The house matters for its link to Lavonia's early banking and commerce. It represents the modest residences local businessmen built early in their careers, before Vickery's larger later home, now demolished.
Significance in brief: The house is significant in terms of commerce because it was built and lived in by C. W. Vickery, a local businessman and founder of the Vickery Bank. It shows the kind of unpretentious home local businessmen often built early in their careers. His later, grander house has been destroyed.
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 83000223, listed September 1, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Grogan St., Lavonia |
|---|---|
| County | Franklin County |
| Listed | September 1, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83000223 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Divided into three apartments before 1945 and used as a rental; described as in fair condition. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 34.43635, -83.10408 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 83000223.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q55637091
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.