McFarland-Render House
Also known as: Magnolias
Why it's listed
Magnolias is a one-and-one-half story Greek Revival house at 612 Hines Street in LaGrange, built between 1830 and 1833 for Joseph D. McFarland. Collin Rodgers, a Troup County architect-craftsman, designed it. The five-bay frame house has a central pedimented Ionic portico, and its Ionic capitals carry a stick-flower motif between the volutes, a detail typical of Rodgers. Inside, a four-room central hall plan is joined by a dog-leg staircase and attic bedrooms. The Render family, in the house from 1881, replaced the windows and mantels and added rear rooms and a porch. A barn, garage and former servants' quarters stand behind the house, and magnolias and pecan trees screen it from the road. McFarland owned seventy-two slaves when he died in 1847, which made him one of the county's largest slaveholders. The house is valued as an early Georgia example of Greek Revival design and as a work of Rodgers, known for precise classicism.
Significance in brief: The house is significant as an early Georgia example of the Greek Revival style and as the work of Collin Rodgers, described as one of the foremost architect-craftsmen of the period in Georgia. It is also important in Troup County history as the town home of Joseph D. McFarland, one of the wealthiest plantation owners and largest slaveholders in the county.
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 78001008, listed November 29, 1978. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 612 Hines St., LaGrange |
|---|---|
| County | Troup County |
| Listed | November 29, 1978 |
| Reference number | 78001008 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1830-1833 |
| Architect / builder | Collin Rodgers |
| Architectural style | Early Greek Revival |
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied as a private residence; the form lists its condition as altered, and the house has been lived in by the Render family since 1881. |
| Acreage | 7 |
| Coordinates | 33.03808, -85.01976 (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 78001008.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q85784554
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.