Johnson, James E., House
Why it's listed
This one-story Queen Anne house on West Church Street in Sandersville was built in 1900 for James Emmett Johnson, a local banker and later president of the Sandersville Railroad. Johnson hired architect Charles E. Choate to design the home, and a local builder named Schwall helped construct it. The frame house has a hipped and gabled roof, a corner turret, two bay windows with harp-shaped brackets, corbelled brick chimneys and a decorative dormer. Its original wrap-around porch was later replaced with a smaller brick porch, and a rear sleeping porch added in 1908 was enclosed and extended in the 1960s. Inside, a central hall with a pierced wooden screen, beaded wainscoting, pocket doors, corner fireplaces and ornamented mantels survive largely intact. The house was listed for its architecture because it is one of the most elaborate and complete examples of Choate's interior residential design in Washington County, and it represents his early local work.
Significance in brief: The house contains one of the most elaborate and intact interior residential designs by Charles E. Choate in the Washington County area. Its interior has nearly all of his design signatures, and its surviving exterior details reflect his early local work, even though the original front porch was replaced.
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 94000711, listed July 28, 1994. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 425 W. Church St., Sandersville |
|---|---|
| County | Washington County |
| Listed | July 28, 1994 |
| Reference number | 94000711 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1900 |
| Architect / builder | Charles E. Choate, architect; Mr. Schwall, a local builder, assisted Choate and constructed the house |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian: Queen Anne |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Historic and current use is a single dwelling; the original wrap-around porch has been replaced by a nonhistoric brick porch, and the rear sleeping porch was enclosed and extended in the 1960s. |
| Acreage | 1.4 |
| Coordinates | 32.98118, -82.81763 (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 94000711.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q134466787
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.