Faulk and Gauntt Building

Built in 1896 one block north of the Athens town square, this two-story commercial building has loadbearing reddish-brown brick walls laid in English bond and measures twenty-five by seventy-five feet. The east facade has a recessed double-door entrance, display windows with colored-glass transoms, brick hood moulds, corbeling, piers and chimneys with dentilled caps. Hawn Lumber Company constructed it on a site once held by Judges W.L. and J.J. Faulk, later bought by J.R. Gauntt, after an earlier law office on the lot was razed. The ground floor housed a mercantile business and then a grocery, while the upper floor held law, medical and dental offices. Its location near the St. Louis and Southwestern Railroad suited commerce, but use declined with the automobile. Later uses included a small factory and, from 1944 to 1946, city hall. It is listed as an excellent example of late Victorian commercial design and a rare survivor of the town's railroad-era prosperity. The local historical society plans a museum there.