Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Taylor-Cooper House




This house has been on my radar screen for some time now. At first, I thought it was another house that was falling victim to "demolition by neglect." But the house was so hidden behind overgrown plants that it was hard to get a look at it. This week, I noticed that someone has finally cleared all the overgrowth from the yard. I also saw someone working on the house.

This house was originally built around 1870 for Captain Emzy Taylor, who was a retired Confederate Army officer. Taylor founded the First National Bank in Georgetown and helped establish the Georgetown Railroad Company. The house occupies an entire block near downtown that is probably prime real estate, so it would be easy to see why someone would want to let the house become so run down that it has to be town down. With the brush removed, you can see what are probably original outbuildings on the property. The house also has a concrete step in the front near the street that was probably used to get on or off carriages.