Studs and staircases: Physical features of the John Haywood Jones House

Mar. 15—The stately John Haywood Jones House (Coman Hall) on South Clinton Street is soon going up for auction on April 15, along with the remaining contents of the historic home. The mansion has witnessed over 170 years of Athens history and has been at the center of several historic — and many interesting — moments.

Construction began on the home began in 1849 by John Haywood Jones, son of wealthy attorney John Nelson Spotswood Jones of Greenbrier. Haywood Jones married Sallie Collier, niece of Governor Collier of Alabama.

A Huntsville Times article dated July 6, 1935, described the house, saying, "Built before the Civil War by Haywood Jones, this mansion embodied in its appearance from the first a generous flavor of that romance so characteristic of the South of that period. It was spacious to the point of hugeness, although there were only eight rooms, two hallways, and a cupola above its cellar."

According to "When Walls Talk" written by Frank G. Westmoreland, the site on Clinton Street was next door to John Haywood Jones' sister's father-in-law — Reverend Robert Donnell.

"He knew upon Reverend Donnell's death, his sister would become his closest neighbor," Westmoreland said.

The square 9 by 9 inch bricks of the Italianate house were made on site by slaves, and it is believed that the bricks were then laid side by side to create the home's 18 inch walls.

Westmoreland wrote, "Haywood used only the best-cured lumber that could be found in the framing of the floors and ceilings. He designed the ceiling of each room to be sixteen feet tall and the doors to each room to be very high, each with a three-pane glass transom. Slave artisans likely decorated the interior walls with exquisite woodwork that is thought to be made of the finest walnut.

The house originally consisted of a basement, two floors, and a cupola. The basement could be entered either from the inside or the outside. It contained two small rooms and one large room, each with a fireplace and a hallway. The largest of these chambers is 20 by 40 feet in dimension. It was originally used as a dining room, while the two smaller rooms were used as the kitchen, laundry, and pantry."

One unique feature to the home from that era is the kitchen not being detached. Instead, the kitchen was located in the raised basement that could be accessed from an inside stairway or from the outside. The basement also consists of several small rooms and a large room that current owner, William Carl Hatchett III, has heard referred to as a ballroom.

A tube from the first floor of the home to what would have been the basement kitchen remains in the home to this day. The tube is believed to have been used for communication between the main floor and the kitchen.

Westmoreland described the layout of the home's first floor. He said, "Upstairs, on the first floor, is a long hallway which extends through the house from the west front porch to the east back porch. On the north side of the hallway are double parlors, while on the south side are two smaller rooms, which are separated by a side hall. From the side hall, the stairway ascends into the second floor. As was the style of the day, the north wall of the front parlor has no windows, which presumably was a measure to ensure a cooler room in the summer and a warmer room in the winter."

The News Courier was recently given a tour of the home by Hatchett who pointed out a staircase hidden behind a bookshelf on the first floor. The staircase leads upstairs to the floor's main suite that has been modernized with two stylish bathrooms.

"The second floor has another wide hallway, which is a duplicate of the one on the first floor. There are four bedrooms on the second floor, and each of these rooms is 20 feet square. On the north side of the hall was a stairway that lead up to the cupola, which was nine feet square and was entered through a trap door," Westmoreland said.

The cupola was removed decades later, as it aged and deteriorated. Pieces of the cupola are still in the basement, along with edging bricks believed by Hatchett to have been used in the gardens of the home.

Those who have travelled by the home today will notice the grand white columns that grace the front porch and the second floor balcony overlooking Clinton Street. The original home did not have the features of today.

Westmoreland described said of the original front porch, "The original front porch of the mansion was reached by climbing several steps. It extended only partly across the front of the mansion. The porch roof was built on the floor level of the second floor. A door at the end of the upstairs hallway gave access to the roof of the porch, which functioned as a sort of balcony."

The 1935 Huntsville Times article also described the garden of the home. It stated, "Immense, spreading trees shaded the lawn. At one side, the flower garden was laid off in the form of a carriage wheel, 40 feet in diameter and was outlined in evergreen box. From a central hub, a rose bed radiated the spokes in the form of paths to the outer rim of the tire, which was another walk entirely around the garden.

Triangular spaces between the spokes were planted with peonies, pinks, chrysanthemums, roses, lilies, and other flowers."

To this day, the beautiful peonies continue to bloom each spring.

Next week, the News Courier will look in depth at the families who have called this grand house "home."