HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

B.F. Shirley Home

Alpharetta, Fulton County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

B.F. Shirley Home circa 1910. This Queen Anne home was built by Mr. Benjamin Franklin Shirley using a Sears Roebuck house pattern. Features include a nine-room interior, a veranda, and exterior stairs leading to the second floor. Renovations have been made, but the original building structure has not been altered. The Alpharetta Woman's Club purchased the house in 1962 and paid the bank loan with funds raised from community projects.

The Story

Built around 1910 by Benjamin Franklin Shirley from a Sears, Roebuck house pattern, this nine-room Queen Anne home features a veranda and exterior stairs to the second floor. The Alpharetta Woman's Club bought the house in 1962 and paid off the loan through community fundraising, preserving it largely as built.

Why it matters

The Shirley Home reflects the early-20th-century era of mail-order "kit" houses, when catalog companies like Sears brought stylish, mass-produced architecture within reach of small-town America.

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Related people

  • Β· Benjamin Franklin Shirley

Themes & tags

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