Norcross Woman’s Club donates historic building to Georgia Trust

After a years-long effort to find a safe harbor for the Norcross Woman’s Club’s old library and clubhouse, its members have donated the building to the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation as part of an adaptive reuse project. 

It’s the most valuable property ever donated to the Trust and a rarity for their Revolving Fund program. Through the fund, the Trust typically buys up “distressed” historic properties and resells them to preservation-minded buyers with a rehabilitation agreement and a preservation easement. 

Once sold, the profits go right back into the Trust’s Revolving Fund to help with other projects. Georgia Trust President and CEO W. Wright Mitchell predicts this property will likely be turned into a single-family home. 

“It’s a real kind of opportunity to see how this building, connected to make it usable as a single-family home,” Mitchell said. “Then how that translates into saving other buildings that may not certainly lend themselves to single-family home use, but for whatever reason, that’s where they find themselves.” 

But adaptive reuse wasn’t always the plan for the Norcross Women’s Club. The Carnegie-style Greek revival structure was built in 1921 by the Woman’s Club, founded in 1905 by women involved in the national library movement. It was the first library in Gwinnett County. In 1966, the library was relocated, and the building became home to the long-standing club. 

Norcross Woman’s Club President and CEO Anne Webb knew the building was rare. It’s the only Carnegie-approved library in Gwinnett County, with high ceilings and windows that fit the hallmark architectural style. As a longtime historic preservation activist in her community, Webb also knew that the property could be at risk of decay or redevelopment. 

The club owned the property, so Webb focused her efforts on preservation. At first, members paid to redo the plaster and refinish the floors. Preservation and repairs were on track until 2016, when a large storm severely damaged the roof. 

A contractor fixed the roof temporarily free of charge, but estimates showed a true repair would cost about $75,000. For Webb, that price tag was a daunting task. But she kept trying — the president connected with the Duluth Historical Society and Gwinnett County Historic Preservation Board to brainstorm fundraising ideas, grant applications and increased membership. 

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, it halted all existing efforts as the club strained to maintain its existing membership through virtual meetings. The building was still in need of repairs and preservation, but the organization was stretched thin and worried about what would happen in the future. They also didn’t want to sell to any buyers.

“We didn’t have any guarantee that it could be saved or that over time, it would not be changed into something unrecognizable,” Webb said. 

Webb was a long term member of the Georgia Trust, though. She was familiar with the Revolving Fund and thought it could be an option for the Carnegie-style library.

“The club elected then to devote its energy to getting the building to a safe harbor,” Webb said. 

 But before donating the building, she had to prove its link to the historic businessman. 

Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, businessman Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of over 2,000 libraries. Each had key design characteristics: an entry staircase to signal an “elevation to learning,” 12 to 15-foot ceilings and windows six to seven feet off the floor. 

The Norcross Woman’s Club’s old library has all of these traits. Webb “knew in her heart” that the building had a link to Carnegie, which would give the Trust reason to buy it out. She reached out to a local historian, who said the only existing records would likely be at Columbia University in New York. The college told Webb she would have to visit in person to access the documents, so she looked for another avenue. 

“I had a hunch to search online again, and there it was,” Webb said. “We hit the mother lode.”

The “mother lode” was 22 pages of correspondence between Andrew Carnegie’s private secretary, the president of the Women’s Club and the mayor of Norcross. Webb learned that in 1907, the members approached several businessmen and philanthropists, including Carnegie, to gather donations and build a library building. The club had plans drawn up by Oliver Duke Wheeler and approved by Carnegie, making it an official Carnegie-style project. 

Carnegie also approved a $5,000 grant that was rejected by the city because of his list of stipulations regarding library operations. While not an official part of the Andrew Carnegie Library funding program, its design proved enough to move forward with the Trust. 

“We felt like the trust was the best, most viable option we had, and even though they would modify it somewhat, and we understand it might possibly become a private residence, we understood that there would be oversight in perpetuity,” Webb said. 

Once the Trust acquired the home, the Woman’s Club dissolved its 501c3 status and ceased operations. Its final move was to ensure the building would be safe. 

“We have accomplished our goal,” Webb said. 

Now, the Trust is on the hunt for a preservation-minded buyer. Mitchell credits the Woman’s Club for taking the steps to donate the property rather than sell it for a profit.

“I think it just highlights how, you know, refreshing it is to have an owner like our Woman’s Club who could have sold this property to a developer, torn it down and built a brand new single-family [home],” Mitchell said. “But instead of doing just that and trying to monetize the property as much as they could, they chose preservation over money.”

It’s a win for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation among recent “crushing losses” described by Mitchell, including the demolition of the Galloway School’s historic Gresham Building and the New Perry Hotel. The Trust fought to preserve components of both buildings, but both will soon be fully replaced with new builds.

“The lesson here is that there are a wide variety of needs and methods to preserve these,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes it takes being a little creative, and sometimes you may not get as much money out of the solution as you had hoped, but at the end of the day, the benefit of saving a building for a community to use and enjoy often outweighs, at least, in my opinion, any marginal economic benefit you can get by tearing it down.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Aug. 22 to provide more context and detail.