{{short description|American architect}} {{Infobox architect |name=John Marlor |image= |mother= |father= |birth_name= |birth_date={{birth date|mf=yes|1789|2|11}} |birth_place= England |death_date={{death date and age|mf=yes|1835|10|13|1789|2|11}} |death_place= Milledgeville, Georgia |significant_buildings= |significant_projects= |awards= |signature= }}
'''John Marlor''' (1789–1835) was an England-born, Charleston, South Carolina-raised master builder whose work in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia, capital of the state of Georgia from 1804 to 1868, combined several classical style elements to create the American architecture style known as "Milledgeville Federal", characterized by a fanlighted front entrances under two-story double-columned porticoes with cantilevered second story balcony, curved cantilevered staircases, and side-gabled roofs.<ref name="DMcD">Daniel McDonald: "Marlor presented the face of Antebellum Milledgeville" in ''The Union Recorder'', https://unionrecorder.com/features/x155345382/Marlor-presented-the-face-of-Antebellum-Milledgeville/print , April 25, 2008.</ref>
==Life and career== Born February 11, 1789, in England, little is known about Marlor's early years, but it has been speculated that he was apprenticed to a builder or taught himself from house-builders' plan-books.<ref name="DMcD"/> He moved from Charleston to Milledgeville in 1815, and began a nearly 20-year career that shaped the town's architectural heritage.
Marlor's reinterpretation of prevailing Georgian and Federal structures brought about an early classical revival in central Georgia architecture.<ref name="DMcD"/> The sophistication of his creations is more in keeping with that of an architect than an artisan.<ref name="JCB">James C. Bonner: ''Milledgeville, Georgia's Antebellum Capital'', University of Georgia Press, Athens, Ga., 1978, p. 37.</ref> As he gained experience, his signature architectural features became increasingly complex, as evidenced in his structures preserved in Milledgeville. When builder Daniel Pratt moved to Milledgeville in 1821, Marlor hired him, beginning a collaboration that later grew to include builder Elam Alexander.<ref name="DMcD"/> Marlor's construction labor was performed primarily by seven enslaved African-Americans, all of whom were trained carpenters.<ref name="JCB"/> He owned several thousand acres of timber land and a lumber mill, from which he drew for his building materials.<ref name="DMcD"/>
Marlor died on October 13, 1835, in Milledgeville, where he is interred in Memory Hill Cemetery,<ref name="FoBCC">Friends of Baldwin County Cemeteries, Inc.: ''Memory Hill Cemetery Walking Tour'', http://friendsofcems.org/MemoryHill/Brochure8_5X14.pdf, 2012.</ref> his tombstone featuring engraved builder's tools.<ref name="EB">Evening Blues: Find A Grave Memorial# 8256023, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8256023/john-marlor, Record added: Jan 10, 2004.</ref> Named to honor his contributions to the city's heritage, Milledgeville's '''John Marlor Arts Center''' includes two historic structures, the 1830 John Marlor House, adapted into offices of the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Allied Arts Center and the Elizabeth Marlor Bethune Art Gallery, and the 1911 Allen's Market Building, adapted into theatre, meeting and studio space.<ref name="MCC&C2">Milledgeville, Capitals, Columns & Culture: ''John Marlor Art Center'', https://www.visitmilledgeville.org/listings/brown-stetson-sanford-house/6/, accessed 4 Jul 2013.</ref>
==Architectural legacy in Milledgeville== * '''John Marlor House''', built in 1830 as a wedding present for his second wife Ann Carlton, now housing offices and an art gallery as headquarters for a complex of historic structures and an art center.<ref name="GDED">Georgia Department of Economic Development: ''Georgia’s Guide to the Civil War'', http://www.visitsavannah.com/media/483310/guide-to-the-civil-war.pdf , 2013.</ref> * '''Brown-Stetson-Sanford House''', built {{circa|1825}} with a Marlor trademark spiral staircase, later converted to a hotel to serve visitors and legislators during the city's years as capital of Georgia and from 1951 to 1966 into a tea room, before being donated to the Old Capital Historical Society who moved it to West Hancock Street in 1966.<ref name="GDED"/><ref name="HMDB1">Historical Marker Database: ''Brown-Stetson-Sanford House'', http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=13141, accessed 4 Jul 2013.</ref><ref name="MCC&C">Milledgeville, Capitals, Columns & Culture: ''Brown-Stetson-Sanford House'', https://www.visitmilledgeville.org/listings/brown-stetson-sanford-house/6/ , accessed 4 Jul 2013.</ref> * '''Newell-Watts House''', a late Georgian, early Greek Revival home originally owned by the same family for more than 100 years.<ref name="AC">Alexander Cain: Newell-Watts House holds 100 years of family history, '' The Union Recorder'', https://unionrecorder.com/local/x155355691/Newell-Watts-House-holds-100-years-of-family-history/print, September 21, 2007.</ref> * '''Stovall-Conn-Gardner House, "13 Columns"''', a two story clapboard structure with Greek Revival elements; the thirteen columns are believed to represent the Thirteen Colonies united during the American Revolution.<ref name ="CSmith">C. Smith: ''Stovall - Conn - Gardner House "Thirteen Columns"'', https://www.flickr.com/photos/drivebybiscuits1/318190294/, taken on November 15, 2006.</ref> * '''Masonic Temple of Benevolent Lodge No. 3, F. & A. M.''', the oldest Masonic building in Georgia in continuous usage, dedicated on June 24, 1834; considered by many to be Marlor's best work, with an especially fine cantilevered staircase.<ref name="HMDB2">The Historical Marker Database, '' Masonic Temple of Benevolent Lodge No 3, F. & A. M.'', http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=36729 , accessed 4 Jul 2013.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marlor, John}} Category:1789 births Category:1835 deaths Category:19th-century American architects Category:British emigrants to the United States Category:People from Charleston, South Carolina Category:Burials at Memory Hill Cemetery