Taliaferro County GaArchives Biographies.....GOLUCKE, JAMES WINGFIELD June 19 1857 - October 26 1907 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Rhoda Taylor Fone http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002953 November 23, 2004, 11:05 pm Author: Rhoda Taylor Fone JAMES WINGFIELD GOLUCKE One of the most interesting members of our family was James Wingfield Golucke, husband of Annulet “Annie” Darracott (sister of my grandmother, Sallie (Darracott) Taylor). He had a phenomenal rise to fame and although he had no formal training, he became one of the most famous and critically acclaimed architects of his time. James Wingfield Golucke was born 19 June 1857 in Wilkes County., Georgia, died 26 Oct. 1907 in Baker County, Georgia, and is buried in the Crawfordville Baptist Cemetery, Taliaferro County. He was son of Edmund Golucke, a German immigrant, and Cornelia Susan Wingfield, a native of Wilkes County. James Golucke and Annulet Darracott were married on April 21, 1878 in Taliaferro County. There were no children born to James and Annie Golucke. Annulet Darrcott was born about 1856 in Taliaferro County and died 24 Sept. 1941, Atlanta, daughter of John W. Darracott and Susan Ann Chapman of Taliaferro County and later, of Atlanta. Aunt Annie was named for Annulet Ball, wife of the well-known Judge Garnett Andrews. Her grandmother, Ann Connell, was first married to Marcus Andrews, brother of Judge Garnett Andrews, and after his death she married William H. Chapman, our line. James Golucke began his career as a carpenter, which was his father’s occupation in Washington, Georgia. In 1880 he and his wife were living in Hancock County, and by 1889 they were living in Atlanta where he was employed as a machinist at the Woodward Lumber Company. 1880 Census, Hancock Co., GA Sparta Roll 151, page 304B 3 June 1880 Dwelling 64, Family 99 Golucke, J.W., w, m, age 23, Self, mar., b, GA, father b. Ger., mother b. GA, occupation: Carpenter Golucke, Annie, w, f, age 24, Wife, both parents b. GA, occupation: keeping house. Atlanta City Directory (from Ancestry.com) Year: 1889 Name: James W. Golucke Business Name: Woodward Lumber Co. Occupation: mch Location 1: (blank) Location 2: residence 10 N. Butler, Atlanta Year: 1890 Name: James W. Golucke Business Name: Woodward Lumber Co. Occupation: machinist Location 1: (blank) Location2: residence 10 N. Butler, Atlanta 1910 Census, Fulton Co 2-WD, Atlanta City Roll 190, Bk. 2, Page 22B June 28, 1910 Golucke, Annie, Head, f, w, age 53, widow Number of children born: 0 Number of children living: 0 b. GA, both parents b. GA Occupation: own income In the 1920 census, Annie Golucke, and her brother, Frank Darracott, were listed as “roomers” in the household of John A. Yother in Atlanta. By 1930, Aunt Annie was living in Atlanta with her niece, Anita (Robbins) Beale (daughter of James Marion Robbins and Frances Roberta “Willie” Darracott), where she continued to live until her death in 1941. James Golucke’s career as an architect began in the mid-1890s and lasted until his untimely death in 1907. He designed at least 27 courthouses in Georgia and four in Alabama, and was considered a genius in his field. It is unknown exactly how many other buildings he designed but a few are The Fitzpatrick Hotel, Washington, Georgia, Terrell Hall at Georgia College in Milledgeville, and the Spalding County Jail. James Golucke’s genius is best described in a series of articles by Mr. Wilber W. Caldwell which appeared in the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (“ACCG”) magazine, “Georgia County Government,” and on the ACCG website. These articles were first written as chapters in the book “The Courthouse and the Depot: The Architecture of Hope in an Age of Despair,” by Wilber W. Caldwell (Mercer University Press, 2001). The following excerpt from Mr. Caldwell’s chapter titled “The Dekalb County Courthouse at Decatur,” is particularly interesting and is presented here with permission. (The complete article may be viewed at the ACCG website: http://www.accg.org/detail.asp?ID=909) -EXCERPT- “The first DeKalb County Courthouse was a log structure built around 1824. It was replaced in 1829 by a brick building that burned in 1842. In 1847, a quaint brick courthouse was fashioned vaguely in the Greek mold. This building was demolished in 1898 to make way for James Wingfield Golucke’s massive 1900 DeKalb County Courthouse, perhaps the most influential public building of its era in Georgia. Except for Atlanta architect, Andrew J. Bryan’s less influential rather Neo-Georgian 1895 Stewart County Courthouse at Lumpkin and Bryan’s 1896 remodeling of the old Muscogee County Courthouse at Columbus, Golucke’s creation in Decatur was the first courthouse in the state to voice the passion of the American Neoclassical Revival. The new Classicism had swept the county after the success of the “Florentine Renaissance” architecture of Chicago’s “White City” at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. A careful combination of modern American Neoclassical trends and the familiar Classicism of the Old South, Golucke’s granite centerpiece in DeKalb was Georgia’s most imitated public building of first decade of the new century. Less than a year after it’s completion, Golucke designed a brick court building in Hart County based on a nearly identical plan, and only a year later he followed that structure with his 1903 Meriwether County Courthouse at Greenville. By this time, county officials were flocking to Decatur to view Golucke’s work, and newspaper reports in Eatonton and in Newnan confirm that Golucke’s commissions for courthouses in those towns were awarded on the strength of the architect’s work in DeKalb County. James Golucke would expand on his ideas in Putnam and Coweta Counties, adding more Beaux-Arts ornament and more expressive details. In all, he would design seven court buildings in Georgia modeled after the general form found here at in Decatur. In addition, Columbia’s Frank Milburn, Eastman’s Ed C. Hosford, Macon’s Alexander Blair III, Columbus’s T. F. Lockwood, Augusta’s Lewis Goodrich and Atlanta’s Morgan and Dillon would all create court buildings in Georgia following Golucke’s general “Decatur” plan. Part of the success of the design turned on four more or less equal portico entrances, one at each of the four points of the compass. Elsewhere in America, the new Classicism reflected a grasping commercialism and the aggressive nation’s growing industrial might. To temper these uniquely un-Southern images, Golucke was careful to retain, at the center of each elevation, a bold Greek temple form, a grand portico topped with a Classical pediment supported by imposing columns. Golucke thus balanced powerful duel symbols that spoke to a deeply troubled region teetering on the razor’s edge between the Old South and the New. Here, despite its granite monumentality, was a fundamentally Georgian Classical form, not much different from courthouse designs that appeared in simple builder’s guides of the early years of the nineteenth century.” -END EXCERPT- ---------------------------- Unfortunately, James Golucke died in the midst of scandal and disgrace, accused of an “alleged” connection with the misappropriation of funds in Baker County. He died in jail in Newton, Baker County, Georgia, of natural causes after an unsuccessful suicide attempt (see newspaper article below). He vigorously denied the charges up to his death in 1907 and our family, as well as many others, believed in his innocence. In a recent article appearing in the September 2004 issue of “Georgia County Government,” the author, Mr. Alan Pogue, states: “It is commonly believed that someone else, most likely a local resident involved in the project was responsible for the misappropriation of funds.” There is a story that his restless spirit still haunts the Baker County Courthouse to this day. From Ancestry.com Newspaper Database (provided by Margie McDonald) The Atlanta Constitution October 28, 1907 "DEATH TAKES J. W. GOLUCKE Body of Well Known Architect Reached Atlanta Last Night. The body of J. W. Golucke, formerly a prominent architect in Atlanta, reached the city last night at about 8 o'clock and is being held at the undertaking establishment of Greenberg, Bond & Bloomfield, awaiting the perfection of funeral arrangements. Some time ago Mr. Golucke was arrested and carried to the Baker county jail at Newton on the charge of alleged connection with the misappropriation of funds in the building of a new courthouse for Baker county. Several weeks ago he tried to commit suicide while in his cell by cutting the arteries in his wrist with a piece of glass, but his purpose was thwarted by the efforts of physicians. He recovered from these injuries, it is said, his death resulting Saturday night, at Newton, from an attack of gastritis.” ---------------------------- Some Georgia courthouses designed by James Wingfield Golucke. 1895-Emanuel County-Swainsboro 1895-Johnson County-Wrightsville 1895-Pike County-Zebulon 1897-Henry County-McDonough 1898-Clayton County-Jonesboro 1898-Habersham County-Clarkesville 1899-DeKalb County-Decatur 1899-Cobb County-Marietta 1899-Union County-Blairsville 1900-Schley County-Ellaville 1900-Baker County-Newton 1901-Fannin County-Blue Ridge 1901-Hart County-Hartwell 1901-Madison County-Danielsville 1902-Tattnall County-Reidsville 1902-03-Bartow County-Cartersville 1902-03-Meriwether County-Greenville 1902-03-Pierce County-Blackshear 1902-03-Twiggs County-Jeffersonville 1904-05-Cowetta County-Newnan 1905-Forsyth County-Cumming 1905-Morgan County-Madison 1905-Putnam County-Eatonton 1905-06-Jones County-Gray 1905-06-Worth County 1906 - Toombs County-Lyons ---------------------------- SOURCES: 1. Article from the ACCG magazine “Georgia County Government” taken from the book “The Courthouse and the Depot: The Architecture of Hope in an Age of Despair,” by Wilbur W. Caldwell (Mercer University Press, 2001). 2. Cemetery Inscription, Crawfordville Baptist Cemetery, Crawfordville, Georgia. 3. Taliaferro Co., GA Marriage Book B. 4. Wilkes Co., GA Census Records. 5. Taliaferro Co., GA Census Records. 6. Hancock Co., GA Census Records. 7. Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA Census Records. 8. Newspaper Articles from the Atlanta Constitution provided by Margie McDonald. 9. Information provided by Erick Montgomery. 10. Personal Knowledge and Family Records. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/taliaferro/bios/gbs602golucke.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 11.0 Kb