The home, known as The Columns and located at 206 E. Fourth Ave., is being offered by John Dixon and Associates, with Rome auctioneer Joe Tarpley serving as the lead agent for the sale. The auction will take place on site on Dec. 12 at 1 p.m.
According to Floyd County Tax Commissioner Kevin Payne, the home was built in about 1910 in the neoclassical revival style that was very popular at the time.
“It’s got those six columns across the front there that make it very different,” Tarpley said.
The property is currently owned by Wes Manis under the corporate entity of Georgia Farm Realty Inc.
“It really needs to be converted back to a single family residence or updated,” Manis said. I’m just not in a position to do that at this time.”
Manis has owned The Columns for 10 years, purchasing it from Jim and Liz Hamrick.
It is divided into a number of apartments, which Tarpley said generate approximately $3,500 a month in rent. Despite the fact that The Columns has been divided up into apartments for a number of years, Tarpley said the auction company is promoting it as a home to be restored for single-family type use.
“When I was a teenager in the mid ’50s it belonged to Dr. Herman Gray, and I went there for several events and remember thinking at the time that it was one of the most beautiful homes I’d ever seen,” Tarpley said.
The Columns has its own Facebook page including a photo, year unknown, that identifies the home as the residence of T.W. Lipscomb, mayor of Rome, at the time he lived in the home circa 1910.
Subsequent to Lipscomb, the structure was home to a number of prominent Romans, including Isaac May and Joel Sulzbacher. Rome historian Anne Culpeper said the home was divided into apartments during the latter years of Gray’s ownership.
Floyd County tax records indicate the 5,575-square-foot structure and land are currently valued at $234,080.
The auction will also involve the sale of a duplex at 511 Chateau Drive and two duplexes at 101-103 and 105-107 Avenue B.
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