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 Union County Historical Society - J.W. Golucke Biography

Taliaferro County GaArchives Biographies.....GOLUCKE, JAMES WINGFIELD June 19 1857 - October 26 1907
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Rhoda Taylor Fone http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/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 ìAnnieî 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 fatherís
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 ìroomersî 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 ìWillieî Darracott),
where she continued to live until her death in 1941.

James Goluckeís 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 Goluckeís genius is best described in a series of articles by Mr. Wilber
W. Caldwell which appeared in the Association County Commissioners of Georgia
(ìACCGî) magazine, ìGeorgia County Government,î and on the ACCG website. These
articles were first written as chapters in the book ìThe Courthouse and the
Depot: The Architecture of Hope in an Age of Despair,î by Wilber W. Caldwell
(Mercer University Press, 2001). The following excerpt from Mr. Caldwellís
chapter titled ìThe Dekalb County Courthouse at Decatur,î 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-
ìThe 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 Goluckeís massive 1900
DeKalb County Courthouse, perhaps the most influential public building of its
era in Georgia. Except for Atlanta architect, Andrew J. Bryanís less
influential rather Neo-Georgian 1895 Stewart County Courthouse at Lumpkin and
Bryanís 1896 remodeling of the old Muscogee County Courthouse at Columbus,
Goluckeís 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 ìFlorentine Renaissanceî architecture of
Chicagoís ìWhite Cityî at the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

A careful combination of modern American Neoclassical trends and the familiar
Classicism of the Old South, Goluckeís granite centerpiece in DeKalb was
Georgiaís most imitated public building of first decade of the new century.
Less than a year after itís 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
Goluckeís work, and newspaper reports in Eatonton and in Newnan confirm that
Goluckeís commissions for courthouses in those towns were awarded on the
strength of the architectís 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,
Columbiaís Frank Milburn, Eastmanís Ed C. Hosford, Maconís Alexander Blair III,
Columbusís T. F. Lockwood, Augustaís Lewis Goodrich and Atlantaís Morgan and
Dillon would all create court buildings in Georgia following Goluckeís
general ìDecaturî 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
nationís 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 razorís 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 builderís guides of the early years of the nineteenth century.î
-END EXCERPT-
----------------------------

Unfortunately, James Golucke died in the midst of scandal and disgrace, accused
of an ìallegedî 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 ìGeorgia County Government,î the author, Mr. Alan
Pogue, states: ìIt is commonly believed that someone else, most likely a local
resident involved in the project was responsible for the misappropriation of
funds.î 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.î
----------------------------

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 ìGeorgia County Governmentî taken from the
book ìThe Courthouse and the Depot: The Architecture of Hope in an Age of
Despair,î 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.



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