Johnston-Felton-Hay House

Macon, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

The Johnston–Felton–Hay House, built between 1855 and 1859 in Macon, Georgia, stands as a masterwork of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture. Designed by the New York firm T. Thomas and Son for William Butler Johnston and his wife Anne Tracy Johnston, this 18,000-square-foot, 24-room mansion was constructed by Italian craftsmen under the supervision of local master builder James B. Ayers. Rising four levels and crowned by a three-story cupola, the house earned the epithet "Palace of the South" for its architectural distinction. Its technological sophistication was extraordinary for its era: it featured hot and cold running water, central heating, a speaker-tube system linking fifteen rooms, a French lift (an elevator precursor), an in-house kitchen, and an elaborate ventilation system. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973, it remains a landmark exemplar of mid-nineteenth-century American domestic design and engineering.