The Lyndon House Arts Center
293 Hoyt Street
(706) 613-3623

Built circa 1850 by the first Mayor of Athens, Dr. Edward R. Ware, the Ware-Lyndon House still crowns a high ridge at the north end of Jackson Street, surveying the downtown landscape. Dr. Ware’s holdings extended from this large house to the Oconee River on the north and down the river to the Thomas Street Bridge. The house is the only structure still remaining from the once-prominent “Lickskillet” neighborhood made up of antebellum homes.

“Lickskillet” was bounded by Clayton, Jackson and Hoyt Streets, and the Oconee River. There is rumored to be a secret passage under the house which at one time led to the river. It was built during the time of the Newton House (an earlier frame house on the same site which was moved at the time of the construction of the Ware-Lyndon House) and incorporated into the newer Ware home, and was possibly used to escape Indian attacks.

The house’s elegance, coupled with the popularity of Dr. and Mrs. Ware, made it one of the centers of social life in Athens. In 1848, Dr. Ware was elected as a board member for Athens’ first ward and chosen by the board as the first intendant - with the same powers as the former chairman of the board of commissions - the following year. He served as a director for the Southern Mutual Insurance Company branch, the Athens Branch of the State Bank, and the Georgia Railroad Co.

By 1863, due to the War Between the States, the City of Athens had almost been depopulated of male citizens and was left relatively unprotected against invasion. It was under these circumstances that the older gentlemen of the city organized the “Thunderbolts” for home defense. Dr. Ware served as an officer with the Thunderbolts home guard unit. In 1864, Colonel W.C.P. Breckenridge captured some 600 Yankees near Athens for safe keeping. Dr. Ware sat for hours at a time on the University of Georgia campus fence with a gun to keep them remaining quiet and stretched out on the ground.

One fiercely hot day in September 1872, the whole town marched in procession out Pulaski Street and down into the pine woods on Dr. Ware’s land for the groundbreaking of the Northwestern Railroad. There was speakers, bands and banner waving, as well as Marshals on horseback. The depot still stands on that same location.

The house was sold to Dr. Edward S. and Mrs. Lyndon in 1880. When the two arrived and began house hunting, one of the houses they looked at was the Grant House on Prince Avenue. That house later became the University of Georgia President’s House. The story is told that the basement contained water that Mrs. Lyndon did not want to contend with.

Dr. Lyndon was well remembered as a prominent Athens pharmacist and businessman who owned Lyndon Mill, the forerunner of the Athens Lumber Company. Few realize, however, that Dr. Lyndon was also a surgeon. He was so affected by the horrors he witnessed during the War Between the States at the battle of Crater at Petersburg that he vowed never to practice surgery again.

The City of Athens purchased the house in 1939, making it the first public city building after City Hall. The Lyndon-Ware house was first turned into a recreation facility until a 1974 juried art show prompted the establishment of an art center in the house. In 1994, Athens-Clarke County voters approved the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) IV referendum that funded the renovation and expansion of the Lyndon House Arts Center.

The house itself is a two-story brick house representing a blend of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The first floor of the home features one of the finest American furniture and decorative arts collections of the Victorian period in Georgia. The house portrays the periods (1850-1890) within which the Ware and Lyndon families resided. A room in the house showcases musueum quality memorabilia comprising many of the highlights of Athens history. The Ware-Lyndon House is a locally and nationally designated landmark.

In 2000, the contractor of the Lyndon House Art Center, Lusk and Associates, Inc., was awarded with the Build Georgia Award 2000 by its trade organization, the Associated General Contractors of America, Georgia Branch. The organization only presented accolades in three budget categories; the Lyndon House Art Center design received its award in projects less than $5,000,000.

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