Caldwell Bradshaw residence

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The Bradshaw residence in February 2006

The Caldwell Bradshaw residence, known as the Bradshaw House or the Bradshaw-Ramsay House is a 6,500 square-foot Victorian-style home at 2154 Highland Avenue. it was designed by architect George Torgeson of New York and constructed in 1892 for industrialist Caldwell Bradshaw. The brick and shingle-clad house features a tall hipped roof punctuated by narrow gables on the front and sides. A round turret dominates the southeast corner above a wrap-around porch. It is said to have been the first gas-lit home in the city.

When the Bradshaw family left Birmingham to tour the Western United States in 1902 they rented the house to mining engineer Erskine Ramsay. Ramsay purchased the house in 1905, and shared it with fellow bachelors Murray Brown, R. E. Brown, Culpepper Exum and Hinds Peevey.

In 1922 Ramsay sold the house to Pattie R. Jacobs. It was used as a residence until the late 1920s when it was divided into tenement apartments and eventually left vacant. It remained unused until 1978 when a group of attorneys purchased and renovated the property for use as their offices. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 28, 1980. In 1985 it was purchased by Merrill Stewart and again renovated to become the first home of the Stewart Perry Company. Later it housed Bradshaw House Gallery, an antiques dealer and framing shop.

In 2004 the house was again put up for sale and purchased for $650,000 by O2 Ideas, a growing advertising firm with offices next door at 2160 Highland Avenue. O2 undertook a complete renovation, including restoration of the original stairway and interior wood floors and trim and replacing plexiglass in the upper turret with curved glass panes. The house held their public relations and media departments as well as a conference room and a basement facility for their Barking Dog Studios production company.

In 2007 O2 moved to University Park Place in Homewood. As of 2010, the house is occupied by law firms Davis & Norris LLP and Bates & Bone LLP.

References

  • Satterfield, Carolyn Green (1976) Historic Sites of Jefferson County, Alabama. Birmingham: Jefferson County Historical Commission/Gray Printing Company
  • Fennelly, Sean (August 20, 2004) "This old house becomes a home for O2 expansion." Birmingham Business Journal