John Jemison Jr residence

The John Jemison Jr residence or Jemison / Crittenden-Lathrop house, is a 6,326 square-foot modern-style house constructed in 1969 for John Jemison Jr at 3328 Dell Road in Mountain Brook.

The commission for a contemporary house was the initiative of Marie Jemison, who married John in 1948. Her two children by a previous marriage and their older son had moved away, and they lived with their youngest daughter, Margaret.

The Jemisons acquired the 3-acre lot in the Dell Road Sector of Mountain Brook Estates from Gillian Comer, the widow of Hugh Comer. The new house was designed by architect Fritz Woehle and re-used several features he had incorporated into his own home, which had been showcased in Architectural Record in 1964. The drive descends from the road into a large square parking court. The front walls of the house are unrelieved white brick. The interiors are clustered around landscaped atria, with views of a swimming pool and into the woods beyond. The family's bedrooms fill the north wing, while the south wing houses a garage, galley kitchen, library and guest suite. Wood decks surround the house on three sides. Interior finishes included white "pickled" hardwood floors and travertine tiles, set off by iridescent Italian tiles and modern wallpapers. The design for the Jemison residence won a 1970 Honor Award from AIA Alabama. The W. S. Cleage Construction Co. built the house.

Marie Jemison was active in politics and cultural programs in Birmingham and hosted numerous gatherings of local and visiting luminaries. After John's death in 1988, Marie continued to live in the house for another decade. She sold it in 1998 to Judy Crittenden and Philippe Lathrop, who soon married. They hired contractor Tom McClendon to carry out restoration of the aging building, including the updating of some of the finishes and rebuilding of the pool and decks.

References

• Cather, Patrick & Marjorie L. White (April 14, 2019) "Mid-Century Modern in Mountain Brook: The Jemison / Crittenden-Lathrop House." Birmingham Historical Society