J. H. Bingham residence

The J. H. Bingham residence or Bingham-Tarrant House is a 4,537-square-foot, two-story residence at 1309 19th Street South on "Nabob Hill" in Birmingham's Southside. It was constructed in 1898 for J. H. Bingham, a federal tax collector.

The house was constructed originally in a Victorian style with a hipped roof, cross gables and clipped eaves. There are two brick chimneys and a wrap-around porch with a partial hip roof. The porch is supported by paired round wood columns on brick piers with limestone caps. All around the house are undivided double-hung windows. Two windows contain leaded glass. The interior features pine flooring and plastered walls throughout. The dining room and one bedroom have wood paneling on the walls. The main rooms are divided with large pocket doors.

The house was remodeled after 1910 for its second owner, dentist Felix Tarrant. The renovations included Craftsman-style details in the exterior and on the ground floor interiors. He used the house until the 1940s, after which it was used as a parsonage and Sunday School for Highlands United Methodist Church.

In the 1950s, the home was sold and converted into a boarding house. In 1972 it was converted again for retail and office space, housing a ballet apparel shop and the offices of an importer-exporter, a realtor, and a tutor. Through the 1990s other tenants came and went, including massage therapists, marriage counselors and a law firm.

In December 2003 the home was purchased by Ira and Sheila Chaffin and completely restored as the Cobb Lane Bed & Breakfast, which opened in 2005. Ira died in 2016 and Sheila Chaffin put the property up for auction in January 2020.

References

• Dobrinski, Rebecca (September 4, 2011) "Investing in the Past: Cobb Lane Bed and Breakfast" Magic City Post
• Van der Bijl, Hanno (December 12, 2019) "Historic Five Points South B&B to go up for auction next month." Birmingham Business Journal