Smith Palmour Estes House

This Queen Anne style home was built in 1886 by James Whitfield Smith.

The two story house has an intricate full first floor balcony porch surrounding a turret and forming a gable entrance. The interior features a detailed Victorian mantle, oak grand staircase, beautiful stained glass windows, and narrow vertical wainscoting. The large old oak tree, the center piece of the front yard, was planted by the original owner, Mr. Smith.

James Whitfield Smith was a cotton broker and the son of a surgeon, who brought his family to Gainesville in search of more stable work. He was one of the founders of Gainesville’s First National Bank, father to Sidney Olsin Smith Sr., and grandfather to Judge Sidney O. Smith Jr., whose name is inscribed on the front of the federal courthouse on Spring Street. As the home’s name indicates, the home has passed through many hands, including Dr. W.A. Palmour, Mrs. C.V. Nalley, Mr. Martin Lawson, and Henry Estes. Today the house is owned by Brightstone Transitions, a transitional program designed to assist neurodiverse young adults gain the necessary skills to reach independence.

(Modern photographs of Green Street homes taken in 2022 by the Gainesville Convention and Visitors Bureau Intern Emma King. Historic photographs and information gathered from our friends at The Gainesville Times, The Norton Agency, the Historical Society of Hall County, the National Register of Historic Places, and the Digital Library of Georgia.)