THE BATTLE-FRIEDMAN HOUSE AND GARDENS

by Hannah Brown

In 1835 North Carolina native Alfred Battle constructed this magnificent townhouse in what was then Alabama’s state capital, Tuscaloosa. A wealthy planter, Battle owned three plantations south of Tuscaloosa in present day Hale County.

Architectural historians believe that many of Battle’s slaves, who were skilled craftsmen, worked on the two story structure.  The design contains both Federal and Greek Revival detailing.  The brick walls of the house are eighteen inches thick and the front facade is plastered, scored and painted to resemble rose marble. This faux marbre technique was a common  feature on the homes of wealthy Tuscaloosa families who wanted their houses to resemble Greek temples.

Originally the house consisted of the two front parlors and the entrance hall with two bedrooms and a hallway above. The rear dining room, an additional upstairs bedroom and the front portico with its six massive paneled columns, were added in the 1840’s.  The south dining room  and the upstairs southern bedroom were added about 1860.

Once the house was complete, Millicent Battle turned her attention to the grounds. In 1844 she employed an English landscape designer to lay off her garden.  He provided an intricate design of interlocking diamond shaped beds and paths.  The Battles even built a greenhouse finished in a faux marbre exterior similar to the house.  When completed the gardens were a popular attraction on Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa’s most fashionable street. These are thought to be the only extant ante-bellum gardens in the state of Alabama.

The Battles enjoyed their elegant town house, which originally occupied an entire city block,  for almost 40 years, but their Confederate investments ruined them. In 1875 Alfred Battle was forced to sell his house to Bernard Friedman, a wealthy Hungarian immigrant. For almost a century members of the Friedman family occupied the house, embellishing the interior and maintaining the beautiful grounds. From the gardens the poet Robert Loveman, nephew of Linka Loveman Friedman, drew inspiration for his most famous lines “It isn’t raining rain you know, it’s raining violets.”  In 1997, through a generous donation from Mrs. Anne Boyd Russell who remembered hearing the poem as a child, the gardens were restored to their original splendor. 

In 1965 , Hugo Friedman, a noted Tuscaloosa businessman and philanthropist, donated the house to the city of Tuscaloosa for use as a cultural and social center.  Today, the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society maintains the house and surrounding gardens.

The house contains an impressive collection of furniture and decorative items.  In the south parlor, to the left as you enter the house, are portraits of Alfred and Millicent Battle.  The ornate and delicate frieze and ceiling medallions are appropriate for a “ladies parlor”.  The chandelier, with its twin in the north parlor, was brought back from Hungary by Bernard Friedman. The furniture in this parlor is primarily Rococo Revival, a style popular from about 1840 to 1860. In the north, or Fitts, parlor is a large and fine Renaissance Revival parlor suite by Mitchell and Rammelsberg of Cincinnati.  This furniture was originally in the home of James Harris Fitts, a prominent banker in Tuscaloosa and was donated by descendants. The center table in the north parlor once belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Strauss, owners of Macy’s, who went down together on the Titanic.

Upstairs the Northeast “Battle” bedroom contains the Battles Rococo Revival bed with a detachable headboard for ventilation. The wardrobe is believed to have been built in New Orleans.

The Southeast “Friedman” bedroom contains many items used by Mr. Hugo Friedman, including his Renaissance Revival Bed. The Renaissance Revival parlor furniture in the northwest upstairs sitting room was original to the house and was donated by a descendant of the Friedmans as was the 1840 era four poster bed in the southwest bedroom.

The collection of furniture and decorative items at the Battle-Friedman House is ever-evolving.  The Society is always interested in acquiring items associated with the Battle or Friedman families.

Behind the main  structure of the Battle-Friedman House is an outbuilding.  This dependency was either a kitchen or a servant house and contains, under the floor or of the north room, a large brick-lined pit, fifteen feet deep, which is thought to have been a water cistern or possibly an ice pit for cold storage.

The house is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. unless rented out for a private event. There is a $5.00 per person admission charge. Children under 12 are free. Wheelchair ramp available upon request. Please call 24 hours in advance if needed.. Basic charge $600.00 for six hours, maximum of 175 people.