Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing in response to an error in your Nation Divided Newsletter (Volume 3 Issue 4) in the article about Atlanta's Grant Mansion.

The author of this article mentions that "Subsequent owners didn't do much to restore the property" after the house fell into disrepair after 1981. This is totally untrue. Woodrow Mankin went to great efforts to restore the Grant Mansion and had made vast improvements before his untimely death. His improvements were featured in newspaper and magazine articles. The Grant Mansion was not just his home but was his office as well and the site of numerous parties and functions - often to promote public and political interest in the house.

I remember the first time Woodrow showed me the Grant Mansion � or more accurately the remains of the Grant Mansion. This involved careful stepping over burnt wood and rubble. I could not think of anything to say when he told me his plans of turning the cramped cellar into an office. I believe it even had a bare earth floor. I did not want to be discouraging, but I thought he had lost his mind to leave the charming and comfortable home he had renovated in another section of Grant Park.

Woodrow proved me wrong. He continued his interior design business, served as a design commentator at WSB-TV, and taught classes while he restored, renovated, and rebuilt. Woodrow rebuilt the central hall dining room - it had neither floor, ceiling, roof, nor walls (except for brick) . He also renovated the back porch and built a front porch as well as installing doors, windows, etc. He removed the second story walls that were in danger of collapsing. He consulted with me about creating courtyard gardens in the two rooms adjacent to the central hall dining room. He abandoned the plans for the gardens after working with a structural engineer who told him that the walls could support a rebuilt second story. This thrilled him, and he began plans for a more extensive renovation that would bring the mansion closer to its original state. Woodrow not only preserved, renovated, and reconstructed the physical structure of the house, he was also a tireless promoter of the Grant Mansion, informing and educating many people (including politicians and neighbors who viewed it only as a liability) of the mansion�s importance to the history of Atlanta. The house became a vehicle to showcase his skills as a designer and was featured in Southern Accents and in other commercial photo shoots. The fact that Woodrow paid $30,000 for the house and it was sold for approximately $200,000 after his death is further evidence of this. That increase in value cannot be attributed solely to the rising real estate value of in-town properties.

If it had not been for Woodrow, the Grant Mansion would be a memory, and standing in its place would be a nouveau-pseudoVictorian construction of no historical significance whatsoever. I am glad a group has stepped forward to save the mansion by continuing the restoration. This is what Woodrow wanted and something his real estate agent tried to find after his death. However, please do not discount the efforts and vision of those who came before the Atlanta Preservation Center. Chief among those was Woodrow Mankin.

Sincerely,

Arty G. Schronce

Director of Public Affairs, Georgia Department of Agriculture