Eagle and Phenix Mill

Photos of current restoration work here

Description of Eagle and Phenix Mill from National Register Application 1978

"The Eagle and Phenix Mill complex is located on approximately eleven acres on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia. Since the initial construction, dating from the Civil War, numerous additions, razings and changes have taken place. Because of the complex arrangement of the present buildings, it is not possible to see everything from one vantage point. The list of the buildings (and mill race) below will, therefore, state where in the complex they are.
Mill #1 (east side faces courtyard, west side faces mill race)
Mill #2 (east side faces courtyard, west side faces mill race)
Mill #3 (west side on mill race, south side on 12th Street; additions face Front Street, 12th Street and the mill race)

Small 19th-century building between Mills #1 and #2 (on mill race)
Finishing Mill (inside courtyard between Mills #1 and #2)
Smokestacks (between Mills #1 and #3, on boiler plant)
Beam Dye House (inside courtyard, Between Mills #1 and #3)
Dyeworks (oldest Building north of Mill #2 and parallel to it)
Upper Powerhouse (on river and mill race)
Lower Powerhose (on river, at end of mill race; can be viewed from 12th Street)
Filter Plant (on mill race at extreme north end of Mill complex; a mid-20th century structure)
Mill Race (runs along river from Muscogee Mill to Lower Powerhouse, from north to south)
Front Street Buildings and Walls (a nearly continuous line which begins approximately 180 feet from 14th Street, south to 12th Street; behind this wall are offices, storage sheds, a parking lot and old train tracks)
Mill #1, begun in 1866 and completed in 1869, is a 5-story, brown brick building, approximately 50' by 200' with a hip roof, lying perpendicular to the river. Brick pattern is American-Bond (3 rows stretcher; 1 row header.) It has a square tower on its east facade, topped by a cornice with brackets. Brick string courses decorate the tower. The brick "pilasters" running the length of the tower appear to be structural rather than decorative. There are white pediments over the doors, and one row of bricks turned vertically, narrow side out, decorate the tops of the windows.

Mill #2, a brown brick, 5-story building, is approximately 60' by 225'. It lies parallel to Mill #1, though there are two buildings between them, and perpendicular to the river. It was begun in 1869 and went into production in 1871. It has a hip roof and a rectangular tower on the eastern facade. The eastern facade has a parapet bearing the date 1869 on both sides. On either side of the tower is a round window with metal work on it resembling a flower. The doors on each floor have white, wooden pediments over them. Other decorations are brick stringcourses and indentations in the facade. On the river side (west facade), the gable is fashioned like a pediment, all of brick, with extended cornices and dentils. There is an attached, rectangular projection, something like a tower or shaft, in the center of the western facade, with two, tall, narrow openings on each floor, now mostly filled in with brick.

The original Mill #3 was begun in 1876 and went into production in 1878. It once had two square towers on the north and south sides, but the northen tower was destroyed in the 1940s during a modernization program. It also acquired additions on its north and east sides. The original dimensions were approximately 70' by 260'. It is a 5-story variegated brick building, with brick laid in the American-Bond pattern (3:1) and lies parallel to Mills #1 and #2 and perpendicular to the river. In the center of its western facade there is a projection, topped with cornice and brackets, below the triangular parapet. Two short rectangular chimneys stand near the corners of the building. In the projection are small semi-circular openings. The tower that remains, on the southern facade, is brick, 7-stories tall, and is ornamented with rectangular indentations, brick trim, and a brick-work border that forms an arch on one side. There are doors in the tower with semi-circular tops on six floors; the second story from the top has two smaller similarly shaped doors. All the bays in the addition which faces 12th Street and Front Avenue are bricked in. Though the bonding pattern is American-Bond, it is 5:1 instead of 3:1.

Between Mills #1 and #2 is a two-story, dark red-brown brick building with basement and attic levels. It has a hip roof made of what appears to be metal painted red. Its windows are topped with wooden flattened arches and one row of vertical brick trim. This building, now a machine shop, dates back to the 19th century. It is only about one-fourth the length of Mills #1 and #2 and is not as wide as either.

The Finishing Mill (as it is now called) also lies between Mills #1 and #2. It is much monger than it is wide, is built of light red-brown brick and bears the date 1961 on its north wall. It has a triangular gable and rectangular parapet. Its windows are rectangular, and the building bears a quantity of brick trim.

Near the Front Avenue wall is the boiler plant, roughly between Mills #1 and #3. Mounted on this building are two very small octagonal brick smokestacks, tapered toward their tops and bearing some trim.

A large building running lengthwise between Mills #1 and #2, parallel to the river, is now painted red, even though it is brick, and is called the Beam Dye House. It almost gives the appearance of three separate buildings attached to each other, each with its own steep gable. Behind the gables, clerestory-like constructions run the width of the building, from front to back.

The Dyeworks, near the north end of the complex, was built sometime between 1870 and 1889. It is a long, two-story brick building with gently sloping hip roof, topped by a clerestory-type structure running along its ridge.

Both the Upper and Lower Powerhouses are located near the extreme southeastern corner of the mill complex. They are connected by a bridge to each other and by another bridge to the mill complex. They contain horizontal turbines which turn the generators (four mounted in the Lower Powerhouse in 1914 and five in the Upper Powerhouse in 1920), though they do not use water from the raceway to power their generators. At the present time, the nine generators, when the water level in the Chattahoochee is at the proper level, produce from 60% to 65% of the power needs of the whole mill complex. Both powerhouses are brick: Upper Powerhouse is light red brick with American-Bond (5:1); Lower Powerhouse is older, built in the second decade of this century and is made of rose-red brick with seven rows of horizontal brick, then a row of one long, one short, etc. Metal rods go through the building. The Lower Powerhouse is an irregularly shaped building on a rubble foundation. On top of the rubble is a poured concrete foundation with semi-circular arches on at least two sides. It has small stone-capped parapets, one on each face. There is a stone-capped ledge with brick trim about 2 feet below the parapet. It has large rectangular windows with rectangular stone lintels.

The Mill Race, running along the western border of the mill property, along the river, may date back to before the Civil War. It was built to provide water for power production, though it no longer serves its original purpose. It is of rubble construction. During the mill's earliest days, each building had its own water-driven power unit, run either from the water in the race or by water transported across the race in a flume. Later (date unknown), a complex of rope-drive systems, powered from a central unit or units, was installed. A stone pillar and the foundation of a second pillar, both located in the raceway, upon which must have sat part of the rope-drive system, still exist, and opposite these pillars there are rectangular openings in Mills #1 and #2, now closed, through which the ropes moved. Two openings very low on the western side of Mill #3, now bricked in, were used to facilitate the rope-drive system. In only one carding room, in Mill #3, is there any overhead shafting, which operates the machines below by means of belts. This shaft is now turned by an electric motor, but even this shafting is soon to be replaced.

The following is a description of the walls and buildings that face onto Front Street, beginning at the north end and going south. All these buildings have American-Bond brick patterns. Though there are separate buildings and wall segments, which were built at different times, the facades touch each other, except where stated otherwise, giving the appearance of one long wall along Front Avenue. For the sake of clarity, the buildings are numbered.

1. Red-orange brick; one story high with extended wall which encloses the parking lot. Triangular-shaped gable trimmed with horizontal brick molding and brick "dentils". Wall has "pilasters" topped with buttresses (all in brick) every few yards. Taller brick "pilasters" on building are topped with brick trim. Four narrow bricked-in bays (same brick) have projecting sills and segmented brick-trimmed arches over them (formed of two rows of bricks), extending about 10-inches or so down each side. Double metal doors in center that are semi-circular on top have same brick trim as window bays.

2. Brown brick with clipped triangular gable; 2 semi-circular bays flanked by brick "pilasters" topped with buttresses; five rectangular bays bricked in with the same brick; two rows of horizontal brick trim above, brick sills below. Brick string course underlines gable forming triangle.

3. Orange-red brick; flat roof; trimmed with brick string courses; two-stories; four bays on second floor filled in with wood; segmented arches; large rectangular double-wooden door on first floor. Upper and lower floors are in different colored brick (bottom is more brown.) Two of the bays on lower floor have deep stamped metal "floors." There is another completely bricked-in bay, flush with the facade that may have been a door. It has semi-circular arch with three rows of bricks over it.

4. Brown brick; straight roof line edged with brick trim. Two windows on second floor with segmented arch and brick trim. Third bay on second floor and three bays on first floor are all bricked in. "Pilasters" at each end of this building Narrow orange-red brick segment between 4th and 5th buildings.

5. Brown brick. Begins with a trimmed "pilaster" on north end, Round windows near roof, no filled in with brick so that they are flush with the wall. Four ground-level low bays with segmented arched tops contain vents; they have two rows of brick trim over them. Vertical downspouts run the height of the building and on this particular building they are fluted at the bottom. Just past 13th Street there are two large openings with driveways for vehicles. South of these is a gate through which one reaches the Personnel Department of Reeves Bros.

6. Just past the gate is a light brown building (American-Bond except that on this building there are three rows of horizontal bricks between the rows of header bricks instead of five as on the other buildings.) Same roof line and trim. Evenly spaced rectangular windows (shorter ones on second floor) topped by white carved wooden pediments with wide painted stone sills underneath. There are eight windows, then the door to Reeves Bros. Eagle and Phenix Div. Offices. Stamped metal steps lead to double-doors, made of paneled wood with brass fittings. Brass-trimmed carriage lamps flank the doors. White pediment, matching that over the windows, ornaments the door. Beside the steps leading to the door is a large iron bell (that used to be on top of Mill #1), mounted on a brick block. It is painted dark grey and bears this inscription in yellow: Vickers Sons & Co. Limited Sheffield 1867. Seven more windows lead to an opening between buildings. There is a short square chimney near the southern end of this building. The southern end of the building is painted red and has a triangular gable outlined with brick trim to form the three sides of a triangle.

7. American-Bond, but 3:1, brownish brick. Has two short "pilasters". Eight rather large circular windows are evenly spaced across the first story. They are filled in with wood and outlined with brick trim. Two different sizes of segmented-arched bays (now all bricked in and flush with the facade, but with a different brick from the facade) are on the second floor. Just below eye level to the ground is a solid concrete facing, painted dark green.

8. This is a wall that continues the line of the other buildings. It is decorated with "pilasters" and trim. Made of orange-red brick. Behind this wall are the old railroad tracks, now closed off by a tall metal gate. The gate faces south and connects with the wall of the addition to Mill #3 which is not in line with the Front Avenue wall." (end of National Register Description)