page_title: Dr. John R. Drish House
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Dr. John R. Drish House / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Dr. John H. Drish House in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1911, while being used to house the Jemison School.
context_page_description: The Dr. John R. Drish House, also known simply as the Drish House, is a historic plantation house in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. It is considered by state preservationists to be one of the most distinctive mixes of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles in Alabama. First recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934, it was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on July 31, 1975, and subsequently to the state's "Places in Peril" listing in 2006. It was listed as Jemison School-Drish House on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
context_section_description: The large stuccoed brick mansion was built at the center of a 450-acre (1.8 km²) plantation on the edge of town for Dr. John R. Drish in 1837.  Drish, a native of Virginia, was among the earliest settlers of Tuscaloosa, settling there in 1822. A widower himself, he married a wealthy widow, Sarah Owen McKinney, in 1835.  By that time he had a successful physician's practice and worked as a building contractor, with many skilled slave artisans. These slaves executed much of the early plasterwork in Tuscaloosa.
  Built for Drish by his slave artisans, the first early incarnation of the house is usually credited to the influence of state architect William Nichols.  The exterior of the house, as completed in 1837, featured full width, monumental Doric porticoes to the front and rear, with two-story pilasters dividing each bay on all four sides.
  The house was extensively remodeled in the Italianate-style prior to the American Civil War, with a three-story brick tower being added, the front columns changed to the Ionic order, brackets being added to the eaves and overhangs, and two-story cast iron side porches to each side.  John Drish died in 1867, reportedly from a fall down a stairway, and Sarah Drish died in 1884.
caption: The Drish House in 1911, while still intact.
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