McKey Building

Completed in 1906 by contractor Stephen F. Fulgham, the McKey building occupies a prominent space across from the Lowndes County Court House in Historic Downtown Valdosta, Georgia.

Funded by sale of fruit from family orange groves, the building’s completion would stand as a testament to the family’s success in Southeastern produce markets. Owned and operated by the two McKey families, the South Florida groves produced a bumper crop in 1905 that enabled swift construction of the building.

The building stands as a firm example of Renaissance Revival style architecture, also termed Italianate, which was common in the early twentieth century. Because of the style’s lack of projecting elements, Italianate buildings fit well on city streets. Becoming a popular style for downtown commercial buildings, it was the primary choice of contractors and architects for such projects between the 1850s and the early twentieth century. (Tyler, Historic Preservation, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000.)

In its purest form, Renaissance Revival buildings are austere square or rectangular boxes with little decorative detailing except for formal window crowns and restrained cornice moldings. They are always of masonry and typically have horizontal belt courses and corner quoins. As in the originals, most American examples are townhouses. Relatively few were built and only a handful survive.

The McKey building contains several elements typical to the Renaissance Revival style. They include a rectangular box shape, masonry construction, formal one-over-one windows with window crowns of white marble containing keystones, rounded arch windows, and decorative entablature. The entablature contains a number of elements including cartouches, dentil molding, and modillions.

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