Pleasants House

The story

Behind the sketch.

With its pressed-metal mansard roof, central tower, iron cresting, elaborate brackets, and spindlework, the Pleasants House is one of Huntsville's most exuberant examples of Second Empire architecture. The house was associated with Marie Shelby Pleasants and her children, Shelby and Marian. When the Huntsville Equal Suffrage Association was denied a permanent meeting place at the YMCA because its work was considered too political, members met temporarily in Marie's home. Her son, attorney Shelby Sidney Pleasants, became entangled in the investigation following the 1916 murder of Probate Judge William T. Lawler. Apparently fearing implication, Pleasants died by suicide. Contemporary newspapers reported that he shot himself in his downtown office, and investigators found no evidence connecting him to the murder.

Neighborhood

Old Town

Book location

Page 85