[1] The original part of the home of Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb is a Greek Revival four-over-four "Plantation Plain" built about 1834.

Cobb made additions to the house of new rooms, and by 1852, it had acquired its octagon shape and two-story portico.

In 1962, the Archdiocese of Atlanta bought the house to use as the rectory and offices for St. Joseph Catholic Church.

In the 1980s, the parish was planning to demolish the house, and the Stone Mountain Memorial Association stepped forward in 1984, bought it, and relocated it to Stone Mountain Park in 1985.

In 2004 the Watson-Brown Foundation bought the house and returned it to Athens in the spring of 2005.