Macon’s historic Crisco House is up for sale for $1.6M. Take a look inside

Riding down College Street in Macon, Georgia, one house stands out among the rest.

Its golden brick veneer shines as the nearly 13,000 square feet building dwarfs the surrounding homes.

The seven bed and 7.5 bath mansion, colloquially known as the Crisco House, is up for sale for $1.6 million, according to realtor.com.

Why is it called the Crisco House?

The Crisco House was built in 1901 by Wallace McCaw, the president of the Macon Manufacturing Company at the time, according to realtor.com.

McCaw was the creator of Crisco, which is hydrogenated vegetable oil commonly used in Southern kitchens to fry chicken and make biscuits.

McCaw moved to Cincinnati in 1910 to work with Procter & Gamble, who started mass-producing Crisco in 1911.

The Crisco House was sold to William Jordan Massee Sr., also known as “Big Daddy.”

Massee was a flamboyant character who many believe inspired the role of “Big Daddy” in Tennessee Williams’ play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” according to The Massee apartments’ website.

A friend of the playwright, Massee received his nickname from his granddaughter and often used the expression “nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof,” according to the website.

In the Crisco House, Massee added an owner’s suite, a movie theater and several other rooms over the years, according to realtor.com.

After Massee left the house, the house was transformed into apartments that were frequented by Mercer University students.

The mansion today

The house was foreclosed on in 2010, and the current owners bought the house for $200,000 in 2013, according to the Bibb County Tax Assessors website.

The owners renovated the house back into a single family home with seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and two half bathrooms, according to realtor.com.

The oval-shaped dining room flows into the kitchen with beautiful new appliances and plenty of storage space.

The attic has been transformed into an apartment, and the owner added a secret entrance to a speakeasy-style bar behind a bookshelf.

In the backyard, there is a separate structure that has a small living room, bedroom and bathroom, according to the website.

“They took the house and totally and unbelievably renovated. I can’t see anything more that they could possibly do,” said the listing agent Joanna Jones in the realtor.com article. “This great big house is completely updated, but still has warmth and spectacular charm.”