Alabama Land Trust conservation easement donor Dr. Ann Pearson has been awarded the Alabama Historical Commission’s Roy Swayze Award for outstanding achievement by a private owner in the restoration and preservation of a major Alabama landmark, Noble Hall in Auburn.

Noble Hall in Auburn, historic home and 100 acres are protected by an Alabama Land Trust conservation easement

Located on Shelton Mill Road in Auburn, Noble Hall was constructed between 1852-1854 on a 2,000-acre plantation. Dr. Pearson recently preserved 100 acres of land and the structure in a conservation easement held by Alabama Land Trust, ensuring that the land and home will be preserved for generations.

Dr. Pearson, an author, former English professor, and granddaughter of a former Auburn University president Dr. Luther Noble Duncan for whom Noble Hall is named, is an Alabama Land Trust conservation easement donor and supporter. She makes her home in historic Noble Hall and often hosts heritage and historic preservation events there.

According to the National Register, Noble Hall is a Greek Revival rock and mortar house built by Addison Frazer (1809-1873) between 1852 and 1854 and served as the center for a 2,000 acre cotton plantation. Frazer was on the Board of Trustees of Auburn Masonic Female College and East Alabama Male College. Noble Hall has eight rooms with 12 foot high ceilings and 18 inch exterior walls, two cantilever balconies and eight Doric columns. In the rear are the original separate kitchen, carriage-smokehouse and overseer’s house. The Frazer family owned the house until 1922.

In 1932, J. V. Brown, Head of Buildings and Grounds at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University, bought the house and began restoration. In 1941, he sold it and 251 acres to Dr. Luther Noble Duncan (1875-1947), who served as president of A.P.I. (1935-1947). In 1943 his daughter, Elizabeth Pearson (Mrs. Allen M.), and family occupied the house and continued restoration. Mrs. Pearson inherited the house in 1951, collected its furnishings and named it Nobel Hall. In 1972 it was the first building in Lee County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.