J. J. Haverty

James Joseph "J. J." Haverty (c. 1858–October 18, 1939) was the founder of Haverty Furniture Co., headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

J.J. Haverty
Born
James Joseph Haverty

1858 (1858)
Atlanta, Georgia
DiedOctober 18, 1939(1939-10-18) (aged 80–81)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArt collector, furniture businessman
Known forFounding Havertys

Biography

Haverty was born in Atlanta in 1858, to the Irish immigrants Thomas and Margaret Cannon Haverty. Haverty also was a devout Catholic who was named a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Pius XI and helped found the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta. He began his first job, as a clerk for local dry goods merchant John Ryan, when he was fourteen.[1] He also took Havertys public just before the stock market crash of 1929.[2]:73–4

In 1885, he started an emporium in downtown Atlanta with his brother, Charles. In 1889, he partnered with Amos G. Rhodes to start a law firm, which became known as Rhodes, Snook & Haverty after P. H. Snook joined it in 1894. In 1908, the Rhodes-Haverty partnership was dissolved, at which point Haverty founded the Havertys furniture company, along with his son, Clarence, and other business associates.[3]

He has been called the first "important collector of works of art" in Atlanta,[4] with an eye for American Impressionist and Realist paintings, including work by Childe Hassam, Maria Turner, Albert P. Ryder, Jonas Lie and Henry O. Tanner. During the 1920s, he was a major supporter of New York's Grand Central Art Galleries, and he organized a series of successful exhibitions of American art at the Atlanta Biltmore Hotel. These events lead to the creation of Atlanta's High Museum of Art. Many Haverty collection paintings were donated posthumously to the High and remain in the museum's permanent collection.[2]:viii

Haverty is buried, along with other family members, in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery.[2]

References
  1. "Rhodes-Haverty Building". City of Atlanta Website. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  2. Smith, William Rawson (2006). Villa Clare: The Purposeful Life And Timeless Art Collection of J. J. Haverty (Google Books). Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. ISBN 0865549923.
  3. Garrett, Franklin M. (2011). Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1880s-1930s. University of Georgia Press. pp. 93–5.
  4. Pollack, Deborah C. (2015). Visual Art and the Urban Evolution of the New South. Univ. of South Carolina Press.
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