The Yellow Brick building at International Montessori School - Auburn
The yellow brick that faces the original main building was painstakingly removed from the old garage and repurposed as the exterior of this building. The classrooms were constructed with great respect for the integrity of the original home. Wooden floors and beadboard ceilings were installed to preserve its historic character.
In 1919, Jackson Longstreet Sims and his wife, Sallie Ambrose Sims, built the house in which our school now resides. The Simses are the great-great-grandparents of David, Daniel, and Mary Katherine Crooke, former students of Old Peachtree Montessori. J.L. Sims was a successful farmer and businessman, and the property was part of several large farms that he owned and operated. The lumber used to build the house and its floors was harvested from a timber farm owned by Mr. Sims.
The yellow brick was purchased in Cincinnati, Ohio, for five cents per brick. Older local residents and friends of the Sims family still refer to the house as "The Yellow Brick House." The home featured hot and cold running water, as well as two indoor bathrooms, which was considered extravagant in 1919. The hand-painted Italian ceramic tiles found in three rooms of the house were purchased at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The original roof was made of tin, and the green terra-cotta roof was added in the 1920s. Mr. Sims later moved the original tin roof to the Elisha Winn House on Dacula Road, another property he owned. The Sims family eventually sold the Elisha Winn House to the Gwinnett Historical Society.
The sinks in the house are the perfect height for children because Sallie Sims stood only four feet, eleven inches tall. The kitchen remains largely in its original form, using pieces of furniture for storage rather than built-in cabinets. The back porch, originally screened in, served as both a food storage area and a secondary entrance to the home.
The Yellow Brick House was completed in 1920. The Crooke children's great-grandfather, Olyn Sims, and Suzanne Sims Crooke's grandfather, was ten years old when the family moved into the house. The youngest of ten children, Olyn grew up in the Yellow Brick House. When the front steps were poured, he inscribed "1920" into the concrete, and that inscription can still be seen today. He graduated from Winder High School in 1929, and Suzanne still wears his class ring. Olyn later left Barrow County to attend college and seminary and served as a minister for more than forty years.
The Sims family owned the house until the mid-1960s, when it was sold to the Elliott family. In 1991, Suzanne's brother, David Sims, and his wife, Sabrina, purchased the property. Over the next five years, they carefully renovated and restored the home's interior. In the summer of 1996, they sold the property to Old Peachtree Montessori School. Following many successful years under that name, the school was purchased by Zaki Swaray-Rowe, who renamed it International Montessori School – Auburn, continuing its legacy of education while honoring the rich history of the Yellow Brick House.
