NEWNAN, GA. – William Nathaniel Banks Jr, age 95, of Newnan, Georgia, died November 15 after a brief illness, at his home, Bankshaven. Known and respected by antiquarians and preservationists throughout the country, William was proudest of the 1820s Federal-style home which he had rescued from the area of Milledgeville and meticulously restored and reconstructed on his family’s property in Newnan. He also maintained an important Nineteenth Century residence in Temple, N.H. William was born in Newnan on March 6, 1924, the son of the late William N. Banks Sr and Evelyn Wright Banks. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University. He was a prolific author of articles for The Magazine Antiques as well as a playwright. His plays, The Curate’s Play and The Glad Girls, were professionally produced. William was admired by friends and scholars for his deep knowledge of American architecture and the decorative arts, as well as for his genial temperament and hospitality.

He was a long-term member and had served as vice-chair of the board of the MacDowell Colony, a contemporary arts organization in New Hampshire, and was a life member of the board of directors of the High Museum of Art. William’s ashes will be interred in the Grantville City Cemetery in Grantville, Ga., in a private family service. Online condolences may be expressed at www.mckoon.com.