Built in 1835 for North Carolina native Alfred Battle, the original Battle House, together with several outbuildings, was large enough to occupy one whole city block. Initially, the house had a central hallway, a pair of front parlours, and several rooms on the second floor. It was around the Civil War that rooms were added to the house?s back area as well as a columned porch. In 1875, a local merchant immigrant from Hungary, Bernard Friedman, purchased the house from the Battles, thus its present name. At present, the Battle-Friedman House is managed by the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society and has on display an exquisite renaissance revival furniture collection. Many of the house?s original interior had also been preserved, including the Friedmans? addition of art deco nasturtium frieze, which may be glimpsed in the house?s hallways, and the lavishly designed plasterwork from the Battles.