Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Dignity on Peachtree

This may be the most dignified address on Peachtree Street, the H.M. Patterson & Son-Oglethorpe Hill Chapel, a funeral home. It's the Greek Revival sister of Philip Shutze's Spring Hill at 1oth and Spring Street. Both are wonderful. I prefer Oglethorpe Hill.

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It's human scaled and approachable, formal and reverent.

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The 3 separate masses that front Peachtree Street conceal how big it is. See the chapel's arched windows (below)?

It sits on a large, level immaculate lot just north of Oglethorpe University. There are 2 gardens featured in Gardenwalks in the Southeast By Marina Harrison, Lucy D. Rosenfeld. You can see one in the foreground.

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The lantern.
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Who was the architect?

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I've been to one funeral here, for Mike Pinkerton, a good friend who died too young. The chapel and other interiors are even more dignified than the exteriors, fit for their solemn purpose.

Architecture tourists will never tire of Oglethorpe Hill and can enjoy the pink Granite Collegiate Gothic architecture at Oglethorpe University and the Brookhaven Historic District, Silver Lake (a hidden jewel if you can find it), the beautiful setting of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, and the more modern but elegant Saint Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church in the same trip.

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