Friday, February 5, 2010

Peachtree at Piedmont - Zen View



Attention Atlantans: Do you recognize this window? Who were the architects?

I drove Buckhead in the drizzle this morning, heading south on Peachtree. Waiting to turn left on Piedmont, I could just make out Peachtree Road Methodist Church 1/4 mile away. It was a beautiful zen view among the muck. I floor-boarded the zoom, resting the camera on the steering wheel, happy for the red light.
P1000574-2010-02-04-PRUMC-FromPiedmont-Peachtree-More-Zoom

Buckhead is Atlanta's premiere edge city but it's a very close-in edge. Most everything is there: living, eating, working, shopping, entertaining; luxury and sleaze. New skyscrapers, old businesses, even "Disco Kroger" is still there. The housing boom left it overbuilt but likely to succeed.

I like Buckhead. It's not very pretty as a whole but it's jammed full of great parts. A good bit of it is unplanned and raucous and just right. Even the Buckhead churches do well.
PB191281Lenox-View-Terminus-To-Financial-Center

So a glimpse through the windshield wipers and fog made me happy that I was stopped at the one of Atlanta's worst intersections. Imagine the light in the sanctuary beneath this tower.
P1000574-2010-02-04-PRUMC-FromPiedmont-Peachtree-More-Zoom-Tower-Window-Detail

I doing posts about the 2010 Philip Trammell Shutze Awards. Yesterday's post hinted at another Shutze buiding with a similar windowed tower.

Here is a better hint. Imagine the light in the domed hallway below this tower.
P1000561-2010-02-03-Shutze-Academy-Of-Medicine-West-Portico-Tower

Let me know if you are attending the Shutze Awards.

Thanks,
Terry

8 comments:

  1. Jova, Daniels Busby designed Peachtree Road Methodist, I think. Have you ever been inside the Academy of Medicine?

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  2. Blue, Yes, I went to a business meeting at the academy in the 80's. I barely remember details except that it made a big impression: Cold, strict, and boxy on the outside. Cold, strict, curvy, and relatively opulent on the inside. I think that in spite of the severity, the closer I get to the building the more humane it feels. But that's another post.

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  3. Was I right about the church? The Academy of Medicine is no longer open to tours, I think.

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  4. Terry, beautiful shot. I pass the church all the time but you've captured the windows so well completely distinguishing the architecture from the surrounding strip malls.

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  5. This is my church, and I attend every Sunday - I have spent quite a few hours studying that window from the inside looking out. You should stop by sometime and check out the stained glass, the beauty of the santuary, the amazing fretwork on the organ - a British company built the organ (which was donated by a family in the church), and it is the largest organ of its kind outside of the UK.

    I know that Shutze designed the Synagogue on Peachtree, just down the road a bit....I am guessing that your cropped shot is this building.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. TTI, Nope.

    I went to a wedding at Peachtree Rd. Methodist long before the new sanctuary was there (I think. Certainly the wedding wasn't in the new part.) I presume Jova, Daniels Busby did the new part. Does anyone know who designed the older parts of the church?

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