Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Moving the Little House a Little Means a Lot - Iman Park

The cottage is about 94 years old and it has a new story to tell. They moved it about 130 feet. It already has a Facebook page: At the Collective part of the new Krog Street Market. This was Tuesday morning, August 6, 2013.

The move was as much fun as an architecture tourist can have. In the process the movers, contractors, developers, and sidewalk superintendents felt an unexpected camaraderie. We were all smiles at the end and the good cheer has lasted me for 36 hours.

Why'd they move it? Why didn't they just tear it down?


It's the only house on that side of the block but I doubt many noticed.

Mapview-before-2013-08-06-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-Moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market-3
Folks lived there up until about a year ago; Google street view still has a picture. Real estate sites say it's 1,080 square feet, built in 1920. The "1920" is probably wrong.

It's cute but it was in the way, almost a victim of the Atlanta BeltLine which made the development of Krog Street Market possible. For you non-Atlantans: The BeltLine is really big deal.

In most circumstance they'd have torn it down. Instead, it's a great preservation story.

IMG_2878
That's because it's in Inman Park and Inman Park is strong and strict. And it's because folks are more preservation minded these days. Aren't they?

IMG_2795  Cottage at 723 Lake Ave. to be moved to the corner of Waddell Street for Krog Street Market
It was in the way, smack in the middle of the space. The "Inman Park overlay Historic District" said they couldn't mess with it.

IMG_2794  Cottage at 723 Lake Ave. to be moved to the corner of Waddell Street for Krog Street Market
Then at a meeting of developers and city planners someone wondered, "Can we move it?"

IMG_3063-2013-08-05-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-to-be-moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market
They laid foundations at the corner of Lake Street and Waddell.

 IMG_3087-2013-08-06-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-Moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market
They hired Roy Bishop House Movers from Stockbridge and went to work.


This is what they had to do.


The fiddled and rocked and tweaked and brought it home.

IMG_3113-2013-08-06-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-Moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market
This was "the man" John Kinard, owner of Roy Bishop House Movers. During the move he was calm, quiet and serious. When it was done, he smiled, chatted, iPhoned, and headed out to the next job.

He told me it is well built, that if they'd braced it wrong they'd have broken it in half. He said there was a hidden chimney and if they hadn't found it and braced it properly it might have been trouble.

IMG_3117-2013-08-06-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-Moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market
The Paces Properties folks were certainly happy, another milestone on the way to opening Krog Street Market.

IMG_3132-2013-08-07-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market
Now for some TLC.

Mapview-before-2013-08-06-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-Moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market-1
The is the corner of  Lake and Weddell before, thanks to Google street view.

IMG_3139-2013-08-07-Cottage-at-723-Lake-Ave-moved-to-corner-of-Waddell-Street-for-Krog-Street-Market
The cottage at its now home looking fine, it went from invisible to anchor.

I took way too many pictures and videos of the move.



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8 comments:

  1. Wow! What a great story. I am glad to see a little piece of history was preserved in Georgia. I've just started looking at some South Carolina real estate. I wish I could just move my entire house with everything in it down to our new soon-to-be-home state!

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  2. Wow, a lot of changes happened, its fantastic you moved the entire house. How you did that?

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  3. Looks like from a tropical place, its amazing that you moved that entire house.

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  4. I just want to say thank you for sharing House movers Content and great pics, it was really awesome and very informative. Thank you.

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  5. I spent my early 20's working for Johnny at Roy Bishop... this is nothing compared to some of the things we moved... the house of the founder of greater Atlanta Christian school was massive and scared the heck out of me coming down that big hill.... we also cleared the way for the Ga 400 extension into buckhead moving all those houses in a single summer.... fun times

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  6. I'll tell you one thing about John Kinard with Roy Bishop house movers, if you call him up to get a quote on moving a home, you better intend on using him and no one else, because if you get a better quote from someone else and you don't use his company, he will cause as much trouble for you and the company you go with as he possibly can. He called everybody from the Governor's office to the D.O.T. and everybody in between to try and cause trouble for the company that I hired to move my house. He caused many unneccassary delays and the day they moved it, he actually came out while we were in the middle of moving it taking pictures of the move. I guess he must not have much work to do or he would'nt have time to come out and watch the true professionals do such a great job..... I would'nt hire him to move a outhouse for me.

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