Shining beautiful winter light on Atlanta's architecture

This little blue house has emerged from the Kudzu and glows in the low December sunlight.

Though I'm a warm weather person and I certainly enjoy our usually lush southern landscape, I take great pleasure in winter light. It makes winter tolerable.

Overgrown Kudzu and well intended but overgrown landscaping hide our great houses. The low angled summer sun lights the buildings, changes the shadows and reveals new details.

Back the the little blue vernacular house. You'll never find it. If I turned around, you'd see the skyline view and know where it is. I'll let it stay hidden.

Not everyone likes Atlanta's Federal Reserve Building on Peachtree at 10th. I do.


It's our own modest Taj Mahal. It's Georgia marble (42,000 pieces) covered facades glow in Atlanta's winter sunlight like a light bulb. The rest of mid-town seems dull in comparison. A government bank, in marble should be overwhelmingly authoritarian. I don't feel that. There won't be any street-level stores but there is a nice lawn. The "Dump" next door has a metal fence for goodness sake. I prefer the Fed's eagle, columns, and benches.

I enjoy but dread the appeals court building downtown. The Federal Reserve is a welcome pleasure from every direction. Every new building in Midtown makes it look even better.

Reynolds Stewart, Stewart & Associates with Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Doesn't it remind you a little of the Mansion in Buckhead, another Stern building?