Church Street, Lumber City, Georgia

We took the long way to the beach and back, mostly on the Golden Isles Parkway. We briefly scouted the small towns for architecture and ambiance. We were delighted to stumble on to Church Street at West Avenue in Lumber City (between McRae and Hazelhurst). The church caught our eye but these three houses in a row mesmerized too.



The first has new siding with lesser trim but it keeps its dignity. The second is a bit beat up but retains it's details. I love the minimal landscaping. Why are they here? We agreed that we'd be proud to live in houses this good. They are building these today in the best places.



I hope you'll click on the picture and select "all sizes" so you can see the details on the 2nd house. They make so much difference: wider window moldings, window boxes, a drip cap and wider board lapping over the foundation. Can you see the arched entry porch in the first house?

The star of the show is the Lumber City Methodist Church. It's a familiar design seen across the country. That doesn't make it one iota less beautiful.





This is just a bit from our trip following our architecture tourists' noses. To find Church Street turn south on 117, cross the tracks, and go 2 more blocks.

If you like these, I hope you'll visit Vanishing South Georgia, one of my heroes, a fellow Architecture Tourist.


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Teardown week 3 and why they removed the windows

I'm participating in my 8th Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch! Welcome. Two weeks ago they got started.

This week, the chainsaws of dawn removed the big tree out front. They will wait for it to dry out a little before they tear it down. I asked the project manager why they removed the windows. He said the glazing (of that era) could contain asbestos.

They left the big stump so the digger can leverage it out.

Thanks to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.

Construction Costs Down 10-15%?

Did everybody know this but me?

My friend Carl, the architect, called today to see if we were flooded. We aren't. I mentioned all the building going on in Morningside right now. He said of course, "If you have the money it's a great time to build."



Well, now I know. Thanks to Carl Bridgers at Holey Associates who has a kind way of making me think I knew it all along.

Westside Art Walk, September 19, 2009, Atlanta

I did a brief solo run, hitting Emily Amy Gallery, Bobbe Gillis Gallery, Sandler Hudson Gallery, all showing original work offered by the artist/gallery. Kiang Gallery showed works for sale from collections billed as "Art Wants a New Home."

Kaing Gallery had an impressive variety but what caught my eye...well I thought something looked like Kathy Yancy's work and - sure enough - it was her Queen of Hearts Bowl. Kathy's work charms and haunts. It deserves a better picture that I can take.



I couldn't take my eye off Ida Kohlmeyer's Semiosis, 1984, the colors really appealed to me.



I can't resist Howard Finster, these are early works, considered most valuable of his 1000's of works.



Howard Finster, Angel is 15" x 50"



Howard Finster, Camel



Howard Finster, Cadalac



Howard Finster, left - Bust of Woman, right - Mona Lisa



Howard Finster Bust of Man



Howard Finster, The Messenger



Then to Sandler Hudson Gallery featuring Holle Black and her exhibition "an exaltation of larks". She was kind enough to pose with her humming birds, my favorite. Her eye-open picture was out of focus. I apologize.



Mario Petrirena was also showing at Sandler Hudson: "my mother's house and other struggles"





Then to Bobbe Gillis Gallery where I didn't take decent pictures. This is leftover from the last stroll, you'll need to hunt a bit to find it. I love it, I love the shadows too. Don't know the artist.



Finally, Emily Amy Gallery. I was there for the Collage Opeining last week. In the meantime Gary Bibb who is in the show sent me an email so I went back to photograph his work:



Which is from a set of 5.



This took less than an hour, from a single parking place. Not bad.

Here is the whole thing in a slideshow:



Thanks so much,
Terry
nest

Teardown Week 2

I'm participating in my 7th Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch! Welcome. Last week they got started.

From last week:

This week they removed the windows, kitchen, awnings and I don't know what else. The curtains are still up. They put up the silt fence and the post for temporary electric service.

Next week they will remove the big tree in front and a couple more in the back. They are all overgrown, more dangerous then beautiful, certainly in the way of the new house. From last week:

At the end of this week, weather permitting, the house will be gone.

Thanks to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.

Pent Roofs and Petticoats

Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Fridays" blog party; I hope y'all will click here and have look. I'm hooked on new a new house that's that doesn't look new and has a feminine twist.

Last weeks post, It's a Teardown," Cote de Texas' post: "Male vs. Female: It’s a Size Thing", and Dan Curl's email about a pent roofs reminded me of this house. It's a new house in an old neighborhood, it has pent roofs and, it has a feminine twist to the exterior.

This is a new spec house in Virginia Highlands, Atlanta designed by Harrison Design Associates. This is my current favorite new house in neighborhood. Why?

• It looks more in keeping with the neighborhood that the neighboring houses.
  
• It's big but conceals it's bulk with different veneers, different window types (check out the 6 over 9 windows), and by breaking up long lines. The wall dormers give the rear a 1 1/2 story look. I'd bet there are 2 floors of 10' ceiling back there.
  
• It doesn't look at all new.
  

I could imagine that it:

• Began as a shallow brick Cape Cod.
• Added a shingle-sided second story.
  
• Added a shingle-sided wing toward the back.
  
• Added a garage.
  

And it has a feminine side: a petticoat.

Most homes would have nearly invisible drip caps instead. Here the drip cap becomes a charming pent roof. If that's not feminine. I don't know what is. It's decorative, practical, and girly.

Update: I asked Architect Katie Hutchison at House Enthusiast for the correct term. Thanks Katie: Here is what she said:

"I think the shingle flare in the photo on your site is more of a water table than a pent, though. I call such flares 'skirts' too."

I intended to use this post to explain pent roofs so I guess I'd better:

My friend Dan Curl is a home inspector, and fellow Architecture Tourist. Dan lives and breathes water damage. He wrote this:

Note the Pent Roof over the deck. It shelters openings (door/windows) in exterior walls. Note that the upper soffit is too small to effectively shelter the windows below it. Pent roofs are a great idea: they combine function (sheltered openings in the exterior wall) and design ('breaking up" monolithic sidings). Too bad there are so few and that they are used in a design sense only

Dan
The "Eco Inspector" at Comprehensive Home Inspections

The is a new town home complex. There are many of these in Atlanta. See the pent room sheltering the windows and doors to the deck?

The pent roof idea is really old. Water has been damaging homes for 1000's of years. Here is one only a few hundred years old:

Restoration of the Pent Roof at IndenHofen House ca. 1725 in Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Hooked on Houses' "Hooked on Fridays" blog party..

Mary Travers R.I.P.

Back when, I don't remember, Robert Hedrick and I went to see Peter Paul and Mary at the Greensboro Coliseum. Was I 12, 13, 14?



I haven't seen Robert in like forever. I'm sure today his friends call him Bob. But I'm a way older friend and I'll always remember PP&M's performance that night and who invited me.

Emily Amy Gallery Collage Opening, Cecil Touchon, and Brilliant Millie

The Architecture Tourist auxiliary went to Emily Amy Gallery's reception for "Contemporary Collage: Paper's Many Forms" on September 11th, 2009. If you click on these pictures, you can make them bigger.

We met Emily Amy owner of Atlanta's Emily Amy Gallery. We met Texas collage artist Cecil Touchon. We met Millie, author of Atlanta's Brilliant Asylum blog. We had a blast, we ate homemade rosemary cashews and chocolate chip cookies, we drank free beverages. Where were you?

Thanks to Millie for getting the word out and especially for introducing herself. Meeting a blogger in person is an honor and a delight.

Here is Emily Amy herself setting a high standard for gallery hosting. Notice: she's wearing a name tag. Did I mention the Emily Amy Gallery Blog?

Here is Katherine with wine glass, Cecil Touchon, the artist with camera, and Milie's hand.

Cecil did lots of collages, in lots of styles, in lots of sizes. These 3 greeted us as we entered the gallery. Click them to see the detail.

Cecil could not have been friendlier. Katherine and I had the nerve to ask him how he did it. And he told us. I don't think I'm giving anything away here but billboard droppings, Mexican wrestling posters, visual science, and acrylic medium were involved.

Katherine, Cecil Touchon, Millie (Brilliant Asylum), Emily (not Emily Amy)

is from:

The gallery is a pleasant space, the art well lit, the flow trough the gallery is exceptional, there aren't any bottlenecks. There are 3 1/2 "rooms," a back alley, and a little kitchen.

The other featured collage artist is Paul Rousso. He wasn't there but plenty of his amazing work was.

Have a look up close:

Mickey Mouse in French:

On the left is "Thesaurus." Like all of Mr. Rousso's work, I like it from every distance.

I hope you'll visit an Atlanta gallery, especially an opening. You can still enjoy these and more at Emily Amy Gallery including this matchbook blowup by Robert Mars.

Here are all my pictures from the opening:

It's a Teardown

Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Fridays" blog party; I hope y'all will click here and have look. I'm also participating in my 6th Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch! I'm ambivalent about teardowns but hooked on the process. Are they tearing down houses in your neighborhood, in this economy? Well, they are in mine.

Here it is, the building permit sign went up this week. It's across the street a few houses down. It's a postwar minimal traditional built in 1947. The owner was a veteran, raised a family here, mighty nice folks.

This is the kind of house most folks my age were raised in - me too. Probably about 1,200 square feet when built on about 1/5 acre. With additions it's about 1,400 square feet. They don't build like this any more, not with these details at this size. It's quite handsome but not old enough to be a classic, not new enough for "modern" tastes.

It's on the high side of the street. The driveway and steps look tired and have settled a little. Imagine how many girl scouts and trick-or-treaters have made the climb. My girl scouts and trick-or-treaters did.

All it needs is some paint and fixing up, the roof looks pretty good. Plenty of life left for a few more generations. That's what would happen in most neighborhoods. But in mine, it sold for $332,500 this spring and they are going to tear it down.

The back yard is flat, a nice place to park if you have a load of groceries.

As with nearly all postwar houses, the owners added on. What do you think: Kitchen bumpout on the right. Laundry room in the middle, new master bath on the left? The single car garage, like most on the street is gone. You could barely get a car in there anyway.

Well they are going to tear it down and build a whopper, more that 4,000 square feet I'd bet. I'm going to watch the whole thing.

Portico Design / Construction has their sign out front. I'm expecting great things from them

Thanks to Hooked on Houses' "Hooked on Fridays" blog party..

P.S. Here is another teardown from my street, a couple of years ago. They did keep the foundation. Turned out pretty good but I don't have the a picture of it finished and landscaped.

Thanks to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.