From the roof at Glenwood Park

Domenick Treschitta said that units with rooftop decks sold in a hurry.


At our May blogger lunch, Capella Kincheloe from A Curated Lifestyle talked about the geography shock of moving from the west coast to Atlanta. Out there you can see for miles often to mountain ranges tens of miles away. Atlanta's trees, hills, and curves make it seem like a lush park. Can't see the views for the trees. We do have have a few views.





It's nice if you can have the roof top view while staying out of the weather. This is the rooftop of the Historical Concepts Glenwood Office.


A city view from your master bedroom.


Nice if your overlook includes interesting houses, a park, a lake, and downtown too.


Call me for the next sunset watch and for the 4th of July.

New contender for Atlanta's pretiest parking deck

I hereby nominate it for Atlanta's prettiest parking deck. It succeeds our po-mo Parthenon parking pad downtown.

Beth Fore (left) of Cablik Enterprises gave our Atlanta blogger lunch bunch a tour of their offices in the Brasfield Overlook building at Glenwood Park. Little did I know that this classy but modest office building enclosed a parking deck. I'd be proud to work or live in a building like this.


Brick pilasters, cornices, classic detailing.


From Brasfield Square you can see the rusticated ground floor base of the pilasters. There is an inviting covered entrance on the corner. To the right is the garage door, pretty enough to face the little park. Well, I entered that door without knowing about the parking.


Can you find the garage door in this picture.


We entered the door and walked down a corridor towards some art, we turned right toward the elevators and found cars in a glass case.

Glenwood Park has street parking, alley parking, garage parking and surface lot parking. But you just don't notice. Clever. Domineck said that the surface lots can be decked as Glenwood grows.

Here is the view west from front door of Brassfield Overlook: The dome of the Old Roosevelt High School (1924 by Edwards & Sayward). It was one of the first school conversions to housing. It's on a ridge, "hard to get to from here" but a zen view from many places east of downtown Atlanta. It overlooks the much newer Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School.

Edwards and Seyward also designed the Decatur Courthouse. Buttrick Hall, "Main," and the McCain Library at Agnes Scott College, the Piedmont Park bath house, and the Lakewood Exhibition Buildings.

The former Atlanta champion pretty parking deck is on Ellis street behind the Ritz-Carlton and the One-Ninety-One Peachtree Building. It's our po-mo Parthenon parking pad. I don't think pretty is the word, maybe high style.


Thanks,
Terry

Entries to alleys have curved curbs at Glenwood Park

During our Glenwood Park tour this week, Domenick Treschitta showed us a designed alley: backdoors, garage doors, trash cans of beauty. I fell in love. I'm not alone.

Houses on the corners make two chunky "columns" that frame the alley. The one-story garage is painted correlated metal, quite modern-utilitarian, and pretty. Cyprus columns flank and soften garage doors. This wins the gold medal for alley landscaping.

The entry to the alley has curved curbs. A right angle wouldn't be as good, would it? Here is the "little yellow brick house" at the south end of the alley. I like it a lot. You can see that consistent footprints, heights, masses and detailing allow a variety of styles to harmonize.


Grids, alleys, and pathways give these compact developments breathing room, alternative routes, places to explore, privacy, and a bit of unexpected mystery. Here is Domenick leading us on a footpath. It's a shortcut to the park/playground/lake. What landscaping!


If you walk around, you'll find little surprises around every corner.


More to come on Glenwood Park. Thanks, Terry

Another shot of the yellow house.

Thanks for the tour of Glenwood Park

There will be more blogging about this. To the Atlanta bloggers who missed out: Double secret probation.

This is the roof top of the Historical Concepts Glenwood Park office. We were there.

Hello Dawn, Beth, Domenick, and Bruce,

Thanks so much for showing us around Glenwood Park yesterday and for helping us put it together. We appreciate that y'all took time out of your day to help us enjoy this beautiful place.

Angela did the first post or at The Painted House. There will be some more.

Domenick explains real stucco over real masonry.


Thanks:

to Dawn Fritz and Todd Strickland who humored me at the CNU and to Kevin Clark for letting us run amok in the studio, and to Domenick Treschitta who nearly melted into the sidewalk showing us around in the heat and who enjoyed it as much as we did.
Historical Concepts

to Beth Fore who endured several of my out of-the-blue phone calls inviting myself into the Cablik offices. We don't really see much in the blogs about builders of these one of a kind modern houses. Thanks to Alan Cablik whom I met at the Barksdale house at MA 10.
Cablik Enterprises/ and Dwell Modern, Cablik Enterprises’ residential division

to Bruce Gaunt, my longtime neighbor who found a variety of homes to visit. Somehow Bruce manged to have the air conditioning turned on in every one. You had to be there.
http:Brucke Gaunt, Keller Williams Intown/

Bruce, Domenick, Emmie, Angela, Ally


Here are the bloggers.

• Angela at The Painted House
• Ally at From the Right Bank to the Left Coast to the Deep South
• Emmie at Aspirations of a Southern Housewife
• Terry at Architecture Tourist

Thanks again, Terry

P.S. Once is not enough for me. I'll work towards doing this again so we can to return the favor to out hosts.

Angela, Terry, Emmie ready for a cold beverage.

Bike Shop Chandelier in a Great Atlanta Building

Is this only bike shop with a crystal chandelier? Loose Nuts Cycles had their grand opening party last night. The Architecture Tourist was there.

Loose Nuts is in one of Atlanta's oldest and greatest buildings that you've never seen: Grant Park Lodge #604. The lodge has anchored the coziest corner in Grant Park, maybe the coziest in Atlanta, for nearly 100 years. Chris (more on Chris later) said that this is the first lodge the masons built in Atlanta after the Civil War. Happily, masonic lodges are handsome, sturdy, and flexible. Think the Fox Theater, Smith's Old Bar, Pythagoras Masonic Lodge across from the old Decatur Courthouse.

This is a totally rocking entrance for a Yoga Studio, huh?


The Grant Park Lodge now houses, Nirvana Yoga, Adams Realtors, a Dakota Blue Restaurant, and Loose Nuts Cycles.

I asked Chris about the chandelier. He said that the last 3 tenants were salons. Looks good with punky logos too. You can just see another chandelier on the left.


How does a 100 year old neo-classical lodge manage a hot Atlanta evening with 100's of skinny, perspiring cyclists? Perfectly. This is the psychedelic version of hanging on the street with bikers, local neighbors out to eat, and strolling families. New Urban Heaven.










Here is Chris Tavel (glasses), Chris and Kareem Shehab own and operate the store. The are also big bike trick bicyclists. I don't even know what that is but I've seen the video.


Thanks,
Terry

P.S. Trees keep me from photographing the front of the building. I'll try again this fall. But real Architecture Tourists enjoy the back of buildings too.

Louise Nevelson's monumental sculpture "Dawn Forest" has left the building.

Did you get to see it? (new info below)

It was Louise Nevelson's largest work. The multi-part white plywood assemblage dominated the dark paneled lobby of the Atlanta's Georgia Pacific Headquarters Building. Was it the biggest sculpture in Atlanta?

I've been cruising Georgia Pacific Lobby nearly every week for the last few months getting to know it. Today: Louise Nevelson's Dawn Forest is gone. There may be a chunk or two left behind scaffolding and curtains.

The security guard said plans for the lobby were hush, hush.

Dawn Forrest is headed to the Naples Museum of Art where I'm sure it will make quite a scene.

Update:

• Here is a better picture of Dawn Forrest, just part of it.
• It's been in the lobby for 22 years.
• You many remember that the Georgia Pacific Building has it's own art gallery, the downtown branch of the High Museum. Quite an optimistic contribution to downtown and a very cool space. I don't know when that petered out.
• The High maintained the Folk Art and Photography Galleries at Georgia Pacific Center until it moved to the Meier building in 2005.
  

No place like home

Architecture tourists can't live by homes alone: Irresistible to humans: barns, bridges, lighthouses.

For Whitehaven who is just back from the beach too, check the checked floor.

This is Ponce de Leon Inlet Light, tallest in Florida. Each lighthouse has a different look and different flash. This is the glorious red one, the light pattern is six flashes in a fifteen second period followed by a fifteen-second eclipse.


Rachel and I climbed to the top on the gorgeous iron stairway for $5 each. Looking up was harder for me than looking down.


I took off the supplementary oxygen for the picture.


What a view.


Our support crew, Deb and JoAnn, stayed way, way down there.


The grounds have more charm that most places today. I guess some modern beach houses approach this, maybe some...


Thanks,
Terry

P.S. If you are in the neighborhood, you might meet Santa Larry from the Palm Tree Santas; they don't get much friendlier.

True comments on 11 modern Atlanta homes

I volunteered to help Modern Atlanta 10 and got back much more than I gave. The tour featured 14 houses. Here are my thumbnail memories of the 11 I was able to tour. The Painted House has many pictures here and here.

The exterior is abstract expressionist. The interior is warm with surprise pastel walls. The tall screened porch to the right is uncannily cozy and comfortable.


The curved stair in space is the most memorable thing on the tour for me. I think it was the most humanizing feature I saw. Folks driving by can enjoy it too.


A difficult house in every way; it fights the odds, innovation in every square foot. Out these windows to the "diving board" is the most extraordinary space experience on the tour.


This one is overloaded with startling, even humorous architectural vignettes. Funky steps slice through the hall with a huge door behind.


Living is a glass house can feel comfortable and what views. The bathroom/laundry bump-out creates 3 delightful service rooms. Corner windows...


A rancher with the warmest wood. A cabin in a hidden Atlanta neighborhood.


The biggest house demonstrated that well designed big spaces can make humans feel good. I stood at the corner of this room for hours. I felt better and better. I like the "old fashioned" light floors. Dark floors are the style these days.


Old house, sleek interiors, bodacious decor, smiles and human scaled comfort in every direction.


The diva house out glamored the people and the over the top furnishings. The red glass chandelier did catch the eye.


The outside didn't hint at the wide open spaces inside. A gallery house.


My favorite space on the tour was a tiny dining porch amidst truly huge spaces in this house. Of course my daughters make any house look great.


Looking forward to next year. You too?