North Fulton High School is now Atlanta International School and looking pretty good thank you. It's a landmark to neighbors, students, and their families.
But you could spend a lifetime cruising Peachtree, Pharr and Piedmont and never see it. It's tucked away a block east of Peachtree in Garden Hills.
Take Delmont east from Peachtree or N. Fulton south from Pharr Road. Make sure to go all the way around.
Is it a 3-parter or 7-parter? In any case there are lot of bays and lots of groupings of bays. The center section has the cupola, arches, volutes, exaggerated keystones, and trademark Shutze entrance: Gibbs Surround, small, ground-level, chunky.
Elaborate details. Just look at those shapely dentils.
The two wings lose the curves and some of the detailing but retain all the dignity.
Round and pointed gables make an impressive low rise.
Just to the south, a modern addition nods to the old.
I'd guess this came after 1932 but it respects the original.
Modern fenestration in elegant form.
The west side faces the athletic fields and practical matters. A school's got to do what it's got to do: big shed and trailers. A bit like the view of Grady from atop the Woody's hill.
The cupola has half moon windows and black finials!
This must be the auditorium. I couldn't get close but the details were clear from 100 yards away. Notice the curved stairs.
This view of Terminus 100 and Sovereign Buckhead surprised me.
Garden Hills Elementary School (1938 by architects Tucker and Howell) is next door, down a hill and is also quite nice . Not by Shutze but the connection is strong. McKendree Tucker joined Hentz, Reid, and Adler (Shutze's firm at the time) with classmate Lewis Crook after graduating Georgia Tech.
Even little children should feel important here.
This echos Shutze's auditorium don't you think.
Next time you are in Buckhead have a look.
Here are all the pictures if you can't get there right away.
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What a beautiful building - I have never seen it before, although it is one of the schools we will be considering for DD #2 when she goes to junior high. Not because of the Shutze connection, although that is certainly a big plus!
ReplyDeleteNow why didn't I go to a school like THAT!
ReplyDeleteTerry,
ReplyDeleteSo much beautiful detail!! I second Stefan!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
There was truly an era of beautiful schools. I went to a beautiful school High Point High School This form James Howard Kunstler:
ReplyDelete"Politicians, architects, artists, business people, all supported the activities that went on in the City Beautiful movement, and the result of it was we got beautiful commercial buildings, we got beautiful schools, we got beautiful houses, we got beautiful courthouses, we got even beautiful power plants!"
Thanks for this post, Terry...beautiful architecture! These days, it seems most imaginings of school buildings conjure up trailers that are due to over-crowding...nice to see our schools framed in a positive light.
ReplyDeleteSo gorgeous! I love detail on buildings. Wish architecture still had the same feel as it used to. Don't get me wrong, I love modern architecture. But it's nice to see classic detail!
ReplyDeletexLily
The wood eave element with dentils/modillions should be painted to match the stone trim (as it surely would have been stone if the budget had allowed). The white paint is a glaring distraction. Otherwise, the original building is fabulous.__The Devoted Classicist
ReplyDeleteJohn, I didn't notice until you mentioned it now I'm distracted by it. Wonder what it was like before the last paint job?
ReplyDeleteHere is B/W picture of North Fulton HS from the Atlanta History Center.
Terry --
ReplyDeleteYou are bringing back a few teenage memories for me. Some of the earlier Atlanta Public Schools were real beauties.
Terry: I forwarded this article to my son who graduated from Atlanta International School in 2007. He loved the article and photos and admires your blog. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSara Schindel
This makes me even more excited for the Shutze Awards!
ReplyDeleteI went to North Fulton and graduated in 1971, but never knew it was a Shutze building.
ReplyDeleteThere was a rifle range and armory in the basement of the main building and a basketball court
under the auditorium. The library was there when I came, but was fairly new. I think the "Annex"
was almost contemporaneous with the original building. There was also the "new gym" which was
pretty old even when I was there.
Absolutely stunning! I adore the intricate details on older buildings. I wish modern architecture retained some of that charm. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate contemporary designs, but there's something special about classic architectural details! Visit: https://www.yoooo.me/in
ReplyDelete