Teardown 4 of 5 is done, half-timbering with shingles designed by Frank Neely

The porte-cochère is a flying buttress!

This is a Frank Neely custom designed 6994 square footer on 0.792 acres. Full disclosure: I love the house and I particularly adore the colors. I'd like to order a size "small" please.

This one sits on the Ansley Park / Midtown / Lenox Park axis. Most of our big-time residential architects work north of here in the Brookwood - Brookhaven crescent. Druid Hills belongs in the category but they don't do teardowns in Druid Hills.

In Atlanta new houses of this size and design quality are rare south of here. There are plenty of fine homes south of here but few new ones like this, more estate house than city house.

Here is house 1 of 5, house 2 of 5, house 3 of 5, house 4 of 5, and house 5 of 5, house 6 of 5. house 7 of 5.

Who doesn't love mini-columns if they are done right?


Quiet detailing but lots of detail.


It was a mid-century rancher on a fine hill, bit of a slope on the right to deal with.


I wasn't crazy about the added on "L" but there it was.


I had a look in the permit box. You can see how it deals with the slope off to the right, how they kept the house from appearing to tumble down the hill.

The porte-cochère is a flying buttress!

You can also see that the front entrance isn't in that grand space between the gables. Quirk or not it appeals to me.

You can also see a pronounced foundation. There may be a name for this. To me it's as if they house is sitting lightly on a platform rather than growing out of the ground. Know what I mean? I think this is a Frank Neely Design trademark.


Usually, I don't enjoy houses until the very end. I liked this as soon as the gables first took shape.

I love the front porch's beefy architrave. The stubby column makes sense to me now. The brick (plinth?) pokes up from below. Is it another aspect of the well defined foundation? Is TDC reading?


I met Mr. Neely and told him that his houses seem almost Victorian to me: Ebullient unsymmetrical massing with almost flamboyant detailing.

The closer you look the more detail you see.


To my eye the colors are particularly fine. The contrasts are subtle. I asked Mr. Neely what color. He said he mixed it on the site.

I will consult Mr. Neely next time I paint our house.


I think it's a breath of fresh air.

It doesn't match or copy the great early houses in West End or Inman Park but it would feel right at home there.

I look forward to seeing it again and again, perhaps seeing the inside some day.


Here are the signs if you'd like to know who did what.


Frank Neely is on the right in a renovation of his design on Peachtree Way. Shout out to fellow blogger and architecture tourist Kyle Sturtevant on the left.

Here is house 1 of 5, house 2 of 5, house 3 of 5, house 4 of 5, and house 5 of 5, house 6 of 5. house 7 of 5.