Update on Crane Crunched House

They got the crane off and the blue tarp on. I hope they are getting a pretty big discount.



There's a notch...


...where the boom crunched the roof.


It was quite a sight, a conversation starter, and an easy blog post: .See "House Crunched by Crane Today in Morningside"


But I prefer the quiet neighborhood look.

House Crunched by Crane Today in Morningside

I was just lollygagging on my way home from CVS this afternoon. This just didn't look right. Thank goodness there were no injuries.

(Update on Crane Crunched House 2012-11-28 )

It was so quiet.


The neighbors had started gathering. It was right in front of us. It was so odd.


Eerie.


The next door neighbor said there was a BIG noise and she grabbed the kids.


The crane was reaching over the house removing a dangerous tree chunk by chuck.


The last chuck didn't cooperate, the chunk that broke the ridge's back.

It's supposed rain tonight.


Some knock on the door.


Boutte Tree has a great reputation in the neighborhood. I know they'll make this right.

Browning Courthouse, Tucker, Georgia circa 1860

Thanks to the Tucker Historical Society for saving this noble little building and moving it here where we can fall in love

LaVista Road, Georgia 268, is how you get from I-285 to Tucker. It's a 5-laner. Not a burger-row, but you just want to get through it. And get though you must, it's my route to the legendary Handy Hardware, and the to fine town of Tucker.

"Most landmarks and focal points in cities - of which we need more, not fewer - come from the contrast of use radically different from its surroundings, and therefore inherently special-looking, happily located to make some drama and contrast of the inherent difference ... noble buildings ... set within the matrix of the city, instead being sorted out and withdrawn into 'courts of honor'"- Page 228, ”The Death and Life of Great American Cities” - Jane Jacobs, Vintage Books Edition 1991


For years I've wondered what the heck this place is.


Last week after visiting the dentist across the street I ran across the 5 lanes for a closer look. It's picturesque fronting the modernish Tucker Recreation Center. Looks like there's a pilgrim in the yard!


Aha.


 The landscaping is so modest and so comfortable: woodchips in a garden grown wild. (design pattern 172. GARDEN GROWING WILD)


You can rent the place, get married here. I approve.


It wasn't open but I got took a picture though the window.


If you've got a couple of minutes, stop and enjoy it on foot.


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You can't miss it.

Range and Oven kaput after 23 Happy Thanksgivings

Thanksgiving was weeks away when the Charmglow lost it's igniter and the KitchenAid lost heat in the bottom oven. We hadn't priced this stuff since 1989.

Should we buy new appliances? Should we save money by buying a Mercedes and eating out from now on?


Our broken cookers were no match for our menu. What to do?

We invited everyone over for Thanksgiving and went to Howard Payne Company.


The knobs were getting skanky anyway.


We couldn't read the clock anymore.


They looked bigger in the yard.


The new Matag is a bit bigger. They had to route out the edges.


The KitchenAid was white, the Maytag is stainless. It's the law. It came with doors.

Both Maytag ovens are 2 inches taller and 2 inches wider than the bigger KitchenAid, thus happier Thanksgivings.


The range had downdraft venting so we got the Jenn-Air.


See? Hoods work better but we didn't design our kitchen that way.



Cooks have a great view in our kitchen.


The Jenn-Air has two daddy-burners, two mommy-burners, and a baby-burner, which means happy Thanksgivings.


This is the look we're going for.

Happy thanksgiving to you and all your loved ones.

Make sure to take a goofy group shot.


Make sure to smile.

Jewel Box Lobby #3 the William-Oliver Building

It's a condo now, you can't just walk into it's jewel box lobby. You can knock and ask the guard. That's what I did.



"...the Deco style sold. And it was the Beaux-Arts architects that evolved into the leading Art Deco designers...

"Pringle and Smith.returned to the prime real estate of Five Points to present their masterpiece of Art Deco design William-Oliver Building at Five Points, (1930)....

"...The tan brick and comparably colored ornamental panels bring a monochromatic plainness to the building, but the ornament sparkles..."  - Robert M. Craig, The Architecture of Francis Palmer Smith, Atlanta's Scholar Architect

The promising entrance is on Peachtree at the northeast corner of the building.


This is the vestibule. I couldn't get the smile off my face for 24 hours: white, tan/orange, black, and purple stone with brassy brass.

Though it's shiny and showy, the lighting is subdued. You don't feel like YOU are on display, know what I mean?


The transom looking from the lobby toward ceiling medallion of the vestibule.


Look up. I've been chuckling about the ceiling for five days. From here it looks like the most elaborate picture frame.


Are modern lobbies this exuberant?


I wonder who did the ceiling.


There are two kinds of medallions, this it the polychrome.

 
The elevator dial still works.


It was named after developer Thomas G. Healey's grandsons William and Oliver.


I think a lobby like this is good the disposition. It is for mine.

See more Francis Palmer Smith jewel box lobbies:

• Jewel Box Lobby - Downtown Atlanta The Rhodes-Haverty Building, (1929)
   
• Jewel Box Lobby #2 the W.W. Orr Doctors Building

Jewel Box Lobby #2 the W.W. Orr Doctors Building

Hospital offices have replaced doctors' offices in the W.W. Orr Doctors Building (1930, Pringle and Smith). But you can still walk right in.

 

If you are at the hospital anyway, you might as well do some architecture touring, right?


"At the Orr Building the architects...recognizing that the building would be frequently visited by patients, (Francis Palmer) Smith paid particular attention to the ornamental richness of the entry and lobby..." -Robert M. Craig, The Architecture of Francis Palmer Smith, Atlanta's Scholar Architect

It's a standalone building with one corner on Peachtree and a corner in a park.


I think the lobby it's more elegant than showy but it's certainly showy.


It's cozy.


And wow.


The plaque incorporates the art deco motifs used inside and outside.


It's at Peachtree and Pine, looking east from the parking deck.


The Orr is the centerpiece that makes Emory Midtown the prettiest hospital in Atlanta. This is from the auditorium hall. The Orr is in the upper left corner of this picture.


It frames the garden/couryard and entrance to the hospital. It's pedestrian friendly. So just walk over there.




From the elevator lobby of the Parking Deck you can also see the Peachtree-Pine Building by A. Ten Eyck Brown c. 1921, "an engaged colonnade framed by a terra cotta frieze." - Mary Ann Sullivan.

I blogged the Rhodes-Haverty Building's jewel box lobby here. Now I must find my way into Frances Palmer Smith's William Oliver Building which is not open to the public.