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Sunday, January 25, 2015

These Six Teardowns are Done

A handful of teardowns. Two new whoppers, a big expansion, two pop-tops, three not-so-big houses, a squeezed-in modern. I can't keep up.



IMG_0756-2014-02-20-1328-Greenland-Teardown-complete
Full contact builders spec house.

and

IMG_5574-2013-09-29-1041-Greencove-renovation-Mark-Arnold-WIP
I didn't get here at the beginning. Pre-Depression level details, pretty amazing I think.

IMG_5571-2013-09-29-1041-Greencove-renovation-Mark-Arnold-WIP-brick-chimney
The chimney was the deal.

IMG_4171 2014-10-29 1041 Greencove renovation Mark Arnold compete detail
Might not be your thing but heck-of-a-job by Mark Arnold. The chimney is the prominent detail on the porch but it's hard to see in this picture.

and

2013-06-11-1209-Hancock-poptop-before-street
This was cute before and in a really nice creek-bottom setting.

IMG_1165-2013-06-10-1209-Hancock-poptop-wip
A pop-top.

IMG_3951-2014-04-11-1209-Hancock-poptop-after
It's still cute, a not so big house. Maggie Shannon architect.

IMG_3952-2014-04-11-1209-Hancock-poptop-after
Looks like it has always been there.

and

P1050022-2012-02-24--845-Ponce-De-Leon-Terrace-before-full
Pretty cute before. Look at the triple window, porch, and few-step grandma access.

P1050021-2012-02-24--845-Ponce-De-Leon-Terrace-before-drive-garage
Nice flat lot. No climbing with grocery bags.

IMG_3140-2013-08-07-845-Ponce-De-Leon-Terrace-completed
I wasn't quite getting it until they installed the landscape then I got a crush. A not so big house, nice work Chip Murrah architect and Blake Builders.

and in the Old 4th Ward:


P1020726-2011-11-28--229-Corley-o4w-Teardown-maybe-before
It held its own at 968 square feet. It's what caught my eye. Sidewalk level access really appeals to me, need the brick wall for a sense of enclose.

P1020724-2011-11-28--229-Corley-o4w-Teardown-maybe-before
Already surrounded by teardowns, traditional left and modern right.

P1140974-2012-12-29-2011-11-28--229-Corley-o4w-Teardown-complete
Hello garage door. It was on the Modern Atlanta tour last year and I enjoyed the inside.



Where mill houses used to be.

and

2011-12-19-1743-Merton-Teardown-Before-Exterior-3-in-context Faux Chateau
It was the "Faux Chateau" a transformed rancher by Barry Doss, R.I.P.. It was odd and I liked it a lot. Already surrounded by teardowns.

2011-12-19-1743-Merton-Teardown-Before-Patio Faux Chateau
The former backyard from pictures I saved from the old real estate ad.

P1160824-2013-02-25--1743-Merton-Teardown-complete
It grew.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Druid Hills Shingle, a Favorite - Terry's Tiny Tour of BIG GABLE HOUSE

Believe me, this is an amazingly luxurious space. I visited three times to make sure.

I think there is some golden ratio magic going on in here. The important rooms are either square or golden rectangles and though the ceilings are eleven feet tall, the rooms felt just right to me: They were big but didn't make me feel small. And with big windows, interior windows, French doors and transoms I didn't really need the lights on.

There's a floor plan and a little video in this post if you want to skip ahead.

I spotted estate sale balloons on my Thursday errands. This being Druid Hills I followed them because Druid Hills is a living house museum and I want to see every house.

I got excited as the balloons led me south across Ponce, then west on Fairview to the house I always thought of as BIG GABLE HOUSE.


Though it's on one of Atlanta's most picturesque streets, it stands out. I never thought I'd see inside. There just aren't any houses like this, or are there?

I've followed it for a long, long time.

IMG_0085-2014-01-27-1260-Fairview-Shingle-House-maybe-1929-without-shingle-sheathing-detail
I've seen it full-frontal naked.

20150108_113303 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle
It's kind of beach house style, less formal than most in Druid Hills, not Georgian, not Tudor, not Italianate not Mediterranean. But there are plenty of lovable details. I adore its chunky shingles in straight horizontal lines dressed in pale yellow with curvy-tailed purlins. Were these the original windows?

20150110_162643 2015-01-10 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle
My Field Guide to American Houses says the Shingle Style lasted from 1880 to 1900. So I guess BIG GABLE HOUSE is "Shingle Revival," being built in the 1920s. I think Atlanta's bona fide shingle styles are mostly in Inman Park, West End, and East Point.

William G. Low House, Bristol, RI 1886-87 demolished 1962  by architect Charles Follen McKim of the New York City firm, McKim, Mead & White
I think BIG GABLE HOUSE is an homage to the William G. Low House in Rhode Island "designed in 1886-87 by architect Charles Follen McKim of the New York City firm, McKim, Mead & White." This side faces the water. It's a really big, that roof is 140 feet wide. It was demolished in 1962.

2015-01-10 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle dekalb county tax map aerial
I'd never been able to judge the size of BIG GABLE HOUSE.

20150110_162635 2015-01-10 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle
Though it loomed over me as I approached, it was more like a cottage than a mansion. Property tax records say 3,983 square feet.

Let's have a look.

20150108_113247 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle tile mosaic foyer
The vestibule was promising.

20150108_112300 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle brick fireplace
The big fireplace is right there.

Well wait, this will work better on video. But a few things first.
  1. I don't know who designed it.
  2. It's now divided into a grandfathered quadraplex and I think that's just fine.
  3. There are a big 2-bedroom unit and an efficiency on the first floor.
  4. There are two apartment units upstairs.
  5. All I saw was the big 2-bedroom.
  6. The left and right parlors are the two bedrooms each with huge closet and bath. The right bedroom suite included the enclosed porch.
  7. It wasn't staged or decorated but there was a estate sale going on. It was clean, painted and almost move-in ready.
  8. This was an amazingly luxurious space.
Let me repeat: This was an amazingly luxurious space and not because of trim, detailing, finishes or fixtures. No. It was the luxury of the volumes, the proportions, the light and the flow.

Here's the plan.

20150111_165125 2015-01-11  1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle floor plan

20150111_165125 2015-01-11  1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle floor plan with route
Here is my video route

Here's the video tour.



Here are a few more pictures.

20150108_113208 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle brick fireplace niche
Fireplace detail. It looked perfect.

20150108_112347 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle interior widows and french doors ceiling beams beam
The big room had beams but the paint was poorly detailed and distracting. I'd guess they hadn't finished. All white would have been fine with me.

20150108_112852 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle interior widows and french doors cut glass doors stained
Toward the left "parlor." This French door with door-sized sidelight is 100 inches tall. Light galore and it looks well proportioned.

20150108_113101 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle brick fireplace interior widows and french doors
Looking from the left parlor back into the big room.

20150108_112357 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle interior widows and french doors
This window wall separated the big room for the dining room. My camera couldn't show how bright is was.

20150108_112910 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle interior widows and french doors
From the dining room into the big room toward the fireplace and front door. The kitchen door is to the right.

20150108_112930 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle interior widows and french doors trim wainscotting
The big room and dinning room are a little bit dressy.

20150108_112942 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle panel door and wainscotting
Big door and transom that look just right

20150110_164112 2015-01-10 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle
The right parlor opened to the now-enclosed porch through French doors with transoms.

20150108_112802 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle interior widows and french doors
The now-enclosed porch reveled in full-shingle-glory.

20150108_112820 2015-01-08 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle interior widows and french doors
Sweet enfilade from porch though right parlor into the big room.

20150110_164616 2015-01-10 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle
I couldn't get to the west porch but I wanted to.

2167374_7 1260 Fairview Atlanta Shingle
Here's the backside.

20150110_165454 2015-01-10 1260 Fairview Druid Hills Atlanta shingle
In context with the neighbors. BIG GABLE HOUSE stands alone.

I lucky to have seen it.

20150112_152948
How about this 1960 tribute on Pinestream?

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Terry's Tiny Tour: the Haverty House by James Means

It's empty now neither updated nor staged. I didn't feel the mansion so much as I felt the family who had lived there. But I'm a very sentimental man.

Yesterday Limestone James sent me a message on Facebook. James isn't blogging right now but he's got his eye peeled. So when he says,  "Hey Terry, there's a good open house Sunday," I'm there. We agreed to meet at one o'clock right when it opened.


It's the Haverty House designed by James Means c. 1961 on the bluff overlooking Nancy Creek.

It is impressive and I was impressed: an important house for an important family by an important architect

But it's been a bit of a hard sale so far. The Haverty's raised their family here and the family stayed here until the children moved out and until the parents passed on. Its 1961 indoor livability stood the test of time but it's not the style today: No "shock and awe" spaces, fittings, finishing, or gear.

And it's empty.

The real estate ad says, "Spectacular setting and historic home ready to renovate."

20150111_133941 2015-01-11 Haverty House by James Means c. 1961
Stefan from Architect Design found the James Means book and quoted;

"The brick on the front facade was reclaimed from the Federal Reserve in downtown Atlanta, the columns on the rear porch were rescued from another building downtown, the balusters in the terrace wall above were from a Charleston, South Carolina house and the heart pine floors throughout were rescued from a house in Athens Georgia."

20150111_132648 2015-01-11 Haverty House by James Means c. 1961
The back is not like the front.

20150111_131153 2015-01-11 Haverty House by James Means c. 1961
The entrance hall contains the main stair, elegant but not the "shock and awe" you find today.

20150111_131031 2015-01-11 Haverty House by James Means c. 1961
The dining room is the most formal.

20150111_130947 2015-01-11 Haverty House by James Means c. 1961
Kids probably stayed out of here.

20150111_130404 2015-01-11 Haverty House by James Means c. 1961
The agents have the books: The Houses of James Means 1979 by James Means on top, The Architecture of James Means, Georgia Classicist by William R. Mitchell on the bottom.

20150111_130654 2015-01-11 Haverty House by James Means c. 1961 detail
They still have the plans, this one: "Dining Room Family Room details Stair Hall to Playroom."

I put my camera away. Have a look at the real estate ad.