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Sunday, May 24, 2015

"Vernacular Cracker" Closing May 28 Re-post: Heather McPherson's Cabbagetown House Portraits

CLOSING: "House Portraits - House Painters - Vernacular Cracker" at VintageATL. Please come.
Thursday, May 28, 2015 at 6:00pm - 9:00pm
VintageATL 517 Flat Shoals Ave, Atlanta, Georgia 30316

2014-04-16_Vernacular_Cracker_evite_graphic_by_Vivian

We have a new pieces by William Mize and Joe Dreher (JoeKingATL).

We have three of Heather McPherson house portraits on loan. Here are re-post that shows some the rest.

Heather's House Portraits of Cabbagetown from ArchtectureTourist.com January 19, 2012

You should consider commissioning Heather to do a house you love.

Full disclosure #1: Heather McPherson is Sam's daughter. Sam McPherson is my friend, my daughter's too. Katherine and I are especially devoted to Sam as only music students can be devoted to a favorite teacher.



So of course I went to Heather's first solo show at Get This Gallery last Saturday. I've followed Heather and enjoyed her work for a couple of years. If you are an in-town architecture tourist, you've probably seen her work. She's getting somewhere.

P1040053-2012-01-14-Heather-Mcpherson-herself--shack-shanty-flat--opening-Get-This-Gallery
Here's Heather, coat on her arm next to my tall son, getting a lot of attention at her opening.

P1040164-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--184-Pearl-Street-gable-shingle-detail-at-Get-This-Gallery
Full disclosure #2: I was and I am touched by her house portraits, plywood cut to shape, drawn and painted. The houses are all in Cabbagetown.

P1040167-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--109-Chester-Avenue-detail-at-Get-This-Gallery
But they are familiar to anyone from a Southern mill-town, including High Point where I grew up.

Full disclosure #3: I am impossibly sentimental. Heather's houses made me remember.

P1040162-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--792-Fulton-Terrace-detail-at-Get-This-Gallery
My mom preferred the clothesline even after she got a dryer.

P1040161-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--202-Carol-Street-detail-at-Get-This-Gallery
This summer I searched for my grandfather's house in High Point. I couldn't find it. It may be gone and the neighborhood isn't so hot now.

If Heather could have painted it's portrait, maybe his great great grands could know him a bit better.

P1040166-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--647-Bryan-Street-detail-at-Get-This-Gallery
Cabbagetown is a going concern, a real community in a house museum.

P1040135-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--135-Berean-Avenue-at-Get-This-Gallery

Folks put their yard waste on the curb every week.

P1040134-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--109-Chester-Avenue-at-Get-This-Gallery

This end of the house has some stories to tell.

P1040131-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--253-Powell-Street-at-Get-This-Gallery-1

You can do color in Cabbagetown.

P1040126-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--499-Wabash-at-Get-This-Gallery

Heather shows them as they are today, modern living in a century old setting.

P1040160-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--499-Wabash-graffiti-detail-at-Get-This-Gallery

Not all evolution is elevating.

P1040158-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--499-Wabash-edge-on-at-Get-This-Gallery
It's uncanny to see them this way. The real houses are shoulder to shoulder with their neighbors. Cut out and separated, these could be anywhere in the rural south.

P1040133-2012-01-18-by-Heather-Mcpherson--647-Bryan-Street-at-Get-This-Gallery
But this is how they look. Heather's paintings ring true to me.

Full Disclosure #4: You should consider commissioning Heather to do a house you love before it's gone. Architect: This would be an extraordinary gift for your clients.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Uncanny Plus-Sized Neel Reid Design With 2/3 Fluted Columns


On Saturday I instagrammed (@terrykearns) the picture below from Peachtree Heights. Jason Cook responded. "It's a Neel Reid."

That would explain something: This giant house made me feel great. This is true of all five Neel Reid's I've visited. Have you toured one? The pictures can't capture the feeling.

Why don't we just keep doing them like this?


"Job 503 Robert Alston house 1922-23 HRA. AHS. Grady, pp. 135-41" from J. Neel Reid, Architect: Of Hentz, Reid & Adler and the Georgia School of Classicists by William R. Mitchell Jr.

Though the rooms were cluttered for the estate sale, the spaces seemed perfect to me. 

20150518_14411520150516_144032 2015-05-18 Neel Reid Andrews Drive Job 503 Alston House 1922-23 2/3 fluted Doric columns
It's huge, see the red sweatshirt guy in the doorway? But my brain isn't thinking BIG. It's thinking "pretty" and "harmony" and it's thinking, "These folks have REALLY arrived."

20150516_144139 2015-05-16 Neel Reid Andrews Drive Job 503 Alston House 1922-23
It takes a lot of detailing to get delightful harmony. These closer you look, the more details you see. The double doors open to the kitchen / keeping room.

2015-05-19 Alston Andrews Neel Reid Floorplan
I only saw the public rooms and they were big but no detail called attention to itself. The rooms were compositions in space, proportion and detailing put together for my pleasure.

I didn't notice the details at first, just the feeling.

IMG_20150516_143955 2015-05-16 Neel Reid Andrews Drive Job 503 Alston House 1922-23 chimney
My experience was straightforward but there was nothing simple about it.

But what about these columns?

20150516_144020 2015-05-16 Neel Reid Andrews Drive Job 503 Alston House 1922-23 2/3 fluted Doric columns
What do you call 2/3 fluted columns?

20150516_144032 2015-05-16 Neel Reid Andrews Drive Job 503 Alston House 1922-23 2-third fluted columns portico detail
Looks like brick / column meet-up might have had some rot issues over the years.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The Wedding in the Field at "The Farm" north of Rome, Georgia

Best to Mary Lou and Ben, married four days so far. They got hitched at "The Farm" in Big Texas Valley north of Rome, Georgia. We were honored to be there and enjoyed a picturesque 36 hour adventure in the loving atmosphere that binds friends and strangers for a little while at weddings. But I'm a sentimental man.


It was out in the former pasture, it was hot, and it was perfect.

IMG_20150508_204548 2015-05-08 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben
There was a dinner the night before.

IMG_20150508_203903 2015-05-08 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben
I don't know who designed the stables. Anyone? Anyone?

IMG_20150508_203154 2015-05-08 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben
The bridal party dressed here.

IMG_7089 2015-05-08 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben
The testimonials.

IMG_20150509_112315 2015-05-09 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben JK Myrtle Hill Cemetery Rome GA
On Saturday we sampled Rome, there isn't anything in Georgia like Rome. You can drive right to the top of Myrtle Hill Cemetery and we did.

IMG_20150509_121650 2015-05-09 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben JK Clocktower Hill Rome GA
One view from Clock Tower Hill.

 IMG_20150509_131831 2015-05-09 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben TK tattoo guy Brian Rome GA
We had lunch on the Broad Street sidewalk and made some new friends. That's Dusty Mullinax with the flag, he's a SCAD and Sacred Heart Tattoo alum. This must be one of the best streets in Georgia.

The groom, the dad and the groomsmen prepared in this 40 second video.


At 0:27 I walk out to the venue itself.

IMG_20150509_175323 2015-05-09 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben babies in wagon
It was an all ages event.

20150509_204743 2015-05-09 Wedding becoming baxter field Mary Lou and Ben
After dinner the first dances began.

Best wishes to Mary Lou and Ben and to all the loved ones.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Academy of Medicine has my Favorite Men's Room in Atlanta - Terry's Tiny Tour

It's formal and formidable: The Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech and I go every chance I can get. Designed by Philip Shutze and restored to tip top condition, there's no place like it in Atlanta.



On Wednesday it was the Atlanta Studies Symposium (terrific event, free, mark your calenders for next year). I'll write more about it if I have time.


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This is the Historic Academy of Medicine.


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Enter here.


Terry's Tiny Tour: The best men's room in Atlanta? Video 2:25 with a bit of bubbly music:





Is the ladies room just as good?

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Demolition Watch: Go See This Little Oakhurst Landmark Before It's Gone

We've lost bigger buildings, finer designs, and more historic places lately. But this funky little flatrion - I'm taking it pretty hard. I have an uncanny attachment to it and I'm not the only one.

It was still there on Friday May 1. Go see, there's a map at the bottom of this post.


It was last the Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church. Before? Do you know? Do you have a picture?

" 102 Fifth Ave. was built c. 1916-1920. I suspect the City of Decatur is anxious to see this parcel open up for a number of reasons, one of the biggest being the current owner is a religious, i.e., tax-exempt, entity. When the City Commission approves the bid tonight, it will place a $21,000 lien on the property to cover the demolition costs, etc. Expect to see soon a request to rezone and redevelop the property so that the City can add it to the tax digest." Thanks to David Rotenstein


IMG_6619 2014-06-05 (first photographed 2013-09-26) Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church 102 5th Ave Decatur dangerous
On one of our most picturesque streets, the oddest building is the most memorable.

" Bid Award.
Recommend accepting a proposal from Leon Benton Construction, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia in the amount of $18,750 for the demolition and removal of a dilapidated building of the building at 102 Fifth Avenue. "

IMG_5329-2013-09-26-Tabernacle-Missionary-Holiness-Church-102-5th-Ave-Decatur
Somebody must have lived up there.

IMG_6610 2014-06-05 (first photographed 2013-09-26) Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church 102 5th Ave Decatur dangerous
Why did they cover the brick?

20150427_120316 2015-04-27 Interior teardown Oakhurst Church Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church 102 5th Ave Decatur Georgia enhanced
Are folks squatting there?

If you can't get by, here's the video, about five minutes long.




2015-04-05 Plat Map Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church 102 5th Ave Decatur
From Dekalb County Tax Records


Go See.

More pictures of Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church 102 5th Ave Decatur Georgia.

"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