Terry's Tiny Tour: 16 in Scottdale Georgia Off the Main Roads

I hope nobody is home when I cruise neighborhoods taking pictures. On this day nobody was around.

And I'm always wanting to see what's off the main roads in Scottdale. I'd blogged the houses around the green before, just charming, but never south of the tracks.

Scottdale, Georgia is just inside the Perimeter just north of Avondale Estates and east of Decatur. It was a mill town but I'm not sure it was ever an official town. Your Dekalb Farmers Market is in Scottdale.

I shot these for our House Portraits - House Painters - Vernacular Cracker show at VintageATL but I didn't have time to make anything of it.

My tiny video tour of Scottdale lasts 3:07. I'm fascinated. This is familiar territory in the south, familiar to me for my whole life. What do you think?

Please click here if you can't see the video.

What if Restoration Hardware Sold Church Steeples? #steepleatl

Restoration Hardware doesn't it have them yet. If they did? See "One more thing" at the bottom. For now we'll settle on Fiberglass Unlimited and Piedmont Fiberglass for our steeples.

I've started a new Instagram hashtag #steepleATL which has me looking. Maybe you can help by hashtagging some Atlanta area steeples. There are plenty of them.

I presume suburbanism and gentrification will erase many of our little church buildings. I'll really miss little landmarks where they don't belong, particularly those amidst houses. I call them walk-to churches.


New Liberty & Praise C.O.G.I.C. is across the street from Bessie Branham Park in Kirkwood. You couldn't build them here today and who would anyway?


Sometimes a little steeple holds its own among the landmarks. Silverleaf Baptist Church sure does. It's on Fort Street at Martin Luther King just west of Oakland Cemetery.

So I'll try to take a picture when I see a steeple. You can help. It's worth getting on Instagram if you aren't already. Remember #steepleATL and geotag them if you can.

"Americans became imbued with the idea that a proper church should be vaguely classical and have a portico and steeple no matter how basic. Hence, to give a clear signal that this 1960s edifice is indeed a house of God, it is fronted with a portico (of skinny columns), and topped by a pre-fab steeple of equally skinny proportions" - THE GIBBS CHURCH: A PARADIGM FOR AMERICA - Calder Loth


Stanton Grove Baptist Church 2015 Memorial Dr SE Atlanta.

Here are a few more. The variations are amazing.



Little Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 5th Ave Decatur, GA


Ingrams Temple Church of God and Christ 1953 Hosea L Williams Dr NE Atlanta in Kirkwood.


Lakewood Church of Hope Atlanta GA 1766 Lakewood Ave in South Atlanta


Bowen United Methodist Church built 1951 211 Arthur Langford Atlanta


The wonderful joy of overscale, bravo. Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 648 Jordan Lane Decatur, Georgia kind of near Dekalb Farmers Market


The "old" Rock Baptist Church sanctuary Rex, Georgia isn't pointy.


Trinity Baptist Church Etowah Drive at Oostanaula Drive Atlanta couple of blocks off Dresden. Torn down to make two houses. They are nice but now the neighborhood is just houses.


Greater Community Baptist Church 121 Flat Shoals Ave SE Atlanta  is the landmark of downtown Kirkwood.


For sale: Morning Star Baptist Church 197 Gibson St SE Atlanta Reynoldstown


Skinny steeples work. Greater Christ Temple Holiness 914 Cherokee Ave SE Atlanta GA Grant Park.

 
It has everything and I love it: Greater Moses Chapel Baptist Church 890 Boulevard SE Atlanta GA Grant Park.

We've got a few hundred to go: Remember #steepleATL and geotag if you can.

One more thing: If Restoration Hardware sold steeples we'd see more of them on garages in sculpture gardens:


Behold The Commuter Gallery.

The "Moderns" on Their "Best Days" MA Design is Human Tour

Why do folks put their houses on tour? Back to that in a minute.

It's not love at first sight for me. They are so unfamiliar, so complicated, so clever, so cool, so clean, so uncluttered, so unornamented, so unmoored from the familiar, so "start from scratch every time." But I so enjoy visiting and I'm perfectly willing to give love a chance.

That's why this was my 6th year as docent for the Modern Atlanta Tour of Homes.

I gave up taking pictures and gave up trying to explain these places. You have to be there.


I was docent at two houses for about 3 1/2 hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings. In the afternoons I raced all over to see the rest of the houses. I'm exhausted and they are all jumbled up in my head.


Why do folks put their houses on tour? Many reasons I'm sure.

But if the owners stayed home, they'd know that people are the best home accessory, and that their homes had never been so alive.


These were their best days.


Hey Octane, thanks for the lemonade.

Almost Perfect Master Suite - 2007 Renovation Designed by Robert B. Tippett

The Architecture Tourist seeks spaces that make people feel good. When optimistic the Architecture Tourist believes that comfortable spaces can be duplicated and should be.

This is what they teach in design and architecture schools, right?

Well this is a good one. It's for sale on 936 North Highland. It's not like the "others." Brand new at 100+ years old. Your results may vary but in my humble opinion it's extraordinary, perhaps may favorite house of the year: unique, fun, livable, and high style with windows overlooking life. It's doesn't come cheap but they just dropped the price.


They still have the renovation plans.

I'm extremely judgmental about master suites. It drives me nuts when ample space and money produce uncomfortable spaces and unhappy proportions.

I have a long list but here are three ideas for the master:

1. You should feel cozy in the bed chamber even without furniture.
2. You should be able do your toilet and dressing without disturbing the sleeping loved one. Sometimes achieved with a 2-door bathroom as in this house.
3. You shouldn't be able to see into the bathroom from the bed. The bathroom lights should never shine on the pillows. This is eminently possible but rare.

This one is darn good. Here is Terry's tiny 90 second tour.


Bravo Robert B. Tippett.

This is more typical: a 4,000+ square foot spec house. A 4-door 600+ square foot master with bodacious trey ceiling and all marble bathroom. Quit doing this:

No.