Houses are for families, BBQ and Peach Pies

It must be a law: design and real estate pictures can't show people.

On this sentimental fathers' day I say to heck with that. Houses are for people. We proved it yet again with a week of family house guests.

It started with BBQ and pies. Cristin and Linda drove in via High Point and brought BBQ from Kepley's Bar-B-Q and peaches from Abbot Farms near Gaffney, home of the Big Peach.


Not all the loved ones could make it.

 
Still life with peaches, BBQ sauce, and store-bought crusts. Has a kitchen ever looked prettier?

 
Cheerwine, painted chairs, cupid, and laminate still get job done. We don' need no stinkn' granite.

There is a lot of mileage on that burner.

 
Puppies, pie plates and crusts compliment the counter.


Silver, yellow green, gray, and white are good colors for our kitchen.  We shucked the corn but we didn't have room in our tummies.We cut up some watermelon and cantaloupe.


Friends and loved ones arrived and it was really hard to wait.

I think the aroma of Kepley's BBQ is imprinted in my genes. The pharaohs would have loved it. This picture makes my mouth water.


Linda and Cristin cut back on the sugar so the pie was a bit tart, perfect with the ice cream.


Kepley's hush puppies are slightly sweet, they crunch but aren't hard. They bring tears to the eyes of many High Pointers. I think they are fine but my son dreams about them.

They came, they baked, we ate.We saved some for my brother Ken who arrived the next day.


Cristin reported back to Denver HQ.

Architecture, stained glass, organ tour at Druid Hills Presbyterian

The sanctuary ceiling at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church is dark and beautiful.


This is the only Phoenix Flies Event I did: the sanctuary, stained glass, and organ tour. It was first class and memorable. For architecture tourists, a drive-by only scratches the surface.

Francis Palmer Smith, the first director of architecture at Georgia Tech designed the sanctuary. He was draftsman for the architect W. T. Downing; he taught Philip Shutze, Ed Ivey, Lewis Crook, Flippen Burge, and Preston Stevens. Mr. Smith designed my favorite art deco building in Atlanta, the W. W. Orr Doctors Building. He designed the Gothic Cathedral of St. Philip at "amen corner." This is certainly the finest Atlanta architecture pedigree.

It's not too showy and doesn't look too big from the street. But it's big. They call it French Gothic.


The "jewel glass" rose window sets the tone for all the stained glass inside.


One of my ambitions is to see all the great stained glass in Atlanta. This is a great start. My words and pictures fail me.

Henry Lee Willet designed and executed the glass. Mary-Elizabeth Ellard of Druid Hills Church told us about it: the jewel glass of the rose and passion windows, the grisaille glass of the aisle windows. We touched the windows, saw the witty bits. We learned why they didn't use the opalescent "Tiffany style" glass popular at the time.


Mary-Elizabeth produced a book documenting the windows. It available from the Church.
A Soft Radiant Light
The Stained Glass Windows of Druid Hills Presbyterian Church
Atlanta, GA
by Mary-Elizabeth Ellard, photography and design by Cader Howard.

I gave up trying to get good pictures. You can get a sense of the aisle windows framed in Gothic arches, beneath hammer beam trusses.


Then Cliff Frierson, organist at Druid Hills Presbyterian, explained and demonstrated the Aeolian-Skinner organ.


Cliff had us climbing in the pipe rooms.


Architect Howell Adams gave us part three: How to maintain, preserve, and adapt the building for today and tomorrow.


Did you know that Druid Hills and Cathedral of St. Phillip had similar leak problems? Howell explained that and more. The ceiling decking isn't wood. At the time the acoustic style was sound absorbing echo-free panels. There are craftsmen who specialize in moving and scribing church pews so they don't rock; shims just don't do the trick.

Howell lectures into a blur. Have a look at the "Passion Window" behind him.


The choir has the best seats in the house.


We begged Cliff Frierson to play the organ for us while we were in the choir between the two pipe rooms. I didn't tell him I was videoing. He claims he made a few mistakes. My JoAnn offered him a second take.

To me the only mistake was not being there to hear it. Thanks Cliff, Howell, and Mary-Elizabeth and Druid Hills Presbyterian for a wonderful tour. "Toccata-of Charles-Marie Widor's Fifth Symphony for Organ in F Major"


Thanks and happy Easter,
Terry
terry @ surf303.com

P.S.
Druid Hills Presbyterian is part or Ponce de Leon's own "amen corner" with 2 other extraordinary churches. Here is Druid Hills Baptist


and Druid Hills United Methodist by Ivy and Crook.

Suzanne Kasler, writes, signs, talks, and parties

Things That Inspire emailed that I should go to meet Suzanne Kasler signing her book, Suzanne Kasler: Inspired Interiors, at Bungalow Classic in Atlanta's west side. TTI said there'd be food!

Now it just so happened - a coincidence? I think not - that Ms. Kasler did an interview with the Skirted Round Table last week. Have you listened? You should. Ms. Kasler not only has a rare design talent, she has an even rarer talent: She can explain what she's doing.

Only one of my pictures worked, it shows the big crowd and a great room. Ms. Kasler spent the entire evening at the signing desk. There was a line all night. This picture looks pretty good if you click and make it bigger. (You can see a bit of her face under the leftmost lampshade.)



Meeting Atlanta Bloggers
I went by myself. The crowd was a bit above my pay grade. Well dressed and coiffed designer ladys, well dressed designer guys, well dressed clients and design fans, me in my cleanest Lands End khakis.

So I was wandering around trying to look as if I belonged when designer Claire Watkins, author of the High Gloss Blue blog introduced herself. And right beside Claire was blogger Brilliant Asylum. Both had their book ready to be signed. After a bit of chat blogger Things That Inspire walked up. What a pleasure. They were so nice to me. Clair has already blogged about it.

Meeting Jay Reardon, president of Hickory Chair
TTI introduced me to Jay Reardon. I grew up in High Point where nearly everybody had a tie to the furniture industry. I'm sure I knew of Hickory Chair before I was weaned. Talking with Mr. Rardon was an honor for a High Pointer. I was delighted to learn that 85% of Hickory Chair's products were made in the USA. Mr. Reardon's enthusiasm for the industry was contagious. Hickory Chair has a blog, "Made by Hickory Chair" Laura Holland from Hickory Chair is on Twitter.

A store room full of designers
TTI introduced me to a few designers. I met Atlanta designer Gretchen Gilstrap Edwards. I wish I had time to meet the all.

Tête-à-têtes everwhere
Bungalow Classic has many cozy corners where you could have a quiet conversation in spite of the crowd. Designers were doing doing business throughout the store, many with fabric books at hand in serious conversation.

Thanks to the Atlanta design community and my fellow Atlanta bloggers for an unexpectedly great time.

P.S.
Here are the 3 whites if I heard correctly:from the Skirted Round Table interview.
Benjamin Moore
OC-17 White Dove: (F0EFE6)
912 Linen White (F3ECDB)
OC-29 Floral White (EEECDE) 

Painter Alain Gazier's silent interiors

Alain Gazier as seen at Besharat Gallery, Atlanta. Do click on the pictures and select "All sizes" to see the detail.

As you decend the glass stairway at Besharat these come into view. It's like you could walk right into the paintings. We Architecture Tourists would enjoy that. Are these real rooms? Where?

Shadows on slightly shiney tile.

I can imagine the click-click of high-heeled shoes on these floors.

What is through that doorway?

So how big are they? This one is 45" by 76", taller than I am.