How to Enter a Pink Castle

It strives to delight and lift our spirits, not to intimidate. May I show you in via my 30-second video?

There is no trouble finding the rose door. It's the clearest of the pinks and reds from the tile, faded walls, and gravel. Isn't the color of the door perfect? Can you imagine another color?


There is another door, the service door done as a window. See the steps in the corner?


The foyer bumps out. It's plain and human sized, more comfortable than I expected. Little hedges and lanterns guide us to a perfect landing. We might have to make a dash during a rain.


No athletic step climbing is required. It's perfectly sized for families. Ladies in heels might need some gravel practice: I notice some "interesting" lady strides as we crunch toward the door. The left window lights the ladies room, the right lights the men's.


Time to go into the surprisingly cozy foyer.


Mind if I quote "Pattern 130. ENTRANCE ROOM?"

When hosts and guests are saying goodbye, the lack of a clearly marked "goodbye" point can easily lead to endless "Well, we really must be going now,?' and then further conversations lingering on, over and over again."

It's been 6 days and I'm not over it, not over my visit to the Pink Castle. I wrote about the angel & urns and about the garage.

Garage to die for at the Pink Castle

I've fallen for the Pink Castle - Tryggversson (1919-23), built for Andrew Calhoun - and I can't get up. There is so much "there" there I'm taking little bites. Yesterday it was a bit about urns and angles. Today the garage.

Listen: I'm a guy; I like garages. Let me show you the best I've ever seen. This is the house.
In the top picture the garage is on the right; in the bottom the garage is to the left connected to the main house by a gallery with 3 big arches. The arches form a breezeway on the north, kitchen and service entrance on the south.

From Pine Stream you can barely see the mansion edge on, just the driveway and the garage. And it's looking good for an 88 year-old.

Blind arches, columns (or pilasters), shutters, crooked lantern, herringbone doors, tile roof, patina galore, greens with pinks - a theme throughout house. I'm starting to get emotional.


I think somebody lives upstairs, lucky them. See how tall the garage doors are, how much taller than the min-van? Yeah baby. See the double shutters in the middle window, the half open door? These aren't automatic doors, fake decorative carriage doors.

The space inside is worthy of a small wedding or wedding reception. I didn't take a picture - too personal.

Here is the breezeway looking from the garage toward the little pink dining room, looking west back towards the main house. The 3 big arches from the painting are on the right.


Here is the breezeway looking from the pink dining room east towards the garage. You can just see the arches on the left. You'll also notice the stairs. The garage is on higher ground than the main floor of the house, making it look very grand as you can see from the painting.


See?


The other side of the breezeway wing houses the kitchen, the service entrance, and service courtyard. In the top painting you can see a great gateway between the main house and the garage. This is where you bring in the groceries. Not bad, huh?


I'm looking out of the kitchen door towards the garage into the service courtyard. The steps lead to the garage. What mansion doesn't have a greenhouse and storage for cut flowers?


Here is my 38 second HD video. The last scene is from the Pink Dining room into the breezeway towards the garage.


I'm in love.

The Pink Castle's Urns and Angel.

I took more than 100 pictures yesterday at Beacham and Co. sponsored Special Olympics house tour yesterday. I was so fortunate to be there. Stan Dixon told me it was way better than he'd even imagined. Helen Young at Whitehaven has a personal connection. This is just the first few of my urn pictures.


A bit closer.


You can see a bit more detail in black in white.


Urns and angel.


Looks like he needs a little break.

Scottdale Gables

Scottdale Mills? Scottdale, Georgia? Agnes Scott College? Same family. When I'm in the area, I take a little drive around. It's only a few blocks. I am a gable guy and swoon at views like this. (There is a secret picture for garden bloggers Tara and Pam, will they notice?)



Scottdale is one of the Atlanta area's milltowns, preserved differently than those in Cabbagetown, The Old 4th Ward, and Home Park.



It's not in a "hip" area. These 2 are on a green, unlike any other in Atlanta, as far as I know. No hip shops or restaurants; no cool residents in sight (but they must surely be very cool). No tourists, no parking problems, no scene.



These 2 houses were built as duplexes. They didn't need these nice details. Notice the two chimneys, one for each apartment.


The modest chimney has looked great every day of it's life.


You see these hipped roof porches on period houses everywhere.


Faith Walk is the house with the fancy gable window.


I don't think the other house has a name but it's a beauty too. This is the secret picture for garden bloggers: Gravel and grass, know what I mean?


There are single family millhouses too, one in pink, or is it salmon?


You visit the Dekalb Farmers Market right? So drive a bit further out on Ponce. Find the antique stores in cute little houses, turn left and find the green. There you are.


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Thanks,
Terry
terry @ surf303.com

Seriously Pink Door in Druid Hills

I was short cutting through Druid Hills this week and spotted this pink door.


You might prefer your pink door on a house of another color, maybe gray?



There are whole gaggles of Atlanta folks who've never been to Druid Hills. Unless you are headed to Emory University, or traipsing between Atlanta and Decatur, you'll miss it. It's not a manor house destination like Brookhaven and Buckhead, not Victorian eclectic like Inman Park.

It is a large but compact, and easily viewable collection of handsome homes by Walter T. Downing, Arthur Neal Robinson, Henry Hornbostel, Neil Reid and other. There are Shutze buildings at Emory and more that 40 homes and school buildings by Buck Crook.

I'd guess that every notable Atlanta architect has done renovations here. But Druid Hills Historic District rules prevent changes from showing on the street. There are just a few infills than might be teardowns.

Personally, I enjoy Druid Hills more in parts than as a total package. Click here to enlarge the pink door house: symmetry, roof, soffit detail, oval window, quoins (thanks to Dan for spelling correction), brick band, limestone door surround, leaded glass sidelights, 6 over 1 windows. This is an elegant, handsome home, that doesn't shout. Well I guess the pink door shouts a bit.

I can imagine this very house built today in Atlanta's most exclusive neighborhoods.

Thanks,
Terry

We want to live in a tropical/colorful place

Off 11th street in Midtown Atlanta:


When Jo Ann and I are cruising and see something like this, we both say, "Why can't we live in a place like this?" I mean a place where you can be this colorful. I locked on to Southern Aspirations post about Stuart Florida (see her picture of the "Colorado Hotel" towards the bottom) and realize that I'm searching Atlanta for just such a colorful place.



Some commercial places can do it like Habersham Gardens:




Or the Irwin Street Market:


And there are 3 pink houses in Ansley Park:


But only the older, funky neighborhoods and architecture can dare the colors. Like the MLK district in the Old 4th Ward.


Or this pink one in Cabbage Town within sight of Oakland Cemetary:


The Wigwam condo is a treat


This pink mill house in Scottdale is a favorite:


The black house in Atkins Park isn't a tropical color but it has palms:


You can get away with a yellow house on a few streets in Morningside:


You can paint your trim pink in Virginia Higlands:


There is Pink Mirror Fence in Oakhurst, certainly a license for color:


This blue one in Poncey Highlands even makes dead Kudzu look good:


Even the dark red brick of the Virginia Cotton Docks looks a bit tropical with the overflowing bush thing (Know what it is?).


Oh well, this post is just making me more envious. I have many more of these pictures for another day.

Why waste a great garage on a stupid car?

Julia over at Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Friday's" blog party. This is my 4th try.

If you are queasy, you'd better leave this page now. You probably don't want to live here. But you might come here to eat, or to drink, or to shop. While here you'll probably muse for a few minutes about what it's like to live here. Let me tell you, it's pretty darn good. This is de facto new urbanism.

Most folks start here young and childless, or they arrive from other "urban" environments.

I want to show you a fantastic little 1930's house in one of Atlanta's best neighborhoods. The listing pictures aren't so good. I pass this one often and enjoy it's straightforward plainness. The sand/white/pink paint scheme makes it pop. You can't use pink in just any neighborhood. And, Donna Pinter's mosaic is just down Barnett street.

This is a facade? Broken hex pavers? Shabby retaining wall? Weak landscape? No setback? This place is great!!

In this neighborhood, the perfect lawn that's is a rarity. This is perfectly fine. Easy to clean gutters too, a necessity with all the trees.

Yuck? Well, here is the craftsman entrance. I spoke with the owner. A builder offered him several thousand dollars for the porch. Said he'd also replace it with a simpler one. No Deal!

It's on the corner so there is no hiding.

Now we're getting somewhere: 3BR, 2 BA, 10 foot ceilings.

Huge garage. But in our neighborhood, who'd waste a garage on a silly car? You can have a workshop, or a studio, or maybe both and a potbelly stove, with a skyline view in the winter.

You'll need a "city" car, a 15 year-old beat up Volvo wagon, to park on the curb.

For this neighborhood, this is a sprawling estate. How about huge mature trees to give you some summertime shade?

What's the deal?: It's across the street from a park, and a short level walk to other parks (including Piedmont Park), schools, churches, bars, restaurants, drug store, hardware, movie theaters, ice cream, hair cuts, blues, people watching...

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Returning control back over to Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Friday's" blog party.

Next week, if all goes well, I hope to show you one of the most dignified, humane buildings in Atlanta.