House Crushes: Four New Small'ish Atlanta Builds I REALLY Like

Atlanta is building houses to beat the band. Our finest architects, designers, and builders are producing amazing work. But most are huge. I love them but I rarely fall in love with them.

But I get crushes on small'ish houses. Here are four though one is not so small.

1. I saw this Amy Landsberg design while poking around Decatur.


I slammed on the brakes and called Amy from the car.  An artist / architect / lecturer designing a house is my kind of thing.


I believe you can have your cake and eat it too: You can fit in style-wise and scale-wise AND be "modern." Give me sloped roof lines, a hint of gables, a corrugated metal roof, divided light windows, narrow clapboard siding, and throw in the old chimney, and if the detailing are right, I'll probably fall in love. Throw in saw-tooth clerestory windows? I'm so there.

Look: no corner boards, skinny rafter tails, why doesn't the front door have a transom like the windows, details, details.

What are those bottoms up shade things in the windows? They ward off the blackout-windows look.

2. On to Reynoldstown, not an architectural destination for many yet it's a beloved spot for the Architecture Tourist.



This is Christopher Leerssen's RTown Lane in Reynoldstown. Is there a more appropriate and fun infill development in Atlanta? Go see.


There are bigger units, smaller units, units that live-work, units with mother-in-law suites. There's an alley. The last two units are queued up for construction. Sold out in a hurry. Some sold before construction. More of these please.

3. The Cheshire Bridge O&I / Skin district really needs Manchester. 



This is Manchester by Hedgewood where the Habersham Gardens retails store used to be, next to Futo's on Cheshire Bridge.

"Lew Oliver worked with us on the Manchester project and has designed much of our architecture over the past 30 years."


Detached harmony in human scale by Hedgewood.

4. There is a high end a design war in Ansley Park where there's no protection. Smallish lots put them close the curb so it's a spectator sport.



On Polo by Bobby McAlpine. This is as close to the curb as you'll see a "Bobby." It's not small but it seems small'sh. It has 11 foot ceilings but the roof slope and through-the-eave dormers conceal the height so it fits in in size-wise. It's a spec house, it can be yours but it's not cheap. Call The Getzinger Group.

I'll bet you have crushes too. I've love to see them?

St. Phillips A.M.E., Beardon A.M.E., Magnetic Theater is now Kronberg Wall's Studio - Bravo

This space makes me feel good.

It's on Wylie Street in Reynoldstown and I fell in love with it in 1989. That was long before I saw inside for the first time in 2011 thanks to a WonderRoot show.

Kronberg Wall Architects, LLC is moving here. They've make it studio while keeping the sloped floor, the proscenium arch, the stained glass and alter rails. They threw a little preview party on June 28 and I got to see.


It was St. Phillips A.M.E. Church and then Beardon A.M.E. Church. It's deconsecrated now and was latest the Magnetic Theater. You could rent it for events.



I've blogged it before. I hoped my pictures weren't the last before it burned or it got torn down. See "A chance to learn more or forget less."

A video and a few pictures from the preview:















Bravo.

St. Phillips A.M.E., Beardon A.M.E., Magnetic Theater is now Kronberg Wall Studio - Bravo

This space makes me feel good.

It's on Wylie Street in Reynoldstown and I fell in love with it in 1989. That was long before I saw inside for the first time in 2011 thanks to a WonderRoot show.

Kronberg Wall Architects, LLC is moving here. They've make it studio while keeping the sloped floor, the proscenium arch, the stained glass and alter rails. They threw a little preview party on June 28 and I got to see.


It was St. Phillips A.M.E. Church and then Beardon A.M.E. Church. It's deconsecrated now and was latest the Magnetic Theater. You could rent it for events.



I've blogged it before. I hoped my pictures weren't the last before it burned or it got torn down. See "A chance to learn more or forget less."

A video and a few pictures from the preview:















Bravo.

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.

Five Atlanta Architects Build Their Own Homes

Five Atlanta residential architects will live their in own designs and I want to know everything.

I'm sorry to tease.  I know the who, the what, and except for one the where. But it's personal. And each architect can leverage the house, the design, and the story, perhaps get published. And publishers want exclusives.

I'll show you the before's: One occupied, one just started, one nearly done, one about 1/4 done, one a mystery.


Torn down. It's on a 1911 Sanborn® Fire Insurance Map but it hasn't had a future for a long time. I've toured the new one. It's a not so big modern that I really like.


I toured this one. It's clever, a 1,175 square footer build from a kit in 1971. It's been stripped of salvageable material awaiting the wrecker. The new one will be a "not so big" modernist but the architect is coy about the specifics.


The big renovation is underway. The is before, built 1925 about 1,700 square feet. It's the most interesting challenge. It had been ruined by home-brewed renovations but its craziness amused me. I'll bet they hollowed it out inside. It will keep this basic shape.


It's nearly done and it still looks like this from the front. I've had a tour. Inside it's spacious and special, bigger than a not so big house but you can't tell from here. Built in 1940.

The mystery house? The folks who know are keeping it secret. I presume they are going whole hog PR / marketing on it. I've heard one detail but they could be teasing me.

A chance to learn more or forget less

Harry and the Potters headlined a WonderRoot show at the Magnetic Theater. I've known of this place for a long time. I've scouted for an event that would allow me to see inside. There I was on Sunday night: an ancient with the young rockers.

When I caught this view through the door, I knew I'd done the right thing. It was a chance to learn more or at least forget less.



It was St. Phillips A.M.E. Church and then Beardon A.M.E. Church on Wylie Street in Reynoldstown. It's deconsecrated. Now it's the Magnetic Theater and you can rent it from Kevin at Giant Sounds. You can have a meeting, a show, or a recording session.


The arch and chancel, the altar rail remains. It's quite handsome.


Sanctuary upstairs, Sunday school downstairs.


From the porch looking northwest it's classic Wylie Street. Norfolk Southern Railway's Inman Yard is on the other side of the fence. Cabbagetown is to the left. The Edgewood neighborhood is to the right. Inman Park is across the tracks.

West wall, you can see the sloped floor	North wall, entrance, triple arched windows. There used to be a balcony.	East wall

Kevin showed me the Beardon A.M.E "book."


The preface is a history of the St. Phillips A.M.E church."


The cornerstone is almost entirely unreadable. It's in the basement out of the weather. Maybe a rubbing can bring out the details.


The crepe myrtles are not the right planting here.


They hide the fine facade and triple window.


The tower wall features stone and shingles.


It doesn't have a bad side.


The windows are modest yet refined and sturdy.

The stained glass windows: Click a picture to enlarge. This isn't the definitive way to present windows but here they are for the record.

Some details:


The windows are the same except for the cartouche if that is the right word.




They get the job done.


I started with the left window, the east window in the south wall and went clockwise.

3 south windows

Harp	Lilly in chancel	Sheaf in chancel

6 west windows

Angel & shield	Lamb	Fruit, blooms "She hath done..."	10 Commandments	Dove	Eagle

5 north windows

Chalice & Grapes	Grape bunch	Center arch?	Harp	Bible

6 east windows

Star	Grape leaves	Lyre	Menorah	Crown	Lamp

I hope to learn more.


When you tour Reynoldstown, make sure to see this brick beauty on Wylie Street in Reynoldstown. This was Bill Harrison's office when he designed my renovation, and Dean Garden.