Terry's Tiny Tour: The View Outside from 85 Park Place, New Home To Georgia State's Law School

* Thanks to Sam Donaldson who gave Stuart Jackson and me a tour of 85 Park Place. Thanks Stuart for including me.

* You are probably wondering if I like it. Well...

* What our modernist designers do best, they did here: Walls of windows and a soaring atrium that slashes tall and deep into the building "bringing" the sunlight.

* Interior windows light interior rooms so claustrophobics can be somewhat at ease.

* Open spaces mean you'll see your fellow students and teachers and they will see you right back.

* A monumental floating stairway "brings" the diagonals.

* Two words: terrazzo floors.

* There aren't any cultural symbols inside 85 Park Place. I just can't imagine portraits of judges or alumni, certainly no Moses in there. Wouldn't it would ruin the minimalist effect?

* Attention artists: Y'all could do something bodacious in here. Please do.


* Fortunately the blandness of the finishes, the soaring atrium, hallway enfilades and glorious windows take the eye outside towards the Candler Building, the Flatiron and the Carnegie Buildings.


* And you can go outside on the decks while you are inside.


* I didn't know there was a water tower atop the Carnegie.

* I was too busy looking outside to capture the inside but I did take a couple of videos.

*Here's one from a stairway landing, I even caught the street car. This feels BIG CITY.



* And another from higher up.



* You are probably wondering if I like it. Would I enjoy going to school in a brand new building with a view and elevated decks? Well yeah. Thanks Sam and Stuart.

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.

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.

Last Look at the Little Split-Level Landmark on North Druid Hills at Goodwin

Looks like they are tearing down the whole block on the edge of Pine Hills near Cross Keys High School. I don't care much except for this one. It was different, it seemed to belong there, and it always caught my eye on my thousand drive-bys. I've included a couple of maps and and video walk-through.


A bit of rare courage got me inside. It hadn't been abandoned long. I could still "feel" the life inside.


It's 1785 North Druid Hills at the corner of Goodwin. Looks like they'll tear down the whole block for three different little developments.


From Goodwin: The glorious carport. THIS is how I want to bring in the groceries, from carport to screened porch with no steps.


The view from North Druid Hills Road if you could slow down. Built in 1959 1,814 square feet on 1/2 acre.


The neighbors are more like the one next door, built in 1953.


Half an acre is an estate in the city. The new development will be denser.


Diagonals and overhands.


Rustic brick and the wrought iron look.


The living room windows and screened porch.


One of my favorite carports for sure.


Step-free exterior but you had to go up or down to visit a bath.


There's a regular in the back.


From the screened porch. It was bright inside and fooled my camera.


The foyer and stair hall. Master suite upstairs. Two bedrooms and a bath downstairs. Efficient.


I'd want a bit more visual separation between the public and private spaces but that could have been done.


Sorry for the blur. The living room and kitchen/family room shared the transom / clerestory windows (whatever they are) and the sloping ceiling. You get a better sense of the space from the video below.


The kitchen seemed bright and comfortable. Located in command central you could see every coming and going from here. Sorry for the blur.

Here is the video walk-through.



Starting at the lower 2 bedroom one bath level.



Goodbye little house.

Six December Atlanta Home Tours - Really - HOLIDAY TOUR OVERLOAD - wait, now there are 7

I mean: who doesn't have lots of free time during holiday season?



It's 2013 home tour overload and these are the just the ones I know about. Does any know about the Telephone Factory this year?

Decatur Holiday Candlelight Tour of Homes, 2013
Friday Dec. 6 5:30-9:30 pm and - Saturday Dec. 7 5:30-9:30 pm

Virginia-Highland Tour of Homes, 2013
Saturday, Dec. 7 10–4pm and Sunday Dec 8. 12–4pm

The Stacks Lofts + Artists Tour, 2013
Saturday, Dec. 7, 1-8pm

The Marietta Pilgrimage, 2013
December 7-8, complicated times

Grant Park Candlelight Tour of Homes, 2013
Saturday Dec 14 6-10pm, December 15 6-10pm

Avondale Tour of Homes & Holiday Market, 2013
Sunday, December 15th
Tour of Homes 3:00pm to 8:00pm.
Holiday Market Noon to 6:00pm.

Make it seven is you drive east a bit, thanks to Trish at The Old Post Road.
Madison Georgia 30th Annual Town & Country Holiday Tour
December 5-8, 2013
Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10:00-4:00pm
Friday & Saturday Candlelight 5:00-9:00pm
Sunday 1:00-5:00pm

Because it's not like the others: pictures are from the "Stacks" tours, the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill in Cabbagetown.


This loft is in...


...this building.


If we're lucky, the rooftop decks will be open.





 
There are more than 500 lofts in the Stacks, and a pool. It's an amazing place.


Say hello if see me.

602 Carteret Street: Why don't you take some pictures of THAT for your blog?

We'd just finished our buggy ride in Beaufort. We were heading back tired, hungry, a bit overwhelmed on this beautiful Friday afternoon. At 602 Carteret Street, Kenny said, "Take some pictures of that." (See the map at the end of this post.)

I jumped out of the car and took these while they waited in the car. I had five minutes. I wish I'd had a day. Thanks Ken, good eye.


"In 1932 the Beaufort County Library Board opened the J. I. Washington Branch...Beauford's black residents finally had a separate branch library on Carteret Street...The Washington Branch was located at 602 Carteret Street in a building that had once housed (Berean) Presbyterian..." - Beaufort: A History By Alexia Jones Helsley


It catches the eye but there is so much to catch the eye in picturesque Beaufort.


I thought it was Brown Design Studio. Mr. Brown messaged me:  "We are just getting ready to do some much needed rehab."


It's now the print making studio for the University of South Carolina - Beaufort.

So I rushed around.



 
Door to the sacristy.


The Beaufort Preservation Manual by John Milner Associates calls the window Late Gothic Revival c. 1900 with "Heavy Simple backband, 'Abstract' Pointed Arch, Double Hung Sash."






There were some folks at the side door. I introduced myself to Joanna Angell who directs the Ceramics, Printmaking, Drawing studios and asked if I could look inside.


It's a great feeling space but scraped clean of most of old church and branch library ambiance. Still, those windows and triangles...I'd like to work in there.


The sacristy.


Now we know.


Thanks to Eric Brown at Brown Design Studio, he tweets: @BrownDesignStd  and thanks to Jane Frederick at Frederick + Frederick Architects. she tweets: @JaneFredArch. I tweet at @terrykearns.


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Thanks again to the Architecture Tourist Palmeto State away team.

How to see Beaufort by Buggy with Paul Newman and MaryAnn

I mean the Paul Newman WITHOUT blue eyes and that's BEW-fort, South Carolina not BOW-fort, North Carolina.

 
Paul Newman (left) with the Architecture Tourist away team: JoAnn, me, Linda, and Ken on the Beaufort SC waterfront. We were all smiles after the tour thanks to our tour guide MaryAnn and Southurn Rose Buggy Tours.


We approached downtown Beaufort on Highway 21 via Carteret Street. Beaufort isn't a big place but it's flat and leafy so you can't see more than half a block.

We spotted a visitor center sign at Craven Street and found ourselves at the Beaufort Arsenal. This was a nice, cool place with restrooms. They had info on walking tours, van tours, boat tours, everything tours.

We decided on a one-hour buggy tour for $18.00 each. From the arsenal we drove a few blocks to the waterfront and found Southurn Rose Buggy Tours. It's the where the horses were. We paid for 2 hours at a parking meter and were set to go.


We had the spacious 3rd row all to ourselves.


That's buggy-boss MaryAnn. She managed Paul Newman and patrons.

Here is a little taste of the tour.


We saw a lot of haint blue paint.


Beaufort First Presbyterian Church.


St. Helena's Episcopal Church was built in 1724. It was open to visitors, maybe next time.




Double porches galore.


Yellow needs no caption.


A live oak becomes an angel oak when a limb hits the ground and starts back up. This one isn't yet an angel.


There were asking $498K for this 1938 infill on Hancock Street.


This may be new but let's bless the purple.

 
"Rancher."


The west end of Laurens Street is a terminated vista in yellow and white. MaryAnn seemed nonchalant as we approach it.


The north side of that yellow house. Mmm....


We couldn't see the First African Baptist Church until we were right in front. See inside in this South Carolina ETV video.


We barely scratched the surface but JoAnn and I took a liking to Paul. MaryAnn thought JoAnn's shirt looked like a carrot.


Bonus: tour patrons got a free sand dollar candy from The Chocolate Tree Candy Shop. Linda demonstrated the proper candy store stance.


We're talking Candy Hall of Fame!!!

Let's do it again.


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