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?

Demolition Watch: Go See This Little Oakhurst Landmark Before It's Gone

We've lost bigger buildings, finer designs, and more historic places lately. But this funky little flatrion - I'm taking it pretty hard. I have an uncanny attachment to it and I'm not the only one.

It was still there on Friday May 1. Go see, there's a map at the bottom of this post.


It was last the Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church. Before? Do you know? Do you have a picture?

" 102 Fifth Ave. was built c. 1916-1920. I suspect the City of Decatur is anxious to see this parcel open up for a number of reasons, one of the biggest being the current owner is a religious, i.e., tax-exempt, entity. When the City Commission approves the bid tonight, it will place a $21,000 lien on the property to cover the demolition costs, etc. Expect to see soon a request to rezone and redevelop the property so that the City can add it to the tax digest." Thanks to David Rotenstein



On one of our most picturesque streets, the oddest building is the most memorable.

" Bid Award.
Recommend accepting a proposal from Leon Benton Construction, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia in the amount of $18,750 for the demolition and removal of a dilapidated building of the building at 102 Fifth Avenue. "


Somebody must have lived up there.


Why did they cover the brick?


Are folks squatting there?

If you can't get by, here's the video, about five minutes long.





From Dekalb County Tax Records


Go See.

More pictures of Tabernacle Missionary Holiness Church 102 5th Ave Decatur Georgia.

"Most landmarks and focal points in cities - of which we need more, not fewer - come from the contrast of use radically different from its surroundings, and therefore inherently special-looking, happily located to make some drama and contrast of the inherent difference ... noble buildings ... set within the matrix of the city, instead being sorted out and withdrawn into 'courts of honor'"- Page 228, ”The Death and Life of Great American Cities” - Jane Jacobs, Vintage Books Edition 1991

Grandest House on Moreland Avenue (except Kreigshaber House) is Boarded Up

It's on the way to Grandma's if you go the long way and the long way is the Architecture Tourist's favorite way to go.

I've been sneaking by here when I could for almost 20 years. I've been dreaming a history for it but I'd like to know the real story if you know somebody who knows. There's a map and a video at the bottom.


This grand house is near Ellenwood Georgia on Highway 23 south of I-285.


It's the grandest house with the grandest garage on Moreland until you get to McDonough, until long after Moreland has changed to Macon Highway, North Henry Boulevard, then Atlanta Street.


It has the maximum front porch for a one-story.  And who doesn't love fluted square columns of real wood.


I've never seen a soul or even a car there. A couple of years ago they boarded up the back windows.


Yesterday I had a little look around.


Looks like it was last a real estate office.


Or maybe a developers' office.


A little leaky in one room.


An important fireplace.


It has mostly lost its identity as a house. Perhaps it was never a home, perhaps it was a funeral home, maybe both but I don't know.


There's a side porch too. Looks like the copper thieves have already been here.


The side porch faces this walled garden on the the north side, can't see it from the street. They've kept the lawn mowed.


There's a millstone in the middle.


View from the walled garden.


You'd need a hard heart not to fall in love with the garage.

Go see if you are in the neighborhood. It's where Old Rex Morrow Road T-Bones Highway 23.



Video 1:02

Discovering 40+ Vernacular Cottages in a Row - Campgound "Tents"

Shingleroof Campground McDonough, Georgia.

"If it'a' been a snake it'a'  bit me." I was gobsmacked and moved. I'm not over it.

I was a little early so I decided to cruise around Architecture Tourist style. There's STILL a campground on Campground Road just north of McDonough. I'd stumbled into a living cultural museum. I had ten minutes but needed 10 hours.

Here are a few of the back sides.























>





A 360 view.

Hidden Cottage 200 Feet from Ponce de Leon

Really? This for all intents and purposes is in Druid Hills. It's almost an acre and it's a goner. They build 1M+ houses in this neighborhood. If they build will one here, will they hide it from the street?


This looks old but the property record says 1930. I don't know.


I went to a caravan house on Tuesday and spotted this next door.

We don't have broken down sheds around here.


A closer look revealed this rusted metal roof.

I'd discovered a ancient ruin in jungle. I needed a closer look.


This is beside a grand 1923 Druid Hills type house.


Hmm... can't see from here.


It curves. Does this seem like high end unincorporated Dekalb County?


There's the broken shed I could see from next door.


There's another outbuilding back there.


They don't do outbuildings too much these days unless they are connected with concrete. My dad would have called this a "snakey place."

THIS is what I was looking for.




Here we go.


I had a cottage charm attack.


And I needed to let it go.