Saturday, July 6, 2013

Morrow, Georgia's Classical Niches with Urns

The Morrow First United Methodist Church (1967) is the best building on this stretch of Jonesboro Road, a rather pleasant, practical, sparse, green, burger, nail-care, big box road along the tracks.


Its portico has two fine niches with urns. I'm at a loss about why these are so appealing to me but there you go.

Morrow has Spivey Hall and Clayton State University but you can't see them from the road and they aren't designed for show.

Morrow has two important if unexpected side by side moderns: The National Archives at Atlanta and The Georgia Archives.Both are warehouses fronted by impressive facades activated with modern facade pizazz. They catch my eye but don't make me care.

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Wren-Gibbs style churches are everywhere. But there's SOMETHING about First Methodist. I couldn't figure it out when I was driving 45. So I stopped for a minute last Saturday.

William R. Tapp Jr. Architect Associates used some fine if modest detailing in 1967. Mr. Tapp, 1922-2011 was a Georgia Tech alum who designed a lot of buildings around here though this is my first encounter. His name is carved into a niche plaque.

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The design "money" is in the portico...

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...and in the niches. Isn't it amazing how the urn's shadows and reflections color and shade the niche.

Perhaps I'll do Morrow First Baptist another day. It's on Lake Harbin.


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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Leete Hall 1922 at Carver High

I had no idea! I'd seen it at a distance but never up close until last Saturday. I was returning from Spivey Hall the long way, up Jonesboro Road through South Atlanta. A train blocked Hank Aaron at McDonough at University so I turned in.

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This is the view you see in pictures, a Tudor tower on a little rise.

It's over the top in the very best way.



Carver High, George Washington Carver High School, is now the "The New Schools at Carver." But the main building we see today is Leete Hall (1922) designed by Alexander Hamilton and Henry White Jr.. In 1922 this was the campus of Clark University and Gammon College, now Gammon Theological Seminary I think. The colleges moved out of South Atlanta in 1941.

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It's like a cathedral.

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I was totally alone on the campus. It's not a huge place but I was overwhelmed.

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I needed hours to spot the details.

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Every corner deserved a closeup.

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The backside is better than most front-sides.

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Remarkable to see a cross on a school these days.

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Now I know.


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