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Showing posts with label bungalow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bungalow. Show all posts

I wasn't sure what caught my eye on Rocky Ford

I stopped, turned turned, and took a picture. There was something familiar, something that triggered memories.

Rocky Ford is a street in Edgewood Kirkwood (thanks to Anonymous for straitening me out. Edgewood's boundaries go from Moreland to Arizona and I-20 to La France). I presume it "forded" Sugar Creek to the south. Folks just live there. Drivers just look straight ahead.

You'll never see it on a tour unless you are touring with me.


The flare on the verge board caught my eye at 30 mph. When I looked closely, I found this massive architrave with details galore. The chipboard in the gable window didn't put me off at all.

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It's a 1930(?) hip-roofed bungalow with a leafy minimal landscape and a double-wide next door. This could be anywhere in the south.

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There's a very grand portico with a hint of Tudor-asian-classical-craftsman, painted out in white. The chimney is proud and handsome, the foundation is unfussy and sturdy. The porch pokes out and is recessed in. The steps are massive. The verticals of the chimney and columns, the diagonals of the roof and half-timbering look just right with the horizontals of siding, sill, and eave. The gable, the pointy hip roof, and chimney reach for the sky.

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You could build this today, don't you think?

Rocky Ford is not historic, not high style, not designed, not planned, not gentrified, not balanced, not harmonious, not zoned into conformity, not messed with too much.

But it has rewards for architecture tourists. I'm glad I stopped.

Gordon's Column, Remembering Gordon, Cherishing our Gordons.

I watched as the chief mason looked over his shoulder tilting the brick, looking back at Gordon for the proper angle knowing he was building something special. This glorious column and fencing made the little porch into a welcoming outdoor room.

Most of Gordon's clients have things like this. It could be a piece of furniture, a painting, bowl, color, fabric, or nicknack, something we couldn't imagine working. We call them "Gordons" and we smile. Why did we ever doubt him?

When I'm in Decatur, I drive this great little street to see this little 1925 house, to remember Gordon Stringer via this column and that moment with the mason.

 
Gordon designed this renovation, designed everything inside and out. He punctuated it with two "crazy" columns.

IMG_9398 2014-07-28 Gordon Stringer Column fruit brick mason Ponce Place Decatur
Gordon gave me a tour when it was all studs, walls moved, ceilings raised, skylights in, bathrooms laid out, kitchen roughed out.

Inside were the lanterns, the curvy metal fencing, the fruity urns and plinths, a drawing of the shutters, color samples of everything. These were the details. You can see that Gordon pulled the color of the fruity urns into the window and door frames.

IMG_9396 2014-07-28 Gordon Stringer Column fruit brick mason Ponce Place Decatur detail
Gordon shopped Scott Antique Market among other places. He'd find things that fit his vision, knowing he could make it work. I don't know if the purchases came from the vision or the vision from the purchases. Probably both.

If you could keep up with him, shopping with Gordon was big fun.

IMG_9396 2014-07-28 Gordon Stringer Column fruit brick mason Ponce Place Decatur detail
I was there the day the masons built the columns. Gordon directed every brick course by eye.

The chief mason knew he was building something unique and special, building a Gordon.

Every time I drive by I smile.

4 Artists, 4 Artists' Collections in 4 Grant Park Bungalows

How do Atlanta artists "do" their homes? Who do they collect? Is collecting just for the elite? Are artists good designers? This was an architecture tourist 3-fer: Artists and their collections in century old bungalows.

It was the Burnaway.org Grant Park Artists Collection Tour, featuring the homes and collections of four Atlanta artists: Mark Leibert, Terri Dilling, Jonathan Bouknight and Katherine Taylor.

In this Atlanta season we have high profile tours: the Atlanta Symphony Show House, the Inman Park and Driud Hills tours. I do love them. But the Burnaway tour was under the radar. The houses weren't freshly renovated, redecorated, or staged, folks just lived there.


Here are two Burnaway "bigs" Susannah Darrow and Rachel Reese selling tickets at the season opening Grant Park Farmers Market on April 21. It was fine day for home grown food, Hula Hoops and home tours.

House 1: "I realized it could hold a lot more art."
The artist was a print-maker among other things and print-makers trade and collect their friends. Paintings, sculpture, folk art, ceramics, sense of humor. Art everywhere low and high. Cozy, comfortable warm yet plenty of challenge. The house's color pallet obviously curated by a color-wise artist. Public rooms on an enfilade on the west side of the house. First class design of master, family room, kitchen on the back. Narrow deep lot that bordered the SE Atlanta BeltLine. One of the most charming front-porch streets in Grant Park or anywhere.

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House 1 had this black bird print by my neighbor Gena Spivey VanderKloot.

P1180872-2013-03-21-Burnaway-Tour-of-Artist-Homes-Grant-Park--Stained-Glass-Window-Iris-detail
Irises in the pediment.

House 2: Child and Parent Raising
A corner house, a "must see inside." They were cooking up a late lunch. A bit sparser with a sense of big bungalow volumes. Art, prints, books, photos, maps, furniture with plenty of space left. An historic theme perhaps. Child's presence everywhere. Bright child art. Warm indestructible feel. The corner kitchen held furniture, not just kitchen cabinets. The 100 year old house had all the space necessary and the flexibility for several more generations of maturing families.

P1180870-2013-03-21-Burnaway-Tour-of-Artist-Homes-Grant-Park--Stained-Glass-Window
This wasn't in House 2 but...

House 3: Older, Quirkier Bungalow Goodness.
You don't see this floor-plan in the magazines. Early-mid career couple curated. Probably much more detailed than average when built. Shady. Evidence of glory then decline, then pioneer quirk, and much appreciation. Previous come-back owners clearly loved it. Every room a curiosity. Amazing furniture pieces. Some challanging art, a comfortable nude. Each hearth held a different gravel, I presume the originals were destroyed long ago. On an alley. There was a totem pole and mega-giant oaks in the back yard. My mind can't hold on the the floor plan: not odd but not everyday either.

P1180874-2013-03-21-Burnaway-Tour-of-Artist-Homes-Grant-Park--Stained-Glass-Window-Transom
House 3 window transom.

House 4: Young Artists with Space.
Focused on art, and making art and thinking about art and living in art. Hadn't yet accumulated room-loads of furniture so you could feel all the volume. The public rooms done as livable galleries. I got a personal tour of  the pieces. There was the most startling self-portrait of a friend done when she was 17 right inside the front door. A borrowed Shara Hughes set everything in spinning color. The stair hall had work hung knee-high, you had to look down. It also two red-spotted rectangles joined in a diagonal echoing the stair. Lace on yummy green background in the bathroom. Nearly everything stimulated.

P1180876-2013-03-21-Burnaway-Tour-of-Artist-Homes-Grant-Park--Stained-Glass-Window-Transom
House 4 window transom.

I think that this was my favorite home tour.
I was overwhelmed in the very first room.

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Thanks Burnaway.org and Mark Leibert, Terri Dilling, Jonathan Bouknight and Katherine Taylor.

3 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: Interiors in Ruin

I walked through this bungalow during its last days. If the property tax records are correct, it was 99 years old.

It went up for sale in the fall of 2011. It sold on May 17, 2012 for $400K according to public records, demolished starting March 20, 2013.

It was a very fine house in it's day.

See 1 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: Was it by Leila Ross Wilburn? 
See 2 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: The Exterior and Windows.


This was the dining with a fine south facing bay, butlers pantry to the right, living room through double pocket doors to the left.

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This was close, Plan 521 in "Southern Homes and Bungalows" (1914) by Leila Ross Wilburn.

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Living room beams and bay window.

2013-04-08-Leila-Ross-Wilburn-plans-Bungalow-pattern-book-Plan-521-floorplan-made-into-duplex
They added a master bath, a fireplace in each bedroom, and beams in the living room and den.

I don't know when it became a duplex. They closed up the doors on the south side of the hall to make a party wall. Unit A to the left, Unit B to the right.

P1170853-2013-03-20--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-demolition-front-east-side-from-across-street-plinth

I'll show you around:

P1170738-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-Rear
The back steps into Unit A. This was the southwest corner of the house.

P1170770-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-A-Unit-South-Enfilade-back-to-front
Looking in from Unit A's back door, through the enclosed porch, kitchen, butlers pantry, dining room, and living room, it's an enfilade.

P1170767-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-utility-room-laundry-maybe-enclosed-porch
From the back doorway of Unit A's kitchen looking through the enclosed porch out through the back door. This was a nice laundry room. The door to the bedroom was to the right.

P1170768-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-bedroom-fireplace-door-to-bathroom
The Unit A bedroom was off the enclosed porch. They've salvaged the mantels. The bathroom door was to the left. The fireplace shared a chimney with the fireplace in the Unit B kitchen.

P1170769-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-bathroom-is-off-bedroom
The Unit A bath, the master bath in it's day. They were salvaging the old tubs and fixtures.

I not sure that you can tell but this was a very comfortable bathroom, not so big but it had plenty of elbow room.

P1170772-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-utility-room-laundry-ceiling
The enclosed porch ceiling was rough but the trim details were nice.

P1170773-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-Kitchen-from-backdoor-enfilade -to-parlor
The original kitchen was retained as the Unit A kitchen. The doorway to the left was closed and became the party wall, the next door is to the pantry. The door to the right led through the butlers pantry into the dining room to the living room. They salvaged the paneled doors.

P1170744-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-Kitchen-from-central-hall-back-door-to-right
Looking from the central hall, this was closed off while it was a duplex.

P1170783-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-butlers-pantry
Butlers pantry, kitchen to the left, dining room to the right.

P1170765-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-dining-room-door-to-butlers-pantry-and-kitchen
Looking from the living room through the dining room into the butlers pantry and kitchen. They salvaged the door and baseboard trim.

P1170765-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-dining-room-from-parlor-through-pocket-doors
There were pocket door between the living and dining rooms. They closed the door to the right and made it the party wall.

P1170780-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-parlor-from-Unit-B-Parlor-firepllace
The Unit A living room. The dining room was through the doorway on the right.

P1170781-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-parlor-bay-window-ceiling-beams
The bay window to the front porch.

P1170760-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-Porch-Unit-A-left--Unite-B-Right-East-facing-Bay-window
I showed you back to front in Unit A. Now I'll go front to back in Unit B.

P1170752-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-North-Unit-B-parlor-front-door-window-faces-east
The Unit B front door from the Unit B living room. There was one window facing the porch.

P1170751-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-North-Unit-B-parlor-ceiling-beams-north-triple-window
The Unit B living room had a triple window facing north.

P1170764-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-parlor-beams-missing-brackets-text
They salvaged the brackets, they might have saved the beam lumber too.

P1170748-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-North-Unit-B-Bedroom-T-window-facing-north-enhanced
This was the Unit B bedroom.

P1170747-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-North-Unit-B-Bedroom-fireplace-door-to-living-room
It had a fireplace. All the original bedrooms had a fireplace. The Unit B living room is through the door on the right but I suspect that was closed off so that you entered the bedroom from the central hall.

P1170746-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-North-Unit-B-bathroom-clawfoot-tub
The Unit B bathroom was next toward the back.

P1170745-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-central-hall-to-front-A-to right-B-to-left-includes-hall
This is from the central hall looking from the back towards the front door. The wall to the right was the party wall. On the left was the bathroom door, then the bedroom door. The door to the right led to the original dining room.

P1170743-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-Kitchen-from-central-hall
Looking from the central hall into the Unit A kitchen. This was closed off.

P1170742-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-North-Unit-B-Kitchen-fireplace
The back room of Unit B was originally a bedroom with a corner fireplace. They re-purposed it as the Unit B kitchen.You can just the see the rear foyer on the right. This fireplace shared a chimney with the Unit A bedroom fireplace.

P1170785-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-Unit-B-North-Wall-bathroom-Ktichen-Back-door.
The back door of Unit B. The double casement windows were to the Unit B kitchen, the single window to the bath.

There are a few more last look pictures if you'd like to see them.

That's it.

P1020741-2011-11-28--1148-North-Highland-VaHi-Teardown-maybe-East-Facade-porch-exagerated

P1170849-2013-03-20--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-demolition-front-east-side-from-across-street-detail

See 1 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: Was it by Leila Ross Wilburn? 
See 2 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: The Exterior and Windows.

1 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: Was it by Leila Ross Wilburn?

Tax records say it was built in 1914. If that's right, this Virginia-Highland bungalow lived to be 99, torn down on March 20, 2013. Given its age and condition and considering the market, it wasn't a surprise or entirely sad. But I fell in love with it. I can't tell you why but I'll try to show you. It's going to take 3 posts.

2 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: The Exterior and Windows.
3 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: Interiors in Ruin 

 
To tell the truth: I never paid attention until they put the sign up. There are prettier things to see and in leafy season the overgrowth smothered it. The south side (on the side street) was overgrown and covered in a tarp.

But the for sale sign got me to look and to blog: "It preserved more of its original "1914" appearance."

P1020733-2011-11-28--1148-North-Highland-VaHi-Teardown-maybe-Porch-before-detail
Virginia Highland has plenty of bungalows but this one seemed original. Nobody'd "messed with it." Somehow a fresh coat of paint would have diminished it, like dyeing my hard-earned (but interesting) gray hair.

P1170793-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-South-Unit-A-bay-windows-on-porch
The more I looked the more there was to see.

2013-03-31-1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-plat-map-build-dates
Our bungalow is the blue lot above. They say you can't trust build dates on Fulton County property tax Records. They seem batched by prewar,  postwar, and pre-depression.

In any case the majority of  pre-1930 houses were craftsman style.

I wondered if our teardown was in one of Leila Ross Wiburn's pattern books which you can find here courtesy of Decatur's MAK Historic District.

2013-03-08-Leila-Ross-Wilburn-plans-Bungalow-pattern-book-Plan-521-photograph-elevation-original
What do you know? This is Plan 521 in "Southern Homes and Bungalows" (1914) by Leila Ross Wilburn.

I am not attributing this house Leila Ross Wilburn, but it's seems to be in her book.

"Craftsman houses were inspired primarily by the work of two California brother - Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene - who practiced...from 1893 to 1914...by 1909 they had...executed several exceptional landmark examples...these and similar...were given extensive publicity.... As a result, a flood of pattern books appeared...the one-story Craftsman...quickly became the most popular and fashionable smaller house in the country."  A Field Guide to American Houses, p.454

2013-03-08-Leila-Ross-Wilburn-plans-Bungalow-pattern-book-Plan-521-floorplan-original
"It has been built many times with various changes and never fails to please."

P1170789-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland-Teardown-before-Unit-B-North-Wall-bedroom-T-Windows
I'll show you exteriors in Part 2... (See 2 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: The Exterior and Windows.)

P1170748-2013-03-19--1148-North-Highland -VaHi-Teardown-before-North-Unit-B-Bedroom-T-window-facing-north-enhanced
...and interiors in Part 3.

2 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: The Exterior and Windows.
3 of 3: Bungalow Loved and Lost: Interiors in Ruin