This spec house sold long before it was done.
I blogged another spec teardown a few weeks ago. It is traditional and quite handsome. It hasn't sold 3 months after completion.
I guess folks who want moderns want moderns, and moderns are rare. This proved to be a good bet.
I took work-in-progress tour on caravan. It got offers when it looked like this.
Though I'm not instinctively attracted to moderns, I developed a crush.
Before: a flat lot on a hilltop, fronted by a giant oak, served by a rare alley, in one of Atlanta's great neighborhoods, about 4 blocks from George's.
The lot is 8250 square feet, 0.189393 acre. It's narrow and deep. The house was built in 1930 at 1,156 square feet. The alley frees up the lot, you don't need a driveway.
Brian and Jeff told me that the original intent in 1930 was to build the big house later. That never happened.
The ally. Houses here have way more than you'd suspect from the street.
Some folks want to show all they got to the street. Others prefer a bit of modesty.
The no-driveway look is uncanny in Atlanta. Even our mansions have prominent driveways.
Our little house was so small and so far from the street it seemed to be from another planet.
You might think the new house is from another planet too, but inside, it made sense to me.
The ground floor has the garage. The bedroom suite/office windows make you feel like you are in the garden.
The main floor is one big room with windows on all four sides. See the panorama below.
The top floor has the bedrooms.
The rooftop deck is probably the highest on a single family home in the city limits and yet it's in the canopy.
It has stacked closets ready for an elevator.
This is the CDC in a hazy day.
The master is spectacular but cozy. How it manages to be cozy amidst all the glass I don't know. But it does - secret architect trick I guess.
Here is the big room.
The head on view. Isn't it great not to have a driveway?
Here is is in context with neighbors and the big oak.
Congratulations to architect Brian Ahern of Studio BA and Jeff Darby of Darby Studio.
If I've learned anything it's that pictures are no substitute for being there; and that being there often changes my mind.
Thanks to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.
