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

What is that double-pen saddlebag building in Decatur?

In 2001 the Decatur (Georgia) Preservation Alliance moved this "two-room circa 1870s servant's quarters tenement structure." I think this means two mirror image rooms / apartments on either side of a central chimney.

It's at the corner of Church and Bell, at the entrance to Decatur Cemetery.


It's a bit out of place a few blocks north the the Dekalb County Courthouse.


This particular shape is irresistible to me: gable end front and center, narrow and deep with a modest side porch. It risked wasting away a few blocks from the present site. I can't figure out exactly where it was.

It's a familiar sight all over the south. It looks as if it's companion buildings have wasted away. We've mostly moved on from places like this.

I enjoy more new constriction in this style. Georgia architects Historical Concepts does vernacular very well as seen here.
It was time to stop and look.


These are fine paneled doors with nice trim, original?


The windows are trimmed out the same way. I doubt the sashes are 100 years old.


Eave, soffit, return, and facia are pretty fancy.

 
Contrasting frieze boards and coner-boards with a tiny cornice are a good look. It looks fine with dark trim but I'd prefer all white or less contrast.

 
The detailing and dark paint make it quite a bit fancier and heavier looking that the Browning Courthouse, in Tucker above.


When you get close it looks massive.

What's inside a double-pen saddlebag?


Looks like they took the chimney down before they moved the house.


...in 1893, the old church was donated to(sic) house the Donald Fraser School for Boys."




If you've got a few minutes, why not stop and have a look for yourself.

Leslie at the Dekalb History Center thinks they will move it a to nearby community garden. I hope they'll put it back in service. Thanks to Leslie for helping out on this post.

It nice when you can save one.


View Larger Map

Shining beautiful winter light on Atlanta's architecture

This little blue house has emerged from the Kudzu and glows in the low December sunlight.

Though I'm a warm weather person and I certainly enjoy our usually lush southern landscape, I take great pleasure in winter light. It makes winter tolerable.

Overgrown Kudzu and well intended but overgrown landscaping hide our great houses. The low angled summer sun lights the buildings, changes the shadows and reveals new details.

Back the the little blue vernacular house. You'll never find it. If I turned around, you'd see the skyline view and know where it is. I'll let it stay hidden.

Not everyone likes Atlanta's Federal Reserve Building on Peachtree at 10th. I do.


It's our own modest Taj Mahal. It's Georgia marble (42,000 pieces) covered facades glow in Atlanta's winter sunlight like a light bulb. The rest of mid-town seems dull in comparison. A government bank, in marble should be overwhelmingly authoritarian. I don't feel that. There won't be any street-level stores but there is a nice lawn. The "Dump" next door has a metal fence for goodness sake. I prefer the Fed's eagle, columns, and benches.

I enjoy but dread the appeals court building downtown. The Federal Reserve is a welcome pleasure from every direction. Every new building in Midtown makes it look even better.

Reynolds Stewart, Stewart & Associates with Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Doesn't it remind you a little of the Mansion in Buckhead, another Stern building?

Dresden neighborhood - "big wall" building and abandoned vernacular

It's the west end of Dresden. Maybe it's Ashford Park. Anyway, a great location for tear-downs but not a legacy of great architecture.

The original homes do have their charms: Nice lot, modest house, 2 outbuildings, a great house for grandma and grandpa. But next door, the big wall - the big monolithic wall.


There are 2 abandoned vernacular homes on Dresden near Ellijay that always catch my eye and another hidden in the overgrowth. These would be happy anywhere in the rural south. Makes me curious about the history of the area.




Next door is a modest 1-story with porch and dormer on a great hilltop lot.




It's for sale.


This one on Ellijay hides in the brush. Elegant proportions. It can't last long.

House with swags in Decatur

High style for a little house in Decatur.


It's not just the swags. The corner symmetry, proportions, and details make this elegant and welcoming. Three cheers.

9th Street Midtown charm

It's for rent! A 2-bedroom. I'm sure it the best of several rental units on the property. 9th street isn't on the way to anywhere. Other 9th Street facades are bigger than this one. This is a bungalow that got dolled up but elegantly. The porch, the yard. I love tiny but beautiful front yards. (You can click on the pictures to enlarge them in Flickr.)

The metal fence defines the yard but doesn't hide anything.


The wrap-around porch leads to an amazing door. The 3 french doors have massive trim.


Is the yard even 20 feet deep? There is a metal fence at the sidewalk.


It feels old, timeless, lived-in, indestructible.

Home on "Old" Stagecoach Road in Ellenwood Georgia, North Clayton / South Dekalb County

Stagecoach Road runs from Stockbridge to Ellenwood. Gently rolling countryside with meadows, trees and a handful of lakes. It seems rural now but it won't be rural for long. This little beauty flies the flag.

Brookhaven vernacular

This may be the smallest house in Brookhaven. I don't see how it can last. It's a breath of fresh air among the nouvau mansions. For a moment you are out in the country.
It's American vernacular, almost folk Victorian but no gingerbread.

The front has that bungalow look.

4 of my favorites

I like 'em like this. I'll bet you have your favorites too.

When I'm in East Lake or Decatur or Peachtree Heights or Peachtree Battle, I'll drive by if I can.

They delight me every time. What is it about them?


I've only been inside this one.


This is the drive-by view. I'd call it a vernacular; they call it low country planter style, what do I know?

It looks like it belongs. It could be 150 years old. But it isn't.


It's actually 156 years old.

Here is another:


It could be 100 years old but it's 120.


It's irresistible to me. I drive by twice a week and I don't have to go out of my way.

Porches, gables, not too big, gravel, close to the ground...

Here's another, hard to see, it's always a zen view.


I've driven by 100's of time but only "looked" at it in the last 6 months.


It's a low-rise rambler with gravel and hints of Greek Revival, only 81 years old.

Here is the 4th one.


It's another "woody" with shutters. Property records say it's 129 years old, built in 1883. It's unlike any of it's neighbors. But it's like the ones I like.


A low-rise rambler with just one gable but no gravel, it still passes my test.

Are there any like these your neck of the woods? I'd sure enjoy seeing them.

Thanks,
TK