Architects' bookshelf at Historical Concepts

We toured Historical Concepts' Glenwood Park studio yesterday. (That would be "Historical Concepts Architects, Planners and Place-Makers.")



The ICAA put it on. (That would be the Southeast Chapter of the for Classical Architecture and Art.)


Honestly, I think they do these tours just for me.


David VanGroningen (blue shirt) and Clay Rokicki (@clayrokicki gesturing with his left arm) spent an hour or so showing us around while the rest of the architects kept right on working.


The books caught my eye, Classic Cracker tops this stack.


Post-its mark the right pages.


These books were helping a big house look less intimidating.


I met Peter Pennoyer at another ICAA event. Cool.


There is a bit from those books in these renderings.


The iPad is atop Palladio in Paul Knight's right-hand stack. (@PaulLKnight)


There are a couple of oldies in Paul's left stack and he pulled them down to show me.


The Practical Exemplar of Architecture (1907) by Sir Mervyn Edmund Macartney, 1853-1932 is in several volumes. It has pictures with measured drawings.


American Landscape Architecture, Edited by P.H. Elwood, Jr is from 1924.

We had a big time. Thanks to David, Clay, Historical Concepts, ICAA and fellow tourists.

Historical Concepts' work-live studio

Domenick punched my architectural nirvana button and I can't get up.

Emmie, Angela, Ally, and I toured a working architects' studio last month. It was the Atlanta Studio of Historical Concepts in Glenwood Park.


Domenick Treschitta, project architect for the 2010 Southern Living Idea House in Senoia Georgia, gave us the tour. Here is Domenick in the white shirt explaining stucco over real masonry. The entrance to the Historical Cencepts live-work townhouse is between the tall bushes right behind Domenick.


So what's so special?

Glenwood park was designed in part by Historical Concepts. They designed their building inside and out. They retained and demonstrated the flexibility of the space while turning the garage and main living floor into studios.

The space wasn't staged for a magazine spread or even a group of bloggers. It was full of hard working architects designing classic / traditional buildings, pattern books, and plans for clients across the country. It was full of folks designing beautiful things.

Let me show you around a bit. Here is the stair looking back toward the front door. Notice the very tall ceiling. It solves the problem of the sloped lot.


See the slope? The ground floor is the "retail/work" space for the live-work townhouse. That level also has a full bath so you could sleep down there.


The alley side has the two car garage which shares the ceiling level with the ground floor. It's a split level. The first level with full balcony is the piano nobile.


Anyway, upon entering the front door we see a spectacular room that Historical Concepts uses as a meeting space. I couldn't get a good picture but let me assure you that it was a great room. You can see how they took advantage of and mitigated the tall ceiling with beautiful woodwork. The light fixture is by Eloise Pickard.




I would have stayed there until they called the police but I'd heard there was a rooftop deck. We headed upstairs to the garage level. They'd converted the garage into a studio full of architects and architect gear including models.


The watercolor guy was an architect paying his dues. He was huddled in the corner with his little paint trays. The walls were covered with renderings of beautiful places. Look closely at the big one on the upper right. You can click here to make the picture a little bigger.


I wanted to look closely at every one but there were folks working in there. So up the stairs again to the first full floor.

This would be the main living area, kitchen, and maybe a bedroom. Windows faced east, north and west, balconies to the north and west. It's another studio, another great space.


On the wall, pages from a pattern book for a place in Alabama. A lot of beautiful designs. Perhaps few of them will be built. A small tragedy: this is folio that won't be available for purchase or for check out from the library. It might be a proposal for an unbuilt project.


So far we've seen the entrance level, the garage level, and the main living level, all purposed as a working studio.

Two more levels to go. Above the piano nobile is another full floor with balconies. Somebody actually lives there and quite nicely I'll bet.

We didn't get to tour that floor. But I would move in sight unseen.

So up the final flight to the roof and rooftop room now used for meetings. What windows, what a room. Ally wanted to work up there, me too.

Beautiful exterior paneling. This is the top of the stairwell.


To the northeast is this yellow house that I adore.


To the west:


We wanted to move in. See the transom doorway to the balcony?


I like the townhouse next door too: fancier windows quieter cornice.

From the roof at Glenwood Park

Domenick Treschitta said that units with rooftop decks sold in a hurry.


At our May blogger lunch, Capella Kincheloe from A Curated Lifestyle talked about the geography shock of moving from the west coast to Atlanta. Out there you can see for miles often to mountain ranges tens of miles away. Atlanta's trees, hills, and curves make it seem like a lush park. Can't see the views for the trees. We do have have a few views.





It's nice if you can have the roof top view while staying out of the weather. This is the rooftop of the Historical Concepts Glenwood Office.


A city view from your master bedroom.


Nice if your overlook includes interesting houses, a park, a lake, and downtown too.


Call me for the next sunset watch and for the 4th of July.

New contender for Atlanta's pretiest parking deck

I hereby nominate it for Atlanta's prettiest parking deck. It succeeds our po-mo Parthenon parking pad downtown.

Beth Fore (left) of Cablik Enterprises gave our Atlanta blogger lunch bunch a tour of their offices in the Brasfield Overlook building at Glenwood Park. Little did I know that this classy but modest office building enclosed a parking deck. I'd be proud to work or live in a building like this.


Brick pilasters, cornices, classic detailing.


From Brasfield Square you can see the rusticated ground floor base of the pilasters. There is an inviting covered entrance on the corner. To the right is the garage door, pretty enough to face the little park. Well, I entered that door without knowing about the parking.


Can you find the garage door in this picture.


We entered the door and walked down a corridor towards some art, we turned right toward the elevators and found cars in a glass case.

Glenwood Park has street parking, alley parking, garage parking and surface lot parking. But you just don't notice. Clever. Domineck said that the surface lots can be decked as Glenwood grows.

Here is the view west from front door of Brassfield Overlook: The dome of the Old Roosevelt High School (1924 by Edwards & Sayward). It was one of the first school conversions to housing. It's on a ridge, "hard to get to from here" but a zen view from many places east of downtown Atlanta. It overlooks the much newer Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School.

Edwards and Seyward also designed the Decatur Courthouse. Buttrick Hall, "Main," and the McCain Library at Agnes Scott College, the Piedmont Park bath house, and the Lakewood Exhibition Buildings.

The former Atlanta champion pretty parking deck is on Ellis street behind the Ritz-Carlton and the One-Ninety-One Peachtree Building. It's our po-mo Parthenon parking pad. I don't think pretty is the word, maybe high style.


Thanks,
Terry

Entries to alleys have curved curbs at Glenwood Park

During our Glenwood Park tour this week, Domenick Treschitta showed us a designed alley: backdoors, garage doors, trash cans of beauty. I fell in love. I'm not alone.

Houses on the corners make two chunky "columns" that frame the alley. The one-story garage is painted correlated metal, quite modern-utilitarian, and pretty. Cyprus columns flank and soften garage doors. This wins the gold medal for alley landscaping.

The entry to the alley has curved curbs. A right angle wouldn't be as good, would it? Here is the "little yellow brick house" at the south end of the alley. I like it a lot. You can see that consistent footprints, heights, masses and detailing allow a variety of styles to harmonize.


Grids, alleys, and pathways give these compact developments breathing room, alternative routes, places to explore, privacy, and a bit of unexpected mystery. Here is Domenick leading us on a footpath. It's a shortcut to the park/playground/lake. What landscaping!


If you walk around, you'll find little surprises around every corner.


More to come on Glenwood Park. Thanks, Terry

Another shot of the yellow house.