Riddleville is a crossroads between Bartow and Sandersville where Highway 242 crosses 231.
I think it's "J Y Bryan & Sons 1917." It has one of those dogeared corner entrances I like so much, lot's of fine brick detailing too. The diagonal "honors" and "activates the corner by facing in. You'll find this in our best feeling corners.
Apart from the visual appeal the cut corner is a gift to the street. It lets you see around the corner a bit, makes you feel a bit safer.
Peachtree Street, Auburn Avenue, Paces Ferry, and Ponce de Leon are Atlanta's iconic streets. But Ponce has an attitude. It goes "out" without makeup. It's a street where perfectly upright folks can be proud of sleaze. It's an historic street but not a museum piece. It survives by being used and being used hard.
It's a big street that can make you feel kind-of small. Ponce de Leon remains an important street but not a prestigious address. He we are walking east on the north side.
"...explore one of Atlanta's most diverse avenues. Delve through the many layers of history that make Ponce de Leon Avenue a rich cultural treasure as we view and visit sites that have attracted visitors since the 19th century. Experience the crossroads where Atlanta's social and economic classes have overlapped, exposing Atlanta's struggles while at the same time creating a robust and unique culture that defines our city." - Atlanta Preservation Center
It's a big street and we strolled a bit of it on Saturday.
Paul began the tour from the Paris on Ponce loading dock.
The Ford Factory wasn't a Ford factory for very long.
But Architecture Tourists are happy that Ford built it to last.
We remembered Ray Lee's Blue Lantern Lounge.
The Clermont Hotel has had it's ups and downs. It's empty now except for the adult "Clermont Lounge" in the basement. The Clarimont is allowed on "nice" folks bucket lists. The Clermont is high on the moral scale compared to some Ponce activities.
The stairs at Blockbuster belonged to great house.
This mansion remains as a law office.
This beauty seems to thrive just up the street from the abandoned Clermont.
Ponce at Highland Avenue is one of Atlanta's great intersections. East of here Ponce becomes a suburban parkway, a different street altogether. Druid Hill Presbyterian Church and the old "Briarcliff Hotel" are on the north side. We ended the official tour here.
This picture doesn't look like Ponce, looking from a lawn towards the Majestic.
The view from Druid Hills Baptist's portico is a must see. It overlooks Atlanta's first suburban shopping center. Isn't it clad in marble? See the flagpole atop the old Sears building?
I walked back on the south side. Here is 977 Ponce de Leon, now office suites.
I wonder how the ancients managed bird do on the Parthenon?
There's little a plaque in the park where Freedom Parkway T-bones into Ponce. It honors the folks who stopped a highway and saved several neighborhoods in the process.
There is a Thornton Dial at John Lewis Park. It's hard to see if you are driving.
I'm a Thornton Dial fan. You might become one too if you can find your way here and let it grow on you.
I'll leave you with our demonstration of the Ponce de Leon Strut:
It should be better than than "a place you just want to get through."
This is an important neighborhood intersection with a traffic light. The renovation of the house on the NE corner will make a difference. (Continued from "Part 1.)
This place has been a constant in my life for more than 30 years. I feel sentimental about it though my brain mostly tunes it out.
Here is the corner house scorecard. Each is a terminal vista. Here is the SE house from the western approach facing east in the right turn lane.
A close look reveals some seriously good detailing. It's a busy place. I understand the excess bushiness.
If we're going straight or turning left, we see the poptop on the NE corner.
It's looking blue.
From the eastern approach on Morningside (facing west) we see the belle of the ball, Anshi S'fard. It's on the SW corner. This was converted from residential in the late 40's / ealy 50's. It "honors" the corner by being kitty-cornered, facing smack into the center of the intersection. That makes a difference.
What columns, what a porch, it's sturdy and solid; it faces out; it welcomes in.
The northern approach looking south on Highland also features Anshi S'fard and the side of the next house.
Pretty good even in the rain.
This is the southern approach on Highland looking north. The NW terminal vista is a line of 1-story jobs.
This is such a familiar sight, not a landmark view but interesting. With hips, gables, bricks, chimneys, stucco, and paneling there is genuine variety, far more than we'd find in similar houses built lately. It keeps me interested.
I think the corner house is multi-family. The hedge, always neatly trimmed, offers a bit of privacy.
This is very early in the story. I'll get back to you.
Let's have another look at Anshi S'fard before we go.
In it's day this was the financial center of Atlanta and the building looked it. Built in 1901 as the Empire Building. Hentz, Adler and Shutze renovated it in 1929 to the headquarters of Citizens and Southern National Bank.
I have a personal connection to all the Shutze buildings I'm blogging about. Perhaps this one most of all. Mrs. Architecture Tourist worked here as a teller while in grad school. Later she was kicked upstairs. We were young married folks. Both of us worked in a company headquarters, in beautiful historic buildings just three blocks from each other, when downtown Atlanta was at it's peak.
All the major banks were within a block but C&S seemed the city's favorite. It's president Mills B. Lane Jr. was an important Atlanta booster and remarkable personality.
This is the Broad and Walton corner, the most comfortable intersection in downtown Atlanta. How can such formal architecture produce human comfort? I don't know but that's why classic architecture will never go out of style.
It's elaborate on the outside. The banking floor itself is beyond words.
Today Bank of America runs the banking floor. The building is home to Georgia State's Robinson College of Business. Important things still happen here. But very few Atlantans have any occasion to visit here anymore.
Our lives have changed a bit since our newlywed days. But I still visit this block at least once a week to see a client whose office has this view.
Mrs. Tourist has fond memories as a teller there. I hope you'll have an opportunity to visit the banking floor yourself to see why.
No pro photography or pro architecture was committed in this post.
Lucky day for me yesterday: Chad Mason, local musician and good guy, invited me to visit his Wigwam home. Built in 1940, it's an international style chunk of Miami Beach planted at the east end of the MLK historic district. Here is some more Wigwam info from another fan.
Here is the wonderful Indian Brave keeping watch over the Wigwam and neighborhood.
Architecture tourists will find more than a cool building. It's at a great but an unsung Atlanta 5-points corner: Old Wheat Street, Auburn Avenue, and Randolph Street. Where else can you find the Martin Luther Home, Ebenezer Baptist Church and this strawberry door?
A Greek revival townhouse
The fountain, the palm tree, the pastels:
The 4th ward tower:
A couple of churches:
We architecture tourists have a gold mine on Auburn Avenue which deserves many more blog entries. Get over there and enjoy!