Cutting the Crum: Partial Demolition of the Crum and Forster Building (1928) is underway

I don't know how long this will take so you'd better get over there. See the map below.

UPDATE: They will begin demolition with the big machines Sunday at 10am, September 1, 2013.

There is plenty of  "story" behind all this. The short of is here: "Advocacy Was Successful But Recourse Has Sealed the Fate Crum & Forster" documentation from the Atlanta Preservation about efforts to save the building intact.


They've almost completed the cuts.


This the south side, the service side of the building, west to the left, east to the right. The left part stays.


The front door faces west, fronts Spring Street. They'll save this part.


They are salvaging the roof tile.


I presume this is Ludowici roof tile but probably not made in Ludowici, Georgia. Maybe they'll use it in a new building on this property.


While it was abandoned, they put up these fake widows. It helped keep squatters out, reduced the fire risk. From a distance it was a good look. Up close it seemed an odd optical illusion.


The interiors might have been impressive in 1928.


They are removing soffit and fascia. You don't realize how important it is to the design until it's gone. Flemish bond brick work faces the street.


How they built it. Looks like bird nest territory.


They've got some big saws. The right stays, the left goes.


They are protecting the right side, the part they are saving. They'll saw through everything inside and out.


They've completed this cut as of today.

Go see, you should always go the wake.


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Make sure to see the front door.

These Four Fell This Week - Teardowns

They aren't tearing them all down but there's a boom. Styles have changed. We're mostly getting efficient 4,000+ square foot American Foursquares with a full width porch and 2-car garage. We'll see what we get on these lots.

 
This is now.


The week before. The houses to left and right have already been done. Who remembers the cute houses that they replaced?


They tore it down this very day August 1, 2013. I blogged it a year ago when it first went on the market. Great lot in great neighborhood near Oglethorpe, doomed.


Gone by noon.


This is one of  those streets with smallish, un-updated 70+ year old houses on big lots in Morningside. Many were done pre-crash.


This one hurt a little bit. Property tax records say 1910 with about 1,200 square feet. It was photogenic but quite so charming in person. I passed it 100's of times and only noticed the sculpture.

Great New Modern on a Great Atlanta Street - Charles Allen Teardown

It had suffered a hippie-renovation and was prime Midtown Atlanta teardown bait.

On the eclectic Charles Allen Drive the new house could make a statement yet fit right in. Go see for yourself, my pictures don't capture it, don't capture how good it is in context. It makes the street better.

 
I've driven by 100's of times over decades but I never got used to it. The old house became an unlovable landmark.


This is the house to the left, not in showroom condition but impressive. Tax records show this one was built in "1920," a contemporary of the teardown.


The hippie-modern renovation might have been very cool in it's day.


They tore it down and it sat and sat with this too-cute sign.


We forgot about the old house.

 
Then Brian Ahern (left) and Jeff Darby (right) got hold of it. See more about another house by Brian and Jeff.


They don't do craftsman. They do modern spec houses that sell before they are finished.


A breath of fresh air at 3,705 square feet. Would this fit on your street?


Mmmm.... gravel and squarish rock chunks.

Go see and enjoy Charles Allen while you are at it.


And find the Virginia Tech Modern while you are there.

I'll tell you my Charles Allen Drive love story another time.

map

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We're Losing a Tall Atlanta Landmark

They don't need this 835 foot smokestack any more. But I hate losing a landmark.

Georgia Power is converting Plant McDonough-Atkinson from a coal-fueled electric generator to a natural gas-fired generator. The two coal units, 1 and 2, have been retired.


They ruled out imploding it so they are taking it down chunk by chunk.

IT WAS TALL. Can you imagine working on that little balcony?


Bank of America Plaza spire 1040 ft
SunTrust Plaza atenna 902 ft
Plant McDonough-Atkinson stack 835 ft
One Atlantic Center 820 ft
191 Peachtree Tower 770 ft
Westin Peachtree Plaza roof 723 ft
Georgia Pacific Tower 697 ft


But it sits on low ground, on the north bank of the Chattahooche. The elevation at its base is about 780' above sea level. In contrast, the base of 191 Peachtree is about 1,080' above sea level.


There's almost no place where you can see it from top to bottom. I took this picture from Paul Avenue.

Unless you live in Smyna, or commute on South Cobb, or drive the NW section of I-285, you might have never seen it.

It illudes. It appears suddenly, a Zen View. It pokes up from the landscape inaccessible and alone.


Does it look safe up there? I'll bet it's noisy, demolishing concrete and steel, ahh but the view.



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Teardown Complete in Inman Park - Bravo

A teardown in Inman Park. Are you kidding?

When we dream, we talk Ansley Park, Candler Park, Peachtree Hills, Morningside, Midtown, Virginia Highland, Oakhurst, Kirkwood, Winona Park, MAK. In the end it's always: "We want to live in Inman Park." But there's isn't room for all of us.

Property records say the old house was built in 1917, 1,603 square feet on a 0.11 acre lot.

 
The new house was designed by Adam Stillman Residential Design, built by Cablik Enterprises, the building permit shows 2,302 square feet.

This is a stunningly small house by today's intown teardown standards. But it fits. At nearby 836 Euclid they are building 4,162 square feet on .2 acre, but it also fits.


The old house was blue and boarded up.


It was embedded in the vegetation and in the context of the street. It's the house on the left.


There wasn't a driveway. The houses seem like a mass planting, growing together. This is an "old" look.


You just can't do a new house without a driveway so the new house is narrower to accommodate it. On this hill the driveway requires these abrupt retaining walls. It's a startling effect but landscaping will soften them over the years.


I liked the old place but if it had to go...


...this is pretty darn good and better in person.

It's within sight of this infill which also had to fit.