sandr018

One of the many great things about living in Washington is the proximity to so much of our nation's history. Last weekend, during unprecedented warm December weather, I took a day trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, home to our third president  Thomas Jefferson . Jefferson was a renaissance man and one of his many hobbies was architecture.  He designed his own home, Monticello , over the course of many years and spent his retirement between here and nearby Poplar Forest , his country house he also designed (see my post of Poplar Forest from my visit there in 2009 HERE ).  Jefferson was a man of many extraordinary ideas; one of which was building this classically Palladian structure on top of a country mountain overlooking Charlottesville. Interesting to note that his baby, the University of Virginia, is visible from the house down the mountain. Building here was not practical at the time (and even today). How did one get water to the top of such a tall hill in 1800? Everyt...

While in Atlanta and before my visit to Swan House  we took some time on a very rainy day to check out the famous Buckhead neighborhood surrounding the museum. Buckhead is the uptown section of the city with many large and beautiful homes including Swan House! Atlanta is surprisingly green (to this northerner!) and most of the homes were beautiful traditional dwellings nestled into this hilly area. While some people strive for privacy behind walls like the French house 2 above many are situated within rolling lawns. Don't let the name fool you, there are many neighborhoods within Buckhead and all are not equal! I was shocked at the shear number of these beautiful houses.  All levels of taste and style but one thing one can't say is that they're not impressive I had to include this photo here of the most intriguing house. It looked to be art deco or art moderne but was sadly grown over; Hard on architectural tourists like me! We were so tempted to drive up the driveway and c...

While in Atlanta one of the many shops I stopped into was an architectural salvage shop unlike any I had been to before, Architectural Accents . This isn't your run of the mill junk shop with beat up doors and bathtubs, they carry the finest architectural salvage / antiques from Europe as well as new custom hardware and other fixtures needed in any high end renovation to an old house or NEW old house.  I might as well admit I died and went to heaven -this was my favorite spot in Atlanta!  Each door I saw was my next favorite. Imagine building a house utilizing of some of these pieces.  Thousands of doors to choose from.  I loved the elegant proportions to the paneled door on the left above. Notice how all of the antique doors have already been repaired and stripped of many layers of (lead) paint -ready to use in your own project! My favorite door was actually a pair of circa 1870 double doors from an old mansion in France which features hand painted scenes from La Fo...