Lake Claire
{ Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 }
Six Relatively Important Letters: SPLOST
This is a voting booth. Next Tuesday, you should get to know one.
While you’re probably overwhelmed with just figuring out how you’ll recover from the Kardashian divorce, get ready to deal with a bigger issue: To SPLOST, or not to SPLOST.
SPLOST – which stands for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax – is an opportunity for local communities to levy a one cent sales tax to fund “special purposes.” If you were looking to build schools, fix a decrepit sewer system, or fund a once-in-a-generation transportation system overhaul without raising property taxes… SPLOST is for you!
There are passionate voices on both sides of the debate. There’s obviously a certain level of NIMBYism going on- if you’re neighborhood is set to benefit from the construction of a new school, it’s safe to say that you’re going to vote “yes.” Do yourself a favor- learn more about the issue, and vote next Tuesday, November 8 to vote. As a bonus, you’ll also get to vote on Sunday alcohol sales!
{ Friday, October 7th, 2011 }
Lake Claire Home and Garden Tour
While you won’t find a lake in Lake Claire, you will find a fantastic neighborhood. It’s one of the more architecturally diverse neighborhoods in Atlanta as well- as evidenced by some of the selections for this year’s Lake Claire Home and Garden Tour:
The prototypical Lake Claire, all-brick English Cottage style home at 465 Claire Drive. You see this style throughout the neighborhood.This modern Craftsman at 441 Harold Avenue features a xeriscape yard. If you don't know what a xeriscape yard is, you now have another excuse to hit the tour.
552 Hardendorf is a wonderful example of how a Contemporary can blend in almost seemingly with its more historic neighbors.
Find out more, and buy tickets to the 2011 Lake Claire Home and Garden Tour
Photo Credit: Lake Claire Home and Garden Tour
{ Monday, September 12th, 2011 }
Intown Atlanta Population Surge?
While I spent much of last week on the Decatur bandwagon, I should point out that Decatur’s schools aren’t the only ones that are busting at the seems. Midtown Patch points out that Grady High School is also at the breaking point:
A drawback at Grady: The school that borders Piedmont Park currently has 1,524 students, compared to 1,432 one year ago — and one year ago was already seriously overcrowded. (The Grady campus was expanded several years ago to accommodate about 1,200 students. In 2005, there were 996 enrolled, compared to 1,146 in 2006 and 1,264 by 2009).
For those of you scoring at home, that’s a 25% increase in the last five years. I’m not a demographer (nor do I play one on television), nor am I trend forecaster, but I’d imagine there are a few threads at play here:
- The neighborhoods served by the school, including Ansley Park, Candler Park, East Lake, Inman Park, Kirkwood, Lake Claire, Old Fourth Ward, Midtown, Morningside, Poncey Highland and Virginia Highland continue to experience infill development, albeit at a much slower clip now that we’re post-boom.
- A slumping economy and rising private school tuition have forced some parents to enroll their children in public schools rather then private ones.
- Negative home equity has, in effect, “trapped” many homeowners in their existing homes. It’s a pretty common theme throughout the country to see homeowners “sticking around” in a home that they hadn’t planned on living in for such a long duration. Put simply, our migration patterns are all gummed up.
The net-net is further evidence that Atlanta’s notorious sprawl has turned inward. This isn’t breaking news by any stretch, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on as the region attempts to curb sprawl and promote density. Exciting and terrifying at the same time depending on the vision and political will of Atlanta’s civic and business elite.
Photo Credit: Architecture Tourist (an outstanding piece on Grady High School’s architecture, I might add).
{ Monday, August 1st, 2011 }
Terry Kearns, Architecture Tourist
Terry Kearns is the author of Architecture Tourist, one of my favorite blogs. It was fitting that we recently met one another while touring a home, and serendipitous considering that I’ve wanted to feature Terry on A Is For Atlanta for quite some time. If you’re interested in Atlanta architecture, history or neighborhoods, Architecture Tourist is not just a must-read, it is the must-read. I’m really not sure how else to put it. Fortunately for me, Terry was generous enough to field a few questions from me recently- I hope you enjoy as much as I did…
Q. You’ve got three hours to meander through any neighborhood in Atlanta. Which one are you choosing, and why?
A. I’d choose the Dekalb Avenue east from Krog. It’s not an obvious place to look. Start at Krog Street Bridge and head east, turn anywhere into Inman Park, just anywhere. Make sure to check the “war” streets just west of Moreland: Battery and Degress. After you cross Moreland, cruise the “lady” streets in Candler Park: left on Josephine, right on Euclid right on Elmira. In Lake Claire you’ll see the huge continental divide mural at the Arizona Avenue underpass. Then turn left at Connecticut and tour the “state” streets: Connecticut, New York, Arizona, and Delaware. Then cruise “Southerland Hill.” Turn left on Southerland Place just east of the Lake Claire swimming pool to see Southerland, Oxford, and Gordon. Finally, tour the “garden” streets. Cross East Lake and turn left at Drexel. Make sure to see Melrose and Emerson, home to Ryan Gainey’s Garden of Poetry and Prose. Go home via Oak Grove, Kirkwood, Edgewood, Reynoldstown, and Cabbagetown…but that’s another meander.
Q. What are the essential “must sees” for Architecture Tourists in Atlanta?
A. How about downtown’s public lobbies? Whatever your tastes these lobbies impress. The Grant Building lobby is straightforward and reserved. The former C&S Bank is Atlanta’s Pantheon. The Healey Building has a gothic ribbed rotunda. The Hurt Building’s main entrance is an elegant rotunda that softens this huge building. The Candler Building lobby is small and perfect and ennobling. Visit the Victorian portrait gallery at the Ritz. At 191 Peachtree see the colossal Helena Hernmarck tapestry “Urn” and ride the escalator down to see Ray King’s “Atlantis.” The Peachtree Plaza’s lobby conveys the sense of the colossal hotel almost floating overhead. The Regency’s groundbreaking lobby remains spectacular and cozy. The Marriot Marquis’s lobby is a multi-level playground that my eye can never fully take in. When it’s busy – think Dragon Con – it’s one the best people watching places in Atlanta. Finally, the Sun Trust Tower’s elevator lobby is a pyramid in a square in a circle in a square with breathtaking clarity.
Q. Hidden Atlanta gems?
A. There are so many. I enjoy small scale public or public facing places: Oglethorpe Hill, The Villa Apartments, the former Scottish Rite Hospital in Oak Grove, the Cator Wolford Gardens on Ponce, the Little Chapel at Glen Memorial. Allow me to add the renovated Hinman Building at Georgia Tech though it’s not open to the public. It may be the most exciting indoor space in Atlanta.
Q. If you were given an unlimited budget, unquestioned power and the edict: “make Atlanta more beautiful”, what would you do?
A. Beautiful things continue to enrich us. It may be physical beauty; it may be functional beauty. But I’m rather an anti-planner and would be a terrible Tsar. So I’d abolish the position and retire with a big pension. Then I’ve volunteer to help folks enjoy these places and to find ways to preserve them as best we can.
Q. What is Architecture Tourist, and why is it awesome?
A. The most awesome thing about Architecture Tourist Blog is meeting people. Blog posts connect people. Once in a while we meet in person. What a pleasure.
Photo Credit: Architecture Tourist
{ Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 }
Green Housing In Atlanta?
Using the EPA's criteria, Disney's Contemporary Hotel- monorail, 70's style and all- is looking pretty green.
Just catching up on ARC’s Land Matters blog and came across this post: Greenest Homes Those Near Transit. It’s an interesting little post that spotlights a recent EPA report on housing location, and it’s conclusions are obviously damning for a city that can’t function without the freeway. The nuts and bolts:
According to a new study out from the EPA, Location Efficiency and Housing Type – Boiling it Down to BTUs, buildings and transportation together account for about 70% of U.S. energy use and 62% of its greenhouse gas emissions, and homes near public transportation uses less energy than homes in the suburbs, regardless of many energy saving measures the home may take.
Perhaps a few homes within a mile or so of MARTA, in Lake Claire, Inman Park or Candler Park might be worth checking out…
It’s not possible for everyone to move to an Earthcraft Certified home within half a mile of MARTA, but if you’ve got carbon footprint on the brain, that might do the trick…
