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Inman Park
Jones Pierce is proud of our contributions to the resurgence of “Atlanta’s oldest suburb”, which span our residential and commercial practice and vary from renovations and adaptive re-use to new construction and development. The following are several of the stories we can tell about during the recent evolution of Inman Park.
463 Sinclair Avenue
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A featured home on the 2009 Inman Park Tour of Homes, the Winton Residence dates back to the mid 1880’s prior to the establishment of the Inman Park neighborhood by Joel Hurt in 1890. The home was originally built by Mr. –Palmer in the Victorian style common to many homes of that era. The clean simple lines of the house are in keeping with the rural farmhouses seen across the southeast, which this location was at that time. Soon thereafter when Joel Hurt developed the neighborhood and extended the trolley line from downtown, more fanciful and elaborate Victorian styles followed as seen along Edgewood Ave., Waverly Way, Euclid Ave., and Elizabeth Street.
987 Waverly Way
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Here is a renovation project that started as an intervention. When Jones Pierce was called in, it was after the owners had an initial set of plans presented to and rejected by the neighbors nearly to the point of a law suit. What the owners wanted was not objectionable, just the proposed design. We were able to calm nerves, assess the neighbors’ objections along with the desires of the homeowners, and derive a solution that made everyone happy. It was a common case of a young family wanting to live in an older, established neighborhood where houses had charm, but also wanting modern conveniences and additional space.
1009 Euclid Avenue
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This new house has quickly become one of the iconic homes of Inman Park. Another featured home on the Inman Park Tour of Homes in 2004, this house received an award from both the Atlanta Urban Design Commission and the Atlanta American Institute of Architects. The story of this house was how to design a new home for a growing family with modern tastes to fit into a historic neighborhood. The strong geometries of the Prairie Style transcend into the clean lines of the contemporary interior. This house predates the LEED accreditation for Homes, but was designed on the principles for sustainability and incorporates many of the EarthCraft guidelines.
1144 Alta Avenue
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A renovation to a circa 1908 bungalow, this project was about how to maintain the integrity of the bungalow and its floor plan while adding a stair to access new bedrooms in the attic. Many times it is necessary to rebuild a roof, but this house had enough volume in the attic to tuck two bedrooms and a bathroom into the existing space. The new stair became the focal point of the living room and the space underneath allowed room for a television niche and room for a needed hall closet.
Inman Hills Condominium
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Like many older neighborhoods, there are infill apartments that were built in 1960’s that lacked the compatibility and charm of the existing neighborhood. These apartments were not only incompatible, but a continuing source of problems for the neighbors. The story to this project was how to make these units more aesthetically compatible while keeping the cost low for affordability. The interior of the units were gutted to provide all new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems that included new kitchens and baths and washer and dryers. New insulated windows replaced the old single pane aluminum sliders and the rear steel stairs were removed and replaced with porches. The porch detailing was based on porches of surrounding bungalows in addition to the painted expression of a basement water table. We are proud that we were able to complete this project to have it sell out in 8 weeks while providing affordable housing to maintain the socio-economic diversity within Inman Park.
The Corner at Inman Park
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Jones Pierce’s latest project in Inman Park is at the prominent northwest corner of the neighborhood, which will serve as a cornerstone at Freedom Park. This multifamily lot has been vacant for many years and will now have three zero lot line townhomes. The site is a transition from older Victorian and Four Square Prairie homes along N. Highland Avenue that many have been subdivided into apartments to the Craftsmen Bungalows along Cleburne Avenue. The Prairie Style homes will have an overall massing similar to the homes along N. Highland with porches wrapping the corner and fronting Cleburne to gesture towards the park beyond while being a continuation of the bungalows. The project will be built to EarthCraft standards as a minimum while striving to meet LEED accreditation.
309 / 311 N. Highland Avenue
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One of our first projects in the neighborhood began somewhat as community service to clean up a run down automotive parts supply store that was vacant and the proverbial “broken window”. The process of renovating this conglomeration of buildings included researching the history of how it came to be. One discovery was that the original building was a gas station in the 1940’s, which is now the bar area for Fritti. One can still see the original painted sign for the restrooms behind the bar. As the plans developed so did the adaptive re-use as the three tenants signed leases. Each tenant space was designed and built in sequence with the renovation, the last being the build out for Fritti.
Fritti
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As the building was being renovated, Ricardo Ullio’s first restaurant, Sotto Sotto was quickly garnering rave reviews culminating with a top ranking in Bon Appétit within its first year or two. The front space with the covered porch was alluring, and soon we were planning his second venture, an authentic Italian café with brick oven pizzas. These ovens became the central focus, and too keep an air of the “industrial” nature of the area, the interior of the metal building remained with two over scaled brick chimney pots to house the ovens. A glass canopy was installed to comply with health code requirements, but also to allow the mezzanine dining area to maintain a view of the kitchen and dining area beyond. Now our little corner has become a bustling hub of activity that has watched the resurgence of the Austin Elizabeth commercial district and the development of the Elizabeth Street N.Highland commercial district.
The Inman Park Pool
We would be remiss not to mention a community project that began as a dream of a few neighbors in 1999, the Inman Park Pool. Many neighbors remember the initial meeting in the United Methodist Church where the dream became real. The year or so to raise funds, design and build the pool was nothing less than tumultuous. But, this neighborhood amenity, is a testament to collaboration and hard work, which defines Inman Park and the spirit we have with our clients at Jones Pierce.
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