In the affluent Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia there was once a home that needed a bit of updating. When a woman and her daughter from San Francisco decided to relocate to Buckhead, they moved into a circa 1930’s colonial home and called upon architect friend William B. Litchfield and designer Jackye Lanham to make a few updates. The homeowner was raised in Atlanta so moving back was considered sort of a “coming home”. Coincidently, she was able to find a home located on the very street she once lived while growing up as a child. It’s a wonderful thing to have such fond memories of the neighborhood where you grew up and to be able to call it home once again.
One of the owner’s special requests was to have an interesting staircase. After much research, her architect found an intricate design from a home in Maine that could be recreated. “It has a contemporary, graphic appeal, but it’s based on a classic motif,” Litchfield says. 
Tag: colonial architecture
AN ART COLLECTOR’S BRENTWOOD HOME
I thought it was ironic when a Connecticut couple moved to Brentwood, California and decided to purchase a traditional colonial home. The home is beautiful and, architecturally speaking, is something that is very classic New England…the very place they moved from. The couple enlisted designer Marie Turner Carson of M. Elle Design to design the interiors with the help of Candace Worth, the art consultant who helped curate the couple’s personal art collection. One of the guiding design principles they used in approaching this project is a philosophy that I have always believed in:
The homeowners sought “a house to retain the essence of tradition, but in a very edited way. I loved the idea of these contemporary art pieces juxtaposed with the more classic architectural elements.” While the architecture is clearly an enduring classic New England design, the interiors are California cool. East coast meets West coast. I think they married the two styles successfully.
Images via Architectural Digest
THE FATHER OF THE BRIDE HOUSE
The 1991 movie “Father of the Bride” still remains to be one of America’s most beloved movies. And the movie made a particular southern California colonial home famous by painting it as the picture perfect family abode located on Maple Drive in the affluent community of San Marino, California. Wouldn’t you agree? But did you know that the movie didn’t take place in San Marino at all? It was actually shot using a home in nearby Pasadena and the backyard exterior shots of another home in nearby Alhambra, where the basketball and wedding scenes took place. I happened to drive by the Alhambra home yesterday (it’s a shortcut from North to South) and realized that the home is currently up for sale. I couldn’t help but stop the car and take a few pictures of the house with my iPhone. Isn’t it pretty?
For a cool $2 million, the home will become someone’s dream along with the Hollywood cache associated with it. But if you are interested, you will have to submit a backup offer. After a week on the market it is already in escrow. I wanted to check out the real estate listing because more than anything, I was curious about the current shape of the inside of the house. The outside of the home has been lovingly maintained and I was hoping that the interiors would match. You can check out the listing and see for yourself HERE. Let me know what you think.
If you look closely you can see the basketball backboard peeking out over the hedges.
Interestingly enough, after 25 years since the movie’s making, the basketball hoop, where some of the most poignant scenes of the movie were filmed, is still in place. Let’s hope the new owners don’t remove it.