When I visited the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead, my main objective was to see the Civil War Cyclorama. I ended up spending a full day there, which was truly not enough time! The AHC also includes gardens, Atlanta’s oldest surviving farmhouse (Smith Farm), a wood cabin, a Victorian Playhouse, and the most impressive: Swan House.
Completed in 1928, Swan House was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Inman, heirs to a post-Civil War cotton brokerage fortune. The Inmans hired Hentz, Reid, and Shutze to design the house. The architectural firm was known for their Beaux-Arts style and as the founding fathers of the Georgia school of classicism. Their works included the Rich’s department flagship location on Broad Street, the now demolished Paramount Theater, and the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens.
Philip Trammell Shutze served as principal architect for Swan House; he had been a partner of the firm since 1927, (original partner Joseph Neel Reid died in 1926). Shutze drew on classical elements as inspiration for Swan House and its gardens. In 1977, Shutze was recognized as America’s greatest living classical architect.
The first two photos show the back entrance to the home; the above and below show the front of the home.
Parked in front was this yellow and green Hudson Super Six, which was first manufactured by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan in 1916. The first model was kept in production until 1928. You may be familiar with the car from the John Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath. The Joad family uses a Hudson Super Six sedan converted into a truck; the 1940 movie used a 1926 model.
The entryway:
Yes, you can add impressive staircases to my list of obsessions.
Mrs. Inman lived at Swan House with son Hugh and family after Mr. Inman’s death in 1931. After her death in 1965, the Atlanta Historical Society purchased the house and most of its original furnishings, ranging from 18th-century antiques to 20th-century objects under the leadership of Mrs. Ivan Allen Jr.
I was ready to move in. It felt like Downton Abbey had come to life.
The Dining Room table seemed a bit small; it could have used a few more leaves in the table.
The kitchen was one of my favorite rooms, with its vintage appliances.
I also fell in love with this red kitchen chair.
Swan House opened to the public in 1967 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and a City-designated Landmark. The property encompasses 22 acres of gardens and forest, all original components of Shutze’s novel site plan. Swan House also contains the Shutze decorative arts collection. There are still many more photos to come from this impressive house museum!
See more Swan House photos at my main website.
I'm not sure about those kitchen colors, they're not choice to be sure. The color choice fits more with 1950s linoleum but that's just my opinion. The rest of that is absolutely amazing. I'm fascinated by some of the simpler and more overlooked things like that driveway. A single entry, a wide enough Loop that a car can make a turn and drop off. That is just brilliant. More houses should have that today but of course most houses occupy the same amount of space as just that driveway. That car is amazing and those are fantastic color choices for it. I'd like to imagine that Kim Irvine tours historic places like this, looks around and exclaims "Yes! This is exactly what I want but all in plastic and with garish colors!" ...not bitter at all.
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