The Swan House, Pt. 2

It’s time to go upstairs at the Swan House in Atlanta (another good excuse to show off this amazing staircase!) The bedrooms are as ornate as you would expect:



For the kiddies:




A detail shot of the head on the fireplace:



It was the bathroom/dressing room that really impressed me. According to one of the signs at the Swan House the mural work here was done by Athos Menaboni.



According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia:

Italian-born artist Athos Menaboni arrived in Georgia in the late 1920s and remained active until his death at the age of ninety-four. His early career focused primarily on painting murals and creating other decorative features for clients in Atlanta and elsewhere in the state. He then turned to painting birds from life, usually in pairs and in their natural habitats. Today Menaboni is best known for his numerous paintings of more than 150 different species of birds.…[Athos and wife Sara] settled into a small apartment and survived financially through commissions acquired through the prominent Atlanta architect Philip Trammell Shutze. Menaboni designed murals for Swan House, the home of Emily and Edward Inman that is now part of the Atlanta History Center. That work led to additional commissions for private homes, public buildings, and places of worship. Though they lived in a building with thirty-six apartments in midtown Atlanta, the couple developed a reputation for rehabilitating injured and abandoned animals, particularly birds.



Yes, I laid down on the floor to get this shot: 



Another room had an exhibit on designer Ruby Ross Wood.



From the Swan House signage:

Ruby Ross Wood created the Swan House look. It is significant that as taste alters and houses change and adapt through time, the fragile interior is often lost. As a result, Swan House exists as the only Wood-decorated residence available today, exactly as Emily Inman, Philip Shutze, and Ruby Ross Wood opened it in 1928. A strong independent woman of the South, experienced in journalism, sharp, talented, and clever with a sense of adventure - especially in regard to color and pattern - Ruby Ross Wood made herself the preeminent decorator in the U.S. and gave rise to the profession of interior decorating.



Here is a sketch of Ruby by Paul Thevanez , circa 1922:



Another set of stairs takes you upstairs to the servant’s quarters:



Something tells me Ruby didn’t do too much decorating up here.



One more view of the staircase as we wait for part 3 of the story!



See more Swan House photos at my main website.