Inman Park: All Spiffed Up for 40th Annual Tour of Homes

In the mood to ooh and ahh? There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned home tour to provide the opportunity. This weekend promises a sure bet: the 40th annual Inman Park Spring Festival and Tour of Homes.

Even now, neighbors are still frantically pulling weeds and bagging more dead leaves to get things looking pristine for the big weekend.

Nine homes, one lovely stone church and the Wrecking Bar in Little Five Points (on the edge of the historic neighborhood), will be open for visitors from Friday through Sunday. Five of the 11 locations open this weekend were also on Inman Park’s first home tour in 1972.

“But they’re in much better condition than they were back then,” said Pat Westrick, who organized the tour of  “Atlanta’s first suburb” along with neighbor Jan Keith.

Susan Bridges’ three-story showplace built in 1893 was on Inman Park’s original home tour and is among those on the anniversary tour.

“Forty years ago, we basically just swept the floors, opened up our homes and let people come in and see how crazy we were,” Bridges said. “I think we were even embarrassed to charge $1 for them to come on in.”

Bonnie Dees moved to North Carolina years ago, but her old 7,000-square foot home at 897 Edgewood Ave., was on that first tour, and her memories of that experience are evergreen.

“I remember a lovely Buckhead lady who came into our house and as she was leaving she asked how long it would be until we could move in,” recalled Dees, who will be traveling back to Inman Park this weekend for the festival. “I’ll never forget her look of shock when I told her we were already living in it!”

When Susan Bridges bought her Eastlake-style Victorian at 814 Edgewood Ave. in 1971, it had many years prior been crudely split up into six different apartment units. There were 35 people living in it on a week-to-week basis, plus pigeons flying around inside.

“Oh, it was filthy, just filthy,” Bridges said, laughing. “It took many years for me to really feel clean again.”

She was “not the only crazy person who bought a big house here and wondered what I was going to do with six kitchens. Basically, you started calling friends to get them to help haul down gas stoves and refrigerators. Let me say that you lose friends very quickly — at least those who didn’t share your vision. But you quickly made new right friends here among those who did share your vision. Nobody had any money back in those days. But we all helped each other, there was such wonderful camaraderie. A lot of very hard work got done, mostly over a six-pack and a chicken.”

Most owners of the grandest homes and even the bungalows and shotgun homes of Inman Park will tell you the repairs and restoration never end. For Bridges, many layers of paint and varnish had to be removed to get back to the original heart pine wainscoting and woodwork. Cracked plaster throughout the house had to be painstakingly stripped before it could be restored. The wiring and plumbing also had to be tackled, as both systems were deemed dangerous.

Today, her home has 13 working fireplaces, a music room, and beautiful original design elements throughout. Those who attend the local artists’ sale called the Big Angel Blowout each November also are familiar with this showplace and now its Whitespace art gallery. Five years ago, Bridges transformed the original 1893 carriage house out back into the gallery which features an eclectic mix of contemporary art. (Creative Loafing named Whitespace as its Critic’s Pick for best local gallery in both 2006 an 2010. It also will be open during the home tour).

“I never realized how significant this house would be for me,” Bridges said. “It’s my anchor. When I think of all that’s happened here, raising three children, it’s just really something. I think about that all the time. As long as I can live in Atlanta, this is the place for me.”

Back in ’72, there was hardly a free, continuous shuttle bus to make it easy for home tour patrons to get from one spot to the next, but taking advantage of the service this weekend will enable you to also have time for the rest of the festival, which includes a parade, continuous live music and a large artists’ market. (Check here later this week for another story on general festival highlights).

“In setting up the home tour, we always look for houses that reflect the diversity of dwellings and lifestyles in this neighborhood,” said Westrick. “We have everything here from huge mansions to small cottages, and from lofts to condos. That’s what we love to showcase about Inman Park: that it’s a great place for just about anyone: from the long-established to the person just starting out who only needs to rent something small.”

Just a few highlights on the 40th Annual Inman Park Tour of Homes:  

• 804 Edgewood Ave.: Former Atlanta City Councilwoman Debi Starnes and musician-husband Jim Emshoff live in this meticulously restored Queen Anne Victorian, which was also on the original home tour.  The 1892 house also doubles as the Sugar Magnolia Bed and Breakfast. Features include beautiful bedroom suites; oval beveled-glass windows; generous porches; original woodwork and heart of pine floors restored to their original glory; and gorgeous gardens. (A far cry from the nine apartments the home had morphed into sometime in the 1950s).

• 872 Edgewood Ave.: This bungalow sits on what was once called “The Mesa,” a strip of land between Edgewood and Euclid avenues that once  sported tennis courts and gardens for occupants in nearby grand homes. Houses such as this tour stop sprang up in the 1920s. Inman Parker Diana Glad has fully renovated her home during the last decade. Amenities include fully restored hardwood floors; a modern kitchen with granite countertops and maple cabinets; a marble-and-mahogany bathroom; and the owner’s favorite spot: a screened-in porch.
• 169 Hale Street: The owners of this 1910 bungalow are Andrew and Amanda Cogar. He’s an architect and she’s described as “patient.” It took the Cogars a good six years to restore the house to suit their desires. There were rotting walls, and a jungle instead of a backyard. The bright red wallpaper with huge (24-inch) birds in the living and dining room was among the first things to go. Visitors will find that the owners sought to maximize space and light while staying true to the home’s original charm.
• The Wrecking Bar, 292 Moreland Ave.: Nothing else around looks quite like this 1900 Victorian with elements of Roman, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. It was originally designed as a home by Willis F. Denny II, who also designed Atlanta’s Rhodes Hall, as well as two other stops on this weekend’s home tour: Inman Park United Methodist Church, and the stately 1905 Edwardian at 1062 Euclid Ave. The Wrecking Bar has been many things over the years including a church, a dance studio, and more recently, an “architectural antiques” store. Purchased a year ago by Inman Park neighbors Bob and Kristine Sandage, it is now on track to reopen later this spring as the Wrecking Bar Brewpub, with a special-events component called “The Marianna.”  In recent months, the Sandages have enlisted friends and neighbors to help with some of the cleanup and restoration of this 11,000-square foot “home.” During such work, someone uncovered a quote stenciled above the fireplace in one of the bedrooms: “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone.”

The quote is attributed to English writer Anthony Burgess, who wasn’t born until 1917. So the Sandages know that missive stenciled above the fireplace is not original to the 111-year-old mansion. Still, it’s just the sort of fun discovery that keeps Inman Parkers going strong.

If you go: 40th  Annual Inman Park Tour of Homes: noon-4pm Friday, noon-6pm Saturday and Sunday. Free shuttle bus circles the route continuously on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets $15 in advance, $20 starting Friday. http://inmanparkfestival.org/events/tour-of-homes/