A Labor of Love
It’s been a six year journey to built this house on this lot in Midtown Atlanta. But its taken a lifetime of ambition to design and build a modern home that reflects my personal taste and skill at design.
Back in 2012, I bought a worn-down 50s duplex to tear down and build a new home, only to find that the property had been condemned by the city. This meant that no building permit could be pulled because the lot had a city sewer line running the length of it under the original drive way. Something the previous owner and title company failed to disclose.
This made the property unbuildable and because of that, virtually unsellable. But after four long years of negotiating with the city, they evidentially established new setbacks and allowed me to building on one half of the lot.
This design challenge turned out to be an excellent way to reconcept what a modern home could be and apply some of the new urbanist principles of modern living in America.
Midtown Modern is designed as a flex home. This means the house can be used both as a duplex or a single family home. The structure also breaks with the modern tradition of living in the backyard and has been reoriented to engage the street as to interface with the neighborhood and city.
The interior was designed to have two distinct personalities. The upstairs unit is bright open and white. While the first floor unit is a contrasting black and cozy cave environment.
There are lots of amenities and features that will be added to the property in the near future. Including new modern zen-like landscaping, a bocce ball court and roof deck with seasonal skyline views. So stay tuned.
