Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Places in Peril 2008
Posted by: lain // Category: Atlanta, Big Money No Whammies, Historic Preservation // 6:05 pm
Last year, the Georgia Trust released its Places in Peril list–a top 10 who’s who of endangered historic sites in Georgia. The Wren’s Nest made the cut.
Luckily, we aren’t on the list again this year,* but The Castle is.
The Castle sits atop a huge retaining wall atop a hill on 15th Street in midtown Atlanta. It’s flanked by a few skyscrapers and the Woodruff Arts Center.
The way land has been bought up in Midtown lately, it’s a wonder this one is still standing. Once a house and later something of a community arts space, it now sits empty.
One obvious solution to ensure its survival would be to incorporate the house into the Arts Center across the street. Though I wouldn’t blame anyone for using it as a personal residence either. Anyone who can cough up $4 million, that is.
Apparently the interiors of the home were inspired by Joel Chandler Harris. The fact sheet indicates that there’s more than one Uncle Remus niche, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that there’s some sort of Uncle Remus garden, too.
Who has the keys to this place? Anyone who happens to read this blog? I sure wouldn’t mind taking a look around.
For more information, see: Georgia Trust, Places in Peril 2008
* The Wren’s Nest was in danger of closing its doors in mid-2006 due to serious financial problems and uncontrolled debt. We’ve since been awarded some serious dough to fix up the house, and yesterday I came home from lunch to find a check for $37,000 sitting on my desk. Gulp. More on that tomorrow, most likely.
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We are so lucky to have Lain working for the Wren’s Nest.
What can we do to help further help the Wren’s Nest?
Also- I used to work near the castle in the 1970’s and was always fasinated by it. I would also like to tour it. Maybe they could make some money with tours or a party for people who always wanted to see inside.
I have no idea what the inside looks like, but I can only assume it could be converted into a wonderful, intimate event space. Good idea, Ida Beth!
The address on 14th St where I lived during my teenage years no longer exists, like much of the Atlanta I grew up in, but only a gravel alley separated it from The Castle. My sister Martha took voice lessons from Ms. Eunice Curry who maintained a studio in The Castle. Indeed The Castle needs to be saved and preserved.
Also, I am so happy to find your blog. I intend to bring my grandson to storytelling this weekend. I invite your attention to my Paw Paw Bill blog entry from a while back under the title of Bluebird On My Shoulder.
The first real coffee house in Atlanta was in the basement of the castle - in the early 60’s - we used to go listen to bad poetry and drink bad coffee - and think we were sooooo cool.
Gosh Ronni, that kind of does sound sooooo cool. Except for the poetry part, yuck.
And thanks for the kind words, William. Midtown especially is a fascinating chapter in Atlanta’s history, and the changes it’s seen over the past forty years (the past decade especially) have been tremendous.
There’s another blog post at the ajc today on this very subject (What To Do With The Castle?). Let’s just say I’m glad our commenters are a little more civil than theirs.
Amelia you are insightful but the Arts center in not interested in anything that would lose money. ( Atlanta College of Arts) Maybe a person would buy it and donate it to (SCAD) Savannah College of Art and Design. They would preserve it and figure out a creative use for the property.
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