Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Neighborhoods Behold! The mysterious Morningside house known as 'The Tower'
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 11:04 AM
You've surely noticed the house on the hill at the corner of Amsterdam and North Highland avenues across the street from the San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company. Behind overgrown bushes and trees sits what looks like a cross between Castle Greyskull and Howard Finster's guest house. Engineer and carpenter John Harich has worked on the Morningside property, which he reportedly bought in 1973 for just under $5,000, off and on for more than 35 years. Writes Atlanta Intown's John Fleming about the quirky landmark:
It is nothing short of a work of art, but it is also almost impossible to describe. There is Gothic influence here, as well as Gaudi — a style usually described as ‘beyond the scope of modernism.’ There are marble arches, and “Japanese Moongates,” twisting columns rising from the earth and reaching upwards to hold the house in place, all made from 100 tons of Georgia marble.The facade is mostly southern white pine and western red cedar. The flashing is copper, the roof is the highest gage aluminum.
Upstairs, above the cavernous first floor, is “The Great Hall of Tranquility,” a place dominated by massive wooden archways, held up by complex supports. It looks more like a cathedral’s sanctuary than a future living room.
Check out Fleming's article for additional info about "the Tower." (H/T to Terry Kearns, the Architecture Tourist)
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