In 1904, Ansley Park was just an idea and some empty lots of land. 120 years later, Ansley is an oasis in Midtown with a lush canopy of trees and a string of beautiful parks and shady sidewalks that welcome Atlantans from across the city to walk, jog, bike, and picnic.
To help celebrate this milestone, Ansley Park is again hosting a Tour of Homes on October 5th and 6th and is preparing to welcome the city to one of Atlanta’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods.
Ansley Park Tour of Homes invites the city of Atlanta to experience the grace, history and beauty that is Ansley Park. The 2024 Tour of Homes features 9 exciting and impressive offerings that offer a look back into the neighborhood’s rich history as well as a glimpse of its exciting future.
The Tour of Homes is open to the public on October 5th and 6th from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 on Tour dates.
For tickets and more information, visit ansleytourofhomes.com or scan the QR code.
By Stuart Noel
Reid House, originally Garrison Luxury Apartments, located at the border of stately Ansley Park and Midtown Atlanta, is significant for its Georgian Revival architectural style designed by the noted Atlanta architects Philip Trammell Shutze and Neel Reid. Its history provides insight into the development of Atlanta in the 1920s. The building has been home to socialites, bohemians, artists, and business tycoons. Some former and current residents’ recognizable Atlanta surnames include Alston, Candler, Dewberry, Dorsey, Inman, Lanier, and Woodruff. Reid House is situated across from the High Museum of Art at the corner of 16th Street and Peachtree Street, known as “Atlanta’s Park Avenue.”
The building from its beginning housed the wealthier citizens of Atlanta and retained that distinction even as older luxury apartments declined. It was solidly built with stunning details. The circulation pattern is appealing to seekers of privacy, since only two units open onto each semi-private elevator vestibule with floors of original black and white marble tile. There are four stacks of apartments— each stack with unique floor plans that run from the front to the back of the building. Each apartment offers either an enclosed sunroom or a large garden room with adjacent masonry planter boxes. The top three floors (of nine) have working fireplaces. It is Atlanta’s version of a “classic six” or “classic-eight” pre-war apartment in Manhattan, New York.
In 1974, the Garrison Luxury Apartments were renovated at a cost of $2 million and renamed the Reid House condominiums for the renowned, classically trained architect Neil Reed, who died at the young age of 40. The awardwinning renovation by Ed Barnum, was
directed by architect Eugene T. Lowry and was done in a sensitive manner that allowed for modernization but retained original yellow pine floors, moldings, fireplaces, and cherry paneling of the interior lobbies. The elegant exterior is unchanged, including the regal pediment faced with a large disc of the crowned head of Liberty above a rectangular block decorated with a motif of six bucrania (skulls of oxen or rams), swag, and stone scrolls.
Today, in its centennial year, the building retains its original purpose for which it was designed in 1924 – a luxury apartment dwelling. Each decade tells an interesting story of its socially prominent, eccentric, and fascinating residents that reflects the artistic, stylish, and cultural history of Atlanta. Come visit Penthouse units 902 and 903 during the Tour of Homes!
by Re Marzullo
When planning this year’s exclusive Preview Party for sponsors of the 2024 Ansley Park Tour of Homes, co-chairs Heide Grieb and Anne Herren both knew that they wanted to make what has always been a special evening even more so. Of course there would be amazing food, spirits, and company in a gorgeous home in Ansley Park, but how to up the pizzazz and add an element that no other party could boast? How to make this invite one that people would not want to pass up and raise even more money for the Ansley Park Civic Association?
hills of Ansley Park has evolved into a 20-minute trolley excursion through the neighborhood as a part of the evening’s festivities. While on the ride, party goers will enjoy the chance to meet and interact with some of Ansley Park’s most iconic and celebrated personalities. Former residents like Margaret Mitchell, Edwin Ansley and John Inman will all be brought to life with help from the Alliance Theater. Bringing Ansley’s history to life
Own a piece of Ansley Park history and help the neighborhood! This hardcover picture book of homes is a reproduction of a 1910 publication with pictures and names of the original owners. Notations about existing and demolished houses have been added based on the Atlanta History Center research. Preorder the book at ansleypark.org/ store or scan the QR Code.
The answer came to them after a suggestion from Ansley Park resident Ron Antinori and a visit to Oakland Cemetery during their October Capturing the Spirit of Oakland event. Antinori suggested that Grieb and Herren bring Ansley’s history to life at the Preview Party with actors embodying some of Ansley’s most celebrated residents. Grieb and Herren loved the idea, so then came the issue of how best to spotlight the actors and integrate these reenactments into the Preview Party. The answer to that question was trolleys.
Yes, trolleys. Those quaint and rumbling modes of transportation that were popular around the same time 120year old Ansley Park was first conceived have now become an integral part of the Ansley Park Tour of Homes Preview Party plan.
What began as an idea to let partygoers take a spin up and down the gentle
Once they had secured the trolleys from Peachtree Trolley, Grieb and Herren enlisted another Ansley Park resident, Jen Friese, to assist with the script for the Trolley Tour. A history buff who is active in a lot of Ansley Park initiatives, Friese started learning all she could about the figures and faces who had once called Ansley Park home. The personalities and events of the last 120 years gave her a lot to work with, and the script took shape featuring six characters from the pages of Ansley Park history. Says Friese, “It was fun to give these former residents a voice! I hope our trolley riders feel like they are traveling through time while learning a bit about some of the significant people, architecture and culture that make up Ansley Park’s historic fabric.”
Riding for a good cause
With funds from the 2024 Ansley Park Tour of Homes being used to make Ansley Park more welcoming and walkable, party goers and trolley riders can enjoy themselves while knowing that they are supporting a worthwhile cause.
By Derrick Brown President of the Ansley Park Civic Association
As Atlanta celebrates 50 years of the Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) system, we are reminded of the importance of putting neighborhoods at the center of who we are as a city.
Each of the 242 neighborhoods, with individual characteristics and styles, plays a unique role in telling the story of our city’s past, present, and future.
While our neighborhoods face both common and unique challenges, the creativity and energy of the people in each community can teach us a lot about finding shared solutions for a brighter future for all. Few Atlanta neighborhoods have been successfully searching out those creative solutions longer than the 120 years that Ansley Park has been at it.
For all its hard-earned historic pride, Ansley Park is not a museum or time capsule, but a living, breathing community. Rising from the rolling hills of venerated hunting grounds and farmland, Ansley Park today offers a fascinating collection of more than a century of architecture and design, an ever-evolving assortment of styles and interpretations of how to live within an exceptionally dynamic and growing part of our city.
Anchored by a foundation of 100-yearold homes, the neighborhood continues to
thrive even as Midtown Atlanta continues to rise. That contrast, that mix, has a lot to do with why Ansley Park has withstood so many challenges and yet retains such a strong pull on Atlantans old and new. Generation after generation continue to choose Ansley Park because of the contrasting landscapes, architecture and activities. It’s a central flavor in our secret sauce.
The unique selection of homes featured in this year’s Tour demonstrates exactly how that happens. Together, they tell an important story about channeling the pressures of change and growth into constructive solutions. We invite you to share in this story and help us carry the conversation forward. All Atlanta neighborhoods are in this together.
Across our city there is a fine tradition of neighbors opening their homes and gardens for tours – the Ansley Park tour has been a fixture for over 50 years – and all these home tours reflect an important point.
Opening one’s home to family and friends is a time-honored display of caring, an act of love. Opening one’s home to the greater community is an act of civic engagement. A meaningful demonstration of welcome, sharing, and exploring important elements of our social fabric across time and place. A way to nourish the beloved community.
So, welcome to our home. Welcome to Ansley Park. We look forward to seeing you soon.
