Monastery at Large

“Journal’s Model Houses; Home of Mr. Ovid Stewart” (1898)

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The Background

This is the fifth in a series of articles published by The Atlanta Journal in 1898 featuring illustrations and floor plans of residences designed by Atlanta architects.

The article highlights the E.C. Merry House, designed by G.L. Norrman in 1893 and located in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood. At the time the article was published, the 5-year-old home was owned by Ovid Stewart.

Norrman was primarily an architect of large residences, and it appears he gave up smaller projects entirely by the late 1890s. Thus, it’s a genuine treat to have an illustration and floor plan for this charming 8-room cottage of his design.

There are a few interesting aspects here:

  • The plan is described as “simplicity itself”, and that’s no exaggeration: No bathroom was included, and it’s unclear if the home was even wired for electricity — with a total cost of $1,770, it probably wasn’t.
  • The Journal’s description describes the home’s “quaint, homelike Quaker suit”, and it appears the home was at least partially inspired by the vernacular architecture of colonial New England, much like Norrman’s design for the C.D. Hurt House the same year. I prefer this interpretation.
  • Norrman packed in several signature touches here: tapered chimneys, an eyebrow dormer on the front, Tuscan columns on the porch, and a balustrade and finials on the roof.

Located at 144 Lee Street (later 510 Lee Street SW), the home still belonged to Ovid Stewart when it was “badly burned” by a fire in February 1909,1 2 although the structure was swiftly repaired.3 4

Within a year, the property was occupied by Mrs. Stewart’s brother and sister-in-law, L.B. Langford and E.E. Langford,5 who spent $1,350 in additions6 — nearly as much as the home originally cost.

The Stewarts divorced in 1912,7 and after the death of Mrs. Langford in April 1914,8 9 followed by her husband in September 1916,10 11 the home became a rental property.12

Based on city directories, the house survived another 42 years, meeting the same fate as thousands of other historic homes and buildings in Atlanta when it was apparently demolished circa 1958 for the construction of the East-West Expressway (now I-20).13

Today, the site is occupied by the eastbound ramp from Lee Street. Progress!

Journal’s Model Houses; Home of Mr. Ovid Stewart

The accompanying cuts give the perspective and floor plan of Mr. Ovid Stewart’s pretty cottage on Lee street at the corner of Oak, in West End. It was built by Mr. E.C. Merry in 1893 from the plan of Mr. G.L. Norrman at a cost of $1,770, but could be duplicated now for about $1,400. It is a fine example of the grace and beauty to be found in a simple design when the skill of the architect is bestowed upon it. The plan is simplicity itself, and in a form to be the least expensive in proportion to results attained.

The floor plan shows the arrangement. This can be varied slightly without material difference in the cost, but care will have to be taken in changing it, for one of the chief beauties in the plan is in the adjustment of proportionate dimensions.

The construction is thorough and the cottage is exceedingly comfortable. It rests on a solid wall and has double walls and floors. It is painted gray, with white trimmings, which gives it a quaint, homelike Quaker suit.14

References

  1. “Twelve Fires Within A Day”. The Atlanta Constitution, February 2, 1909, p. 5. ↩︎
  2. “Nine Fire Calls Answered Monday”. The Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal, February 2, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
  3. “Personal Mention”. The Atlanta Journal, February 14, 1909, p. H5. ↩︎
  4. “Building Permits”. The Atlanta Journal, February 19, 1909, p. 14. ↩︎
  5. “Mortuary”. The Atlanta Constitution, August 15, 1910, p. 5. ↩︎
  6. “Building Permits”. The Atlanta Journal, September 15, 1910, p. 13. ↩︎
  7. “Notice Notice Notice”. The Atlanta Constitution, February 9, 1912, p. 13. ↩︎
  8. “Deaths and Funerals”. The Atlanta Journal, April 17, 1914, p. 2. ↩︎
  9. “Mortuary”. The Atlanta Constitution, April 18, 1914, p. 2. ↩︎
  10. “Deaths and Funerals”. The Atlanta Constitution, September 1, 1916, p. 2. ↩︎
  11. “Mortuary”. The Atlanta Constitution, September 2, 1916, p. 2. ↩︎
  12. “For Rent–Houses”. The Atlanta Journal, November 20, 1916, p. 17. ↩︎
  13. “Here’s Route Of New East-West Expressway”. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, March 23, 1958, p. 1-E. ↩︎
  14. “Journal Model House; Home of Mr. Ovid Stewart” The Atlanta Journal, February 5, 1898, p. 9. ↩︎

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