Monastery at Large

Category: Inman Park

  • M.A. Hale Residence (1892) – Atlanta

    J.W. Golucke. M.A. Hale Residence (1892). Inman Park, Atlanta.
    J.W. Golucke. M.A. Hale Residence (1892). Inman Park, Atlanta.

    This Queen Anne-style home is Atlanta’s only known extant work designed by J.W. Golucke (1857-1907),1 2 a shyster carpenter who built a career on smooth talk and grand delusions of being a legitimate architect.

    A thoroughly fraudulent and incompetent designer, Golucke was one of several “Atlanta architects” of his era who did little actual work in the city, primarily peddling their shoddy plans to poor, rural communities that didn’t know any better.

    If you travel through backwoods Georgia, you’ll find more than a dozen county courthouses by Golucke’s design3—all of them terrible.

    Golucke fittingly died in a southwest Georgia jail cell while being held on charges of forgery,4 weeks after attempting suicide under the influence of drugs.5 6 His work is not celebrated here.

    Gallery

    Gable on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Gable on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Cornice and corbels on the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Cornice and corbels on the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Second-floor bay window on the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Second-floor bay window on the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Porch post and ornamentation on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Porch post and fretwork ornamentation on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Porch pediment and ornamentation on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Porch pediment and fretwork ornamentation on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Oval window and porch post on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Oval window and porch post on the facade of the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Fretwork ornamentation on the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta
    Fretwork ornamentation on the M.A. Hale Residence, Atlanta

    References

    1. “Atlanta’s Growth.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 13, 1892, p. 7. ↩︎
    2. “Mrs. M.A. Hale’s Death.” The Atlanta Constitution, March 29, 1896, p. 6. ↩︎
    3. J.W. Golucke – Wikipedia ↩︎
    4. “Death Takes J.W. Golucke”. The Atlanta Constitution, October 28, 1907, p. 6. ↩︎
    5. “J.W. Golucke Tries to Take His Life in Newton Jail”. The Atlanta Journal, October 7, 1907, p. 1. ↩︎
    6. “Atlanta Man Tries Suicide”. The Atlanta Constitution, October 8, 1907, p. 9. ↩︎

  • In the Words of G.L. Norrman: On Architecture, Again (1892)

    G.L. Norrman. Edgewood Avenue Grammar School. Inman Park, Atlanta (1892).
    G.L. Norrman. Edgewood Avenue Grammar School. Inman Park, Atlanta (1892).

    The Background

    The following remarks by G.L. Norrman were included in a biographical sketch titled “An Educated Architect”, published in the December 17, 1892, edition of The Atlanta Journal.

    Norrman’s remarks:

    “I prefer the classic for libraries, school houses, courthouses and all buildings of an educational character, as most proper. For depots and hotels any style will do, but I prefer the Romanesque for depots and the renaissance for hotels and homes as being more homelike and less business like in appearance. Churches I like Romanesque because the growth of the church and that style of architecture are so closely identified.

    “The so-called ‘colonial style’ of the old southern mansions is renaissance so far as the builders were able to carry that style in those olden days, and it has recently come again into popular favor because of the sentiment that clings about those honored halls.”1

    References

    1. “An Educated Architect.” The Atlanta Journal, December 17, 1892, p. 9. ↩︎