Atlantan returns to her roots in Midtown home
- April
- 8
2:38 am Nation Live
For some folks, the old homestead is a big house surrounded by gardens tended by grandparents. For Liz Weaver, the family homestead is in the middle of Midtown, surrounded by sidewalks, blacktop and views of the skyscrapers a few blocks away.
Four years ago, Weaver moved back to town from Dunwoody and into the house where her grandmother lived and where she and her mother grew up. It’s across the street from her grandmother’s birthplace at Penn Avenue and Seventh Street. For five generations, it’s been the spot where far-off family members came to celebrate holidays, birthdays and life’s successes.
Johnny Crawford / AJC(ENLARGE)Liz Weaver and her husband, Luke Moncrief, refurbished the two-story brick house that she grew up in.Johnny Crawford / AJC(ENLARGE)Weaver sits on the porch of her home.RELATED LINKS:
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“When my mother died, it occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to come here anymore if we sold it,” said Weaver. “I grew up here; I roller-skated on these floors. So we moved back intown. Fortunately, the house was in pretty good condition, even though it had had nothing done to it.”
The large two-story brick house dates to 1917, when the neighborhood was considered a suburb of the city. But it was developing rapidly and soon was surrounded by other Craftsman-influenced homes with wide front porches, interior columns and over-sized windows. Weaver and her husband, Luke Moncrief, renovated the house wherever possible, replacing and updating only the kitchen and areas that were beyond salvation. The transoms over the interior doors, crystal doorknobs, narrow-slated wood floors and beautifully grained fir wood doors are still in place.
Weaver did modify the configuration of the four downstairs rooms. Now, when guests enter through the front door with its thick, rectangular pane of glass, they step into the dining room, where a working fireplace is topped with the original mahogany mantel. Darkly stained columns beyond the table open to the original dining room, now outfitted as a den with comfortable couches and a TV.
To the left of the front door, another set of columns marks the entrance to the music room, a formal parlor that now holds a baby grand piano and more formal furniture. In the fourth corner of the square plan is the expanded and modernized kitchen, anchored by a large granite island, glass-fronted cabinets and a stove that sits against the brick wall of a former fireplace. A door from the kitchen leads to a sun porch with casement windows. A recent addition to the house is a large deck overlooking the backyard, still shaded by fig trees Weaver used to pick from as a kid.
“The deck is the closest thing to Dunwoody you’ll see in this house,” said Weaver with a laugh. “We love to sit out here and look at the skyline. And all my childhood pets are buried in the yard here.”
Another small change opened up what used to be a tiny telephone room off the kitchen. It’s now a short hallway that connects to the parlor and a powder room. A staircase landing just beyond the parlor and dining room acts as the intersection of all four rooms. At the top of the landing is a cozy window seat below a set of triple glass panes. Just above is an original five-globe chandelier.
The home’s four bedrooms feature the original light fixtures: Two globes dangling from thick chains in the ceiling. The master has a coal box fireplace and the original octagonal tile on the floor of the bath. Weaver has resisted upgrading the baths that still boast big soaking tubs and pedestal sinks. Her master bath even sports the original glass towel rack and shelf.
One of the four bedrooms functions as the family office. Off the rear guest room is a sleeping porch that Weaver describes as her tree house.
One of the fun features of the house that doesn’t work is a servant’s buzzer, mounted in the top of the newel post. “I know it doesn’t work because I’ve pushed it plenty of times and no one comes,” said Weaver with a laugh.
Today, the house is a beacon for Weaver’s four children, 11 grandchildren and extended family. But the public can get a peek at it as well when it’s open for the Midtown Tour of Homes.
IF YOU GO:
2008 Midtown Tour of Homes: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 5 and noon to 5 p.m. April 6. Tickets are $15 at Outwrite Bookstore, 991 Piedmont Ave., or $20 at tour homes the day of. Details: www.midtowntourofhomes.com.
Have a cottage, condo, loft or mansion you want to brag about? Call MetroHome at 678-574-6461 or email hm_cauley@yahoo.com.
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