Books, prints, art work and collectibles share space like comfortable neighbors in our Atlanta flat and testify to our passion for widely differing styles and periods.
When my husband, Paul, and I decided to sell our Charleston home on Church Street and my bookshop at “Trotts Cottage”, we moved much of our book inventory to the mountains of North Carolina and put them online for sale on Amazon.
But we felt we also longed for city life where we could easily access an international airport, arts and entertainment, and enjoy our antiquarian books, special objects, prints and collections that were not really suited for the online marketplace.
Our goal was to find a place which would be close by, easy to maintain, but big enough to allow us to work, entertain our friends and business associates and accommodate some of our collectible and rare books, travel mementos, and other objects. But where to look?
Always smitten by the excitement and vitality of the big city, and having owned at Central Park West and Watergate in DC, there was never really any question, Midtown Atlanta would be our destination.
The sign of a great city is the strength of its cultural dynamism. In Manhattan we were one block away from the Lincoln Center and in DC our Watergate apartment was next to the Kennedy Center. In Atlanta, Midtown is predominantly recognized as having The Woodruff Arts Center as its cultural nexis for music, performance and visual arts.
Art’s Appeal
Not surprisingly, a large number of Midtown residents are, or have been, involved in the arts. When we purchased and combined our two generously proportioned midtown flats, we later found out they had been owned by rather famous tenants: internationally acclaimed American photographer (and mentor to Jonathan Williams, among others at Black Mountain College), Harry Callahan; and, the family of renowned Atlanta Symphony conductor, Robert Shaw.
The building is part of an historic mixed-use development and sub-district in Midtown Atlanta. It is the oldest high-rise development in Midtown, built between 1969 and 1975, it was the first mixed-use development in the Southeast. Designed in modernist style the apartments mirror the influence of Le Corbusier, the Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and proclaimed founder of contemporary architecture.
As one might imagine the building has some of the most impressive minimalist apartment décor and luxury contemporary design layouts found- from Atlanta to New York to Paris to Milan. Very creative modern architects, artists and designers live here and the apartments they live in or design to sell (if you can get one) are real showcases. So, it was with great trepidation we pursued our retrograde literary path for an interior that would firmly plant us in a former time and place. We are inspired and guided by the design philosophy of Laura Sartori Rimini and Roberto Peregalli who infuse their work with a unique sense of history and ambience. Vehemently opposed to the idea of fashionable decorating, Rimini and Peregalli create roomspaces and interiors that look brilliantly timeworn.
The Flat
We came to the conclusion we were looking for a literary salon, one that didn’t exist. We needed to create a physical space where the provenance of most objects would be bound up in our own histories: objects from our travels; books and collections from our Charleston shops; and our colonial furnishings and heirlooms. And we wanted a place where we could enjoy working with our friends to help them assemble personal libraries or help curate collections and materials based on their interests, hobbies, and professions.
Going against the minimalist grain, we chose the maximalist approach of a collector, where the predominant aesthetic is grounded in the 19th Century Aesthetic Movement, the inspiration which is revealed by the literary salons of Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein.
The charm of the space lies, indeed, in its ambiguity. It is neither a typical city apartment, nor, technically speaking, a house. It is a connected suite of rooms that are on the same floor, and it is certainly open to many interpretations. Purposely reminiscent of a nineteenth century literary salon, books are interspersed with extensive personal items, an environment for collecting, sharing, and living with objects.
On entry to our flat a mélange of furniture and objects brought from Charleston establishes a drawing room presence. The trifid foot Queen Ann wing chairs are upholstered in Italian silk taken from 18th century patterns and exist conjointly with nineteenth century English arm chairs.
The eighteenth century glass fronted bookcases contain books from the Charleston Renaissance of the early 20th century. We just wanted to open the door and feel at home for a quiet read, an afternoon tea or a double gin and tonic.
A Chinese (18th century) black Coromandel screen painted with genre scenes showing buildings and people hangs between seating. The front and reverse sides of the Coromandel are fully painted also with genre scenes of celebration.
The eclecticism extends beyond period and time into the connected area which is used simultaneously as a gallery, library, and dining area
When we joined the two flats I wanted to completely rework the layout. Part of what was a former master bedroom is now Paul’s study. In Charleston it had been a partage with a Freudian fainting sofa; and, a mesmerizing Botswana wall hanging he brought back in the eighties, during his educational work with school children in the homelands of South Africa. We didn’t quite know where everything was going to go at the beginning, but things find their place as if by magic.
The Power of Objects
Most of the objects in the flat reveal our passion for travel, heirlooms, period furnishings, gifts, paintings and treasured books.
We did bring a few paintings by Charleston artists to Atlanta. The prominent painting on the connecting wall is by John Carroll Doyle. We were surprised and very honored when we learned my Charleston bookshop had captured the imagination of this greatly admired and exceptionally talented artist. John’s painting of the bookshop manifests its 18th century origins, the beauty and light of the peninsula, and the genteel shabbiness of Charleston’s historic houses.
We also hung a watercolor panoramic of “Charles Town” painted by Bishop Roberts sometime between 1735 and 1739. Charles Town grew rapidly during the Colonial period, becoming the wealthiest city in British America on the eve of the American Revolution.
Contemporary Charleston artist, Daphne vom Baur, and her husband David Hamilton (grandson of Elizabeth O’neill Verner) were our neighbors on Church Street and owners of the Verner Gallery. Vom Baur paints landscapes, allegorical figures and coastal scenes. A strong sense of color, rhythm and movement inform her work. Daphne’s Charleston seascape of Picassoesque fishermen reminds us of our artist, poet and novelist friends in Charleston during Spoleto.
Many objects were given with deep feeling and appreciation from friends. Louis Rubin, noted writer and publisher of southern literature, often frequented our shop in Charleston. One day he presented us with his splendid water color of the steamship Algonquin docked in Charleston. Rubin went on to name his publishing house Algonquin, not after New York’s most prestigious literary hotel, but after this passenger ship he remembered from his childhood on the Charleston wharf.
We were delighted when acclaimed set designer Douglas W. Schmidt gave us a copy of his rendering of Charleston’s “Catfish Row”. The design was said to be the “star of the show” in the New York Times review of the 1983 Radio City Music Hall Performance.
Given as a gift to Paul for his educational projects in the nineties at Wounded Knee, noted Tribal leader and historian of Oglala History Michael Ivan “Ole Omani Pi” (Michael Her Many Horses) presented his sketches of Oglala warriors. Accompanied by an antique folk art reverse glass depiction of “America” we acquired in Munich, the Oglala sketches are a part of Paul’s study.
Above the bookcase in the library room Alice Ravenel Huger Smith’s book The Dwelling Houses of Charleston accompanies her Twenty Drawings of the Pringle House (1917). The book was a collaboration with her father, D.E. Huger Smith. Alice R. Huger Smith (1876-1958), was part of the Charleston Renaissance and is remembered as a painter, printmaker, author, illustrator, historian and historic preservationist.
And there are other paintings, woven primitives, photographs and a formidable collection of twentieth-century southern first editions and autographed books throughout the flat.
Over the years we have had a lot of fun, made many delightful discoveries and met many, many wonderful, creative and talented people that have influenced our variegated view of life and objects reflecting our travel, personal history, authenticity of experience and interests without regret or overwrought nostalgia.
Our first dinner guests at the flat once it was complete remarked: “It’s incredible. Everything looks like it has been here forever.” We felt that was quite a complement. After all, our goal was to create a space that felt anything but brand-new.