The Morningside Manor
1289 Beech Valley Road
Atlanta 30306
Offered at $1,330,000
FMLS #7193027
1930's Architectural Marvel
0.6 acre corner lot overlooking park
Full width balcony & conservatory
Owner's suite on main
Not simply a home, this brick Cotswolds manor house is a work of art.
Few homes encapsulate the history of Atlanta as the Manor at Morningside. Built in 1934, on a 0.6 acre corner lot, this property has witnessed only three owners, but the stories that they contribute are as unique and fascinating as the architecture, art and property of this remarkable home.
Main Level
Outdoor Living
Basement - The Pub
Third Floor
The Morningside Manor History
Originally commissioned as the home of a chiropractor, the house was passed to its second owner, who won it in a late-night poker game. It was from this lucky winner, that the current couple purchased the house in 1963.
In the mid-1930’s employees of Work Pays America (WPA), created by Roosevelt’s New Deal, constructed the wall that runs the length of the property, and continues to secure the yard from erosion into the stream.
The team then commenced on the outstanding concrete, inground swimming pool which was fed by stream water from the stone tiered waterfall. The remnants of this unusual feature still stand and is ready for any ambitious owner to reinstate to its former glory.
The new owners of the Manor were a young, ambitious couple with a love for English architecture and the cottages of the Cotswolds. Chick Eason was a math professor at Georgia State, and his wife, Debby Eason, was the only woman in a class of 80 studying photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. In 1953 Debby was hired by the company founder, Collett E Woolman, to be the first female photographer for Delta Airlines. Assigned the task of capturing news for Delta, some of her photographs of famous passengers including John Kennedy, Joan Crawford and Ingrid Bergman, are featured in the billiard room of the home’s basement.
Passionate supporters of the arts, music and cultural scene of Atlanta, Debby and Chick attended a poorly attended newspaper, lecture in 1971 and recognized a need to inform the public about the city’s cultural happenings. It is from this, that Creative Loafing, a weekly publication, was born to become the voice of a new generation providing a very different story from the one chronicled in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Creative Loafing was the first successful alternative published in the Southeast.
Here was a weekly paper that championed underdogs, miscreants, punk rockers, garage rockers, boat rockers, beat cops, line cooks, addicts, taggers, inkers, squatters, rappers, strippers. Also, of course, Democrats. And yet, it also reserved column space for conservative pundits such as Neal Boortz and Bob Barr. It was the place where, if you were 24 and your girlfriend had just kicked you out, you found a new apartment and maybe even a new girlfriend. It was the place to discover what bands to see, what restaurants to hit, what politicians to vote for. In the antediluvian age of analog media, it was Atlanta’s cultural (and countercultural) bible. It made you smarter, hungrier, grittier, cooler. And it was free.
Courtesy: Atlanta Magazine -A long strange trip: The Oral History of Creative Loafing by Thomas Wheatley
By the late 1980’s, Ben Eason took the family-owned business to other cities in the Southern United States and the house became a focal point for artists, writers and musicians of all kinds. This year, Creative Loafing celebrates 50 years of providing information, supporting the arts and highlighting the cultural events of Atlanta.
Manor at Morningside Art
In 1994 expansion of the basement, and addition of the owners’ suite on the first floor, commenced.
As typical supporters of creatives, local artists, were commissioned to work on the addition.
Basement Fire Place
While the downstairs living room and scullery maintained their original fireplaces, Chick and Debby wanted to create an elaborate new fireplace in the extended basement. As you walk into this living area, you will be immediately struck by the stone work of the mantel and supports.
Created by respected, published mason, Philip Raines, the fireplace was designed with windows seats and boasts extensive stone sculptures supporting a single slab mantel. Above you will find a window designed to enjoy, in the winter months, the heat of the fireplace, while watching the snow falling outside.
Double Helix Chimney
The masterpiece of this house has to be the double helix chimney which can be seen from the yard, and through the upper windows of the owners’ suite. Representing elaborate Victorian chimneys, Philip’s bricklaying award-winning talents, maintain an even double twist to produce an almost impossible level top.
Basement Stained Glass
Susan McCracken, renowned, local stained-glass artist created the horizontal window that ties the living and billiard room into a cohesive space. Featuring intertwined purple and white flowers, an English garden is brought into this Cotswold-themed home.
Owners’ Suite
The soaring wooden beamed ceilings of the master suite produce a breathtaking room of light and airiness. Celtic symbols are featured in the windows above the bed and glass of the door. Views of the double helix chimney are clearly visible through the windows above the fireplace inspired by that in Shakespeare’s birthplace, and decorated with North Carolina river stones.
Exterior
Ample windows of the conservatory offer views of the oversized .06 acre yard complete with creek and the relics of the inground concrete pool and fountain. Overlooking a canopy of trees a sense of a silent, mountain retreat is presented in the bustling city. The deck stretches the width of the home and provides a close up view of the homes brickwork indented with river stones.
The Manor at Morningside is unlike any home in Atlanta. This history, art and details of the home are astounding. The structure has been renovated and is totally sound. The opportunities to adapt the floor plan and landscaping are exciting for any new owners who share the passion for uniqueness that is offered in this home.
Sam McKinlay
Atlanta REALTORS® Association
Top Producer
1799 Briarcliff Road, Suite Q2
Atlanta, GA 30306
404-874-9094
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