by John Griffin
y grandmother thought “goodness gracious” was strong language.
She only resorted to the phrase on two occasions. More often it
was when she discovered my cousins and me up to no good, and then
it was a deep reproach. The other occasion that warranted this
response was some delightful surprise, and then she repeated the
words softly under her breath.
The outside here is not what grabs you. It’s certainly got good Colonial Revival details. I’m particularly fond of the large second-floor bay that provides cover to the front entry. It’s an unusual detail that, in addition to sheltering guests, opens up the middle room upstairs to cross breezes and views in three directions. I’m truly surprised it’s not more frequently found. The Colonial urns that cap the roof line of this bay are the proverbial icing on the cake.
It was once inside that I noticed I had lapsed into my grandmother’s
vocabulary. There’s a broad center hall with an open-well staircase
rising all the way to the third floor. A window on the first landing
backlights the finely crafted balustrade.
The living and dining rooms are far more generously scaled than you’d guess from outside. A box bay in the living room provides an extra seating nook and floods the room with light. The fireplace has a superb colored-marble surround that I coveted and a finely detailed Adam mantel.
The most refined homes built in the American colonies were in the Adam style after the work of Robert and James Adams, the leading architects of late 18th-century London. Their work was more delicate than the preceding Georgian style and characterized by graceful decorative ornament in wood or plaster applied to mantels, staircases, doors, and mouldings. This mantel, as are the urns out front, is directly drawn from the Adam style, suggesting the designer of this Colonial Revival house on Central knew well the precedents of the style.
Behind the living room is a generous family room added by the current owners. It reuses some large double-casement windows topped by overscale fan lights. These provide great views to the rear garden. Because this room connects to the living room through two pair of French doors, these two rooms can be easily united for large gatherings.
The banquet-scaled dining room has built-in corner cabinets with arch-headed tops. A paneled wainscot and chair rail completes the architectural inventory here. A large butler’s pantry with two walls of built-in cabinets connects the dining room to the kitchen.
The kitchen has a comfortable layout with a breakfast bar, access to the rear patio, and the back staircase. East of the dining room is a study. East of the kitchen is a skylighted conservatory perfect for plants, art studio, or a ready-made expansion space if you really wanted to blow out the kitchen.
Upstairs are four bedrooms and three baths. They, too, are graciously
scaled with good closets, and some even have connecting dressing
rooms. There’s a flagstone patio out back hedged in with azalea,
fern, and hosta under a few large shade trees. A guest house out
back, which rents for $500 a month, completes the property. As
I was walking away I was still quietly repeating, “Goodness gracious.”
1881 Central Avenue
Approx. 4,800 square feet
4 bdrms, 3 1/2 baths; $375,000
Realtor: Ligon Hughes, 272-0008
Agent: Nancy Ligon, 726-6913