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The Druid Hills Home and Garden Tour and Artist Market is a volunteer project of the Druid Hills Civic Association and benefits historic preservation and park and green space restoration.

A storied history

What do U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Atlanta architect Walter Dowling, cookbook author Henrietta Stanley Dull, and Chicago gangster Al Capone have in common? They all share connections to Oakdale Road in historic Druid Hills. [See sidebar on Oakdale Road Fun Facts.]

You can learn about them and more famous residents of Oakdale at the 2010 Druid Hills Home and Garden Tour & Artist Market. The tour, Only on Oakdale, welcomes visitors inside six elegant home and garden jewels on Oakdale Road, presenting a slice of the street’s storied history. Only on Oakdale will be held Friday, April 16, through Sunday, April 18, 2010, along with a native plant sale, an artist’s market, luncheons, and live entertainment.

Joel Hurt first purchased a 1,400-acre tract for Atlanta’s “ideal residential suburb.” The neighborhood, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 1890s, was named Druid Hills and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The annual home and garden tour, run by volunteers of the Druid Hills Civic Association, benefits historic preservation and green space restoration in the neighborhood.

The Druid Hills Artist Market at St. John’s Lutheran Church, located at the corner of Oakdale Road and Ponce de Leon Avenue, complements the tour experience. Now in its sixth year, the growing market hosts a juried group of more than 45 artists from across Georgia and neighboring states. The works include paintings in oils, watercolors, and acrylics as well as jewelry, pottery, photography, glassworks, and new and vintage textile arts.

Lunch may be purchased at the Artist Market locale, where diners will be entertained under the grand tent with live music and dance. Menus and a schedule for music and dance performances will be available at all the tour homes and market.

The 2010 featured tour homes range from large estates to cozy bungalows and maintain original historical details that blend with modern touches and thoughtful renovations. Here is a preview of this year’s featured homes.

 

Tour Schedule: Click thumbnails for enlargements: Download printer friendly tour schedule 1410 Ponce de Leon Avenue Druid Hills Artist Market  St. John's Lutheran Church Located at the corner of Oakdale Road and Ponce de Leon Avenue, the Druid Hills Artist Market takes place in the beautiful Stonehenge Mansion that currently serves as the home of St. John's Lutheran Church.  This growing event, now in its sixth year, hosts a juried group of more than 45 artists from across Georgia and neighboring states.  The works include paintings in oils, watercolors, and acrylics as well as jewelry, pottery, photography, glassworks, and new and vintage textile arts.  Offering creative and whimsical pieces alongside pieces with the sytle and precision of seasoned artists, the market has something for everyone.  We are also featuring the Children's Art of Druid Hills this year. Artist Market hours: Friday and Saturday, April 16-17, 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday, April 18, 1 pm to 5 pm. Please note: The Artist Market is free and open to the public. Only on Oakdale lunches Lunch may be purchased at the Artist Market, where diners will be entertained under the grand tent with live music and dance.  Menus and a schedule for music and dance performances will be available at all homes on the tour and the artist's market. Luncheon hours  Friday and Saturday only, 11am – 2pm

901 Oakdale Road Stephanie and John Giegerich This 1914 grand beauty is one of the oldest houses on Oakdale. Built by the editor of Sunny South Publishing Company, it served as the residence of Asa Candler Jr. during the renovation of his estate, “Briarcliff.” Purchased by the current owners in 2007, the home features original wood accents in the foyer and living room, a two-story stairwell with skylight, and a landscaped backyard with tennis court. Displayed to great effect are the owners’ collections of family- and travel-related keepsakes: Asian and Turkish art, West Point and Army memorabilia, antique posters, stamps, and more.

937 Oakdale Road Native Plant Sale The Lullwater Garden Club will once again hold its annual spring plant sale in conjunction with the tour. Native perennials suited for Atlanta’s climate and drought-tolerant succulents will be available, as well as a variety of heirloom tomato plants for homegrown goodness in the garden. All proceeds benefit Lullwater Conservation Garden, Inc., a non-profit organization for the care and maintenance of the Lullwater Conservation Garden, a natural green space and bird sanctuary located at the intersection of Lullwater Road and Lullwater Parkway.

948 Oakdale Road Caroline and Phil Moise From the exquisite architectural details and furnishings of this home, built in 1919 by H.W. Nicholes, visitors would never guess that it housed the Phi Chi Fraternity for three years in the 1930s. The current owners, who purchased the house in the early 1980s, wanted to preserve its period feel with their furnishings, including antiques from Phil’s South Carolina family, dining room furniture from Caroline’s family that once graced a townhouse on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and Asian treasures they acquired in Korea in the 1970s. They have renovated numerous times to meet the needs of their four children, but the front rooms—with original windows, fireplace, and columns—remain intact. HammerSmith, owned by Druid Hills resident Warner McConaughey, is one of Atlanta’s top design-build firms specializing in environmentally sensitive kitchens, bathrooms, additions, and outdoor living.

1021 Oakdale Road Kristina and David Crane Built in 1922, this Tudor home looks down from a hilltop setting onto grounds extending across 1.5 acres. Expanded in 2008 with the addition of a master suite and family room, the house trumpets modern finishes crafted to reflect the original design, including a beamed ceiling and Gothic arches. Antiques and family heirlooms happily co-exist with modern furnishings, and whimsical animal prints and splashes of color run throughout the interior. Custom doors from Belgium beckon guests to explore a side courtyard, pool, and blue stone terrace. Ironwork and gates—designed by Druid Hills resident Charles Calhoun—and gas lanterns bring an old-world feel to exterior spaces.

1090 Oakdale Road Jo Ann and Mark Herold This bungalow, built in 1923, features much of the original architecture, moldings, and windows of the late Arts & Crafts period. Purchased in 2001 by the current owners, the house is decorated with artwork collected during their extensive travels. Notable pieces include a collection of masks from across the globe, a dining table fashioned from a door from Santa Fe, and an array of Southern folk art by Howard Finster, Mose T., George Rodrigue, and others. Updated in 2001, the kitchen and mudroom bear the personal touch of pottery from Jo Ann’s native Mississippi. Added in 2005, a pool and garage include an outdoor kitchen surrounded by lush landscaping, featured on the HGTV program “Ground Breakers.”

1118 Oakdale Road Judy Trotochaud and William Pate A charming garden welcomes visitors to this home, built in 1925. The original quaint design that first attracted the current owners 11 years ago is still evident in the entrance, dining room, and living room. Those areas blend into a spacious kitchen and family room, added in a renovation in 2009 and featuring a mixture of antique and contemporary fixtures. With its mixture of old and new, the house offers the perfect setting for frequent gatherings with extended family. A neutral palette flows throughout, and French doors at the back of the house open to a covered patio and well-equipped outdoor kitchen with skylights. The upstairs master suite includes a porch that brings the outdoors inside and new windows designed to match the originals.

1128 Oakdale Road Frances Cullen This charming bungalow, built by Arthur H. Bailey in 1927, originally offered 2,500 square feet of comfortable living space. But five years ago, soon after current owner Frances Cullen and her family moved in, an oak tree fell on the house, destroying the back half. After an extensive “green” renovation that included finishing the attic (with its original 12-foot ceilings) and improving the kitchen, dining room, and family room, this EarthCraft-certified gem now boasts a spacious living area of 4,800 square feet. Interior highlights include custom wooden cabinets in the family room, stained glass elements in the butler’s pantry and stairwell, and Frances Cullen’s eclectic art collection. Pinnacle Custom Builders, Inc., an award-winning local builder committed to green building and renovation, incorporates these same EarthCraft building elements into all their designs and projects.

Please Note: No photography, smoking, food, beverages, backpacks or strollers allowed inside the homes. This is a walking tour of historical homes which may have steep and narrow stairways. Comfortable, low heeled shoes are recommended. The Druid Hills Tour makes every effort to keep the tour problem-free.  It assumes no responsibility for accidents or injuries that may occur during the tour. Please cross all streets only at marked crosswalks and exercise utmost caution. Tour held rain or shine. Parking and Restrooms Parking for the Druid Hills Artist Market is available at St. John's Lutheran Church, 1410 Ponce de Leon Avenue, and St. John's Chrysostom Melkite Church, 1428 Ponce de Leon Ave.  Restrooms are available at St. John's Lutheran Church, 1410 Ponce de Leon Ave.  Parking will be allowed on one side of Oakdale Road, and two places in front of each home will be reserved for persons who are unable to walk long distances. Oakdale Road Fun Facts One Oakdale Road resident witnessed the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty that ended WWI and went on to run the presidential campaign of his law school classmate Franklin Roosevelt in the state of Georgia. The original mansion of Samuel Venable, owner of Stone Mountain (and former head of the Ku Klux Klan) lived in Stonehenge, built of Stone Mountain granite and now the home of St. John’s Lutheran Church. Al Capone’s family rented another house on Oakdale while the mobster served time in the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. A milder-mannered resident of Oakdale, Henrietta Stanley Dull, penned a famous Georgia cookbook, Southern Cooking, in 1928. The owner of the King Plow Company made his home at the west corner of Oakdale and Ponce de Leon, and as the first automobile owner on the street, he gave rides to school for neighborhood children. His daughter Irene married George Woodruff, brother of Robert Woodruff of Coca Cola fame. Coca Cola Bottling Company President Samuel Candler Dobbs bought a house on Oakdale in 1914. Forrest Adair gave a home on Oakdale as a wedding present to his daughter. Adair, along with his brother George and Asa Candler, owned the Druid Hills Corporation with all land right sales in Druid Hills. Prominent architects Walter Downing and Robert Smith Pringle built their personal residences on Oakdale. Pringle even added a ballroom on the top floor of his home, where some neighborhood ladies still remember dancing in gowns, wearing long white gloves. Leila Ross Wilburn, one of the country’s first prominent female architects designed one house on Oakdale in the “four square” style. Oakdale is no stranger to the movies. The site of the real accident in Driving Miss Daisy occurred on Oakdale, while Miss Daisy was visiting her cousin in one of the many Neel Reid-designed houses on the street. Serendipitously, movie makers chose 872 Oakdale to film scenes for Stroke of Genius, the film about Bobby Jones, without realizing that Bobby’s wife had actually grown up there. The house later welcomed film crews from Road Trip and the sequel to Dumb and Dumber. Larry Douglas Embury, who plays the organ “Mighty Mo” at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, is a current resident of Oakdale Road.

Come celebrate this landmark event and discover why The U.S. Department of the Interior said Druid Hills is “significant as the finest example of late 19th and early 20th century comprehensive planning and development in the Atlanta area, and one of the finest period suburbs in the Southeast."