Architect Yong Pak, founding partner of the Atlanta firm Pak Heydt & Associates, has what he calls a "three strikes, you’re out" rule. “After three large renovations, a house usually doesn’t have much left,” he says. In other words, time for a teardown.
That was essentially the advice he gave to a couple who’d acquired a century-old home in Atlanta’s Ansley Park neighborhood, enviably located a short walk from the Midtown Arts District. But the residence had endured multiple major alterations, including being divided into apartments in the '60s and a conversion back to a single-family home in the ’80s in a heavy, formal style that was ill-matched to its new 40-something owners.
But rather than demolish, the couple opted for a gut renovation, entrusting Pak and interior designer Melanie Turner to sensitively reimagine the entire house, respecting its historic roots while tailoring it to the way a young family lives today. “There was literally only one room where we kept the walls, and those we lacquered,” says Turner, who explains that the project wound up taking nearly four years by the time it was completed, in early 2020. “The owners have three children, and they only had one when we started. So that tells you how long we worked on it.”
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Turner worked closely from the outset with Pak, who says he sought to create “a whole new friendly street face,” restoring it to more of a 1920s style with a crisp limestone portico, but updated with steel-framed windows. And with a total rebuild came an opportunity to introduce notable sustainability features. In addition to super-insulating the house, Pak used efficient LED lighting and installed solar roof panels connected to Tesla battery packs, which power the home’s geothermal water pump and HVAC systems. “The house could actually function off the grid,” he says.
Changes to the decor entailed significant brightening and lightening, with an emphasis on warm, neutral tones and lots of golden and silvery accents. French Art Deco was a key inspiration, not least in the entrance hall, where Pak crafted the gracefully twisting staircase with a wrought-iron balustrade. The abstract plaster relief that subtly but distinctively embellishes the stair wall was a collaboration between Turner and Atlanta-based Source.
For the entry flooring, Turner went with the conventional choice of black-and-white marble tiles, only these are inset with contrasting circles, giving them, she notes, a whimsical resemblance to dominoes. Flanking the front door are smoky eglomise mirror panels that tower above benches exuberantly skirted in tufted rust velvet (convenient for hiding shoes), while the ombré stair runner, in shifting shades of green, feels unexpectedly contemporary. “It’s about fresh takes on classical design elements,” Turner says.
Another important influence was the couple’s love of “fine hotels from their travel experiences,” the designer says. That comes through most powerfully in the salon, a sprawling, light-filled reception space with two cozy seating areas and a dining table for 12. The center of the all-white paneled room opens directly onto a solarium created by Pak that encloses an elegant bar and offers views of a neighboring park and the Midtown skyline beyond.
VERANDA This article originally appeared in the January/February 2021 issue of VERANDA.
VERANDA This article originally appeared in the January/February 2021 issue of VERANDA.
The salon and bar feel “elevated but relaxed, almost like you’re on vacation,” says Turner. As in much of the house, she freely mixed historical styles, from the parquet de Versailles flooring and a pair of conical Murano glass chandeliers to the Deco-esque goatskin-clad dining table, ’70s-style brass-base swivel chairs, and the robustly textured chevron-pattern custom carpet.
“The unexpected details we put in the house pay homage to classicism and traditional homes. But they’re quirky or have a bit of a twist.” —DESIGNER MELANIE TURNER
The room also features paintings over both fireplaces specially commissioned from the artist Todd Murphy before his death early last year. A favorite of the homeowners’ who is represented by several pieces in the house, Murphy made these two paintings of women’s dresses (a recurring motif in his work), incorporating old wallpaper found behind a wall during the renovation as a nod to the residence’s past.
“Getting the mix of old and new is important,” says Turner. “Because it’s a grand house, we were constantly dealing with the formality, which had to be tempered for a young family.”
Melanie Turner and Yong Pak Atlanta House Tour
They spend a lot of time at the back of the house, in the family room and kitchen, which is distinguished by arched windows and a ceiling with tiled barrel vaults, plus a serious wood-fired oven that gets regular use on pizza—and-Pinot Fridays.
There are cool spaces on the lower level to retreat to as well, including a wine room furnished in a retro vibe with Warren Platner gold-tone wire chairs, groovy-chic Apparatus lighting, and hexagonal cork floor tiles. There’s also a sunken home theater with an antiqued-gold mirror fireplace and comfy loungers, all partially enclosed by a 1960s floor-to-ceiling openwork wood screen. Sprinkling in select vintage pieces, Turner notes, “gives the home more of a collected feel.”
While the main living and entertaining areas are dominated by neutrals, Turner changed things up in the bedrooms, giving each one a different palette. Most dramatic is the nursery (originally a playroom, only to be rethought when the third child was on the way), which is decorated with a faux-tented ceiling and walls entirely clad in a zingy apricot-hued fabric.
“The unexpected details we put into the house pay homage to classicism and traditional homes,” says Turner. “But they’re quirky or have a bit of a twist.” In this rejuvenated historic gem, a little offbeat spirit feels right on.
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2021 issue of VERANDA. Interior Design by Melanie Turner; architecture by Yong Pak; landscape design by Land Plus Photography by Mali Azima; written by Stephen Wallis.
