Thompson Home 105 Hollywood Blvd Although current owner Scott Thompson moved into his new home just a few months ago, he graciously agreed to share it with the Hollywood Garden Club as part of their 2015 Historic Home Tour. In the months earlier, residents and passersby curiously watched the seemingly whirlwind renovation of the tired but charming stucco bungalow, a fixture on Hollywood Boulevard for nearly 90 years. Builder Matthew Gregory had purchased the house from the estate of Betty Morrison, a longtime beloved Hollywood resident. With large crews working day and night, often seven days a week, the transformation of this lovely Spanish Colonial Revival home was completed in less than 10 weeks! Gregory’s painstaking “rehab” demonstrates how a historic home can be updated while preserving architecturally significant features and original charm. With the exception of a previous owner enclosing an open side porch, this house still occupies its original footprint and looks remarkably as it did when first built, original windows included. One improvement was to open up the breakfast room to the adjoining kitchen, gutting and updating the space and building a custom banquette. In the sunroom, French doors were added to restore easy access to the front terrace, now covered with a wood arbor. In the hall, a half-bath was created from the closets of two bedrooms, with new, larger closets constructed in their place. The spectacular new master bath occupies the same space it always has, only now it sports a space-saving sliding door made from the original mirrored closet door. A large master closet was added by taking in space from an adjoining bedroom, now used as an office by the new homeowner. New tile in the Jack ’n’ Jill bath complements the refurbished original tub and sink. Cooper Home 308 La Playa Place Mary and Mims Cooper purchased this threebedroom Spanish Colonial Revival gem in 2012. The earliest owners on record were a young married couple, Eugenia and George (a tile contractor) Shook. Their names are among 176 original residents listed on a 1926 census that was required when Hollywood petitioned to become a town. This home is a beautiful one-story stucco house with flat tar roof, terra cotta tiles, and detached garage. Architectural details include a front projecting bay and parapet, double-hung windows, a stoop porch at the entrance, and an exterior stucco chimney. Inside, the lovely tiled foyer opens to the spacious living room, from which a step leads up to the dining room level. Two sets of French doors open the space to the front terrace. Under the Coopers’ direction, NeedCo Cabinets recreated the kitchen and breakfast room for a more modern lifestyle. Other kitchen upgrades include stainless appliances, herringbone backsplash subway tiles, marble countertops, French doors, and a media viewing area. As part of a new master suite, the Coopers extended the back of the house to add a gorgeous master bath with barrel ceiling, shadow molding, marble floors, and a courtyard view. Architecturally correct renovations were used to upgrade the residence throughout, including copper gutters, new windows, a cedar closet, bathroom fixtures, and more—all while keeping the basic original structure intact. At the rear of the home, a private entertainment and herb planting area was created, doubling the living space. A brick-capped, stucco courtyard wall was constructed along the back of the lot, visually connecting the garage to the main house. The Coopers saved original screened doors during the renovation and placed them along the interior “party” garage walls. Lary Home 214 Devon Drive The Lary Home, built in 1927 by the Matthews family, is a classic example of the Tudor Revival Cottage style, an adaptation of the much larger Englishtype manor homes. Like its neighbor at 216 Devon, this home has all the features of this style: steep roof, front gables with vents, multi-pane windows, front stoop, rounded door, and recessed arched entry with stone or brick veneer—a cost-saving technique that made this style popular with middle-class homebuyers in the 1920s. Current owners Rachel and Barton Lary purchased the house in 2010 from Dan and Kristi Logan. The Logans, thought to be the third family to own the home, bought it in 2002 from the Boyd family and undertook the major renovations. The home’s square footage is unchanged, but it has all been refurbished or renovated. An early project was to reopen the original covered front porch, sandblasting layers of white paint to reveal the original brick. The kitchen, originally three small rooms, was redone with an open plan and eating area. The laundry became a half bath. All doors were stripped to the original wood, showing off the unusual original brass doorknobs. Both full baths were gutted and redone, reusing the original clawfoot tub upstairs. A screened porch was added to the back of the house. When the Larys moved into the house in 2010, they immediately began putting their personal stamp on the lovely home. Every room was repainted, including an accent wall behind an original living-room bookcase. The window sashes were painted a darker color for accent as well. In the kitchen, a built-in banquette was added to the eating area. Off the porch, a grilling area with steps to the backyard was added. Larry Home 214 Devon Drive The Hollywood Garden Club welcomes you to the 2015 Historic Hollywood Tour of Homes. Renderings by Ken McBride, Architect Special Thanks to: Barbara Wheeler This Tour, first held in the early 1980s, is our club’s bien- nial fundraiser for neighborhood beautification and to support Shades Cahaba School, as it has since the early days of Hollywood. In 1924, 26-year-old developer Clyde Nelson set out to fulfill his vision of a planned community of Spanish-style homes, fashionable at the time. His Hollywood Land Company paid $109,800 for land that would become “Birmingham’s Master Subdivision.” Nelson hired Harvard-trained landscape architect Rubee J. Pearse to design the 750-lot neighborhood, laying out roads, green spaces, lot lines, and house placement. The Garden Club pays to maintain most of the green spaces, now 12 in number. Nelson engaged Birmingham architect George P. Turner to design most original residences, including 60–80 Spanish homes and many of Tudor design. Committed to highest quality, Nelson sent contractors to Miami to study masonry techniques before the first foundation was dug. Lots sold for $1,800–$3,700, completed homes for $15,000–$35,000. Although Nelson eventually allowed lot buyers to build the popular Tudor style, he still insisted on strict design codes, often fighting buyers who misrepresented their plans or refused to comply. Nelson’s promotion of Hollywood was flamboyant. When the first floor of a new house was built, he brought in orchestras and opera singers for outdoor lawn parties, inviting the general public. He lured potential homeowners to the area with every amenity he could think of: a leather-seated bus for free runs to Birmingham, the first natural gas pipeline into Shades Valley, and the Hollywood Country Club (burned 1984), offering fine dining, dancing, and a large pool and sandy beach, complete with lounge chairs and umbrellas. By December 1926, Hollywood had enough residents (176) to petition the court to become a town. The petition was granted, and a mayor and five councilmen elected. The town had one policeman and one garbage man. In 1929, facing mounting expenses to complete the sewer system and provide other services, the town merged into the City of Homewood. 91 years later, Hollywood remains a tribute to an era and to the vision of a man and his dream. In 2002, our Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, significant as the earliest, and one of the most well-executed, planned communities in the state, as well as for the architectural style of surviving houses (237 c. 1925–1929, 141 c. 1930–1939). The Hollywood Garden Club promotes the preservation and protection of this unique historic neighborhood. Thank you for attending our fundraiser, which allows us to continue to maintain and preserve our “little piece of history” right here in Homewood. Enjoy! The Hollywood Garden Club Historic Hollywood Doyal Home 216 Devon Drive Historic Hollywood Doyal Home 216 Devon Drive Date: Sunday, May 3, 2015 Time: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Tickets: $15 in advance; The Doyal House is a fine example$17 ofata the historic door bungalow thoughtfully expanded to meet the needs of a modern family. This one-story, 7-room 1928 Tudor Revival now has 13 rooms, 4½ baths, and lots of storHome age—all Cooper on the original footprint, in proper scale for the 308 La Playa lot size. Holly and Jay Doyal have remodeled extensively since buying the home in 1998. They’ve taken a European approach to designing their home, keeping the outside structure true to the period in Thompson which Home it was built 105 Hollywood Blvd while choosing chic, minimalist, European furnishings and fixtures for the interior, complemented by works of art from around the world. The Doyals’ first major project was reconfiguring Larry Home 214 Devon Drive to the basement were relocated to the kitchen. Stairs maximize space for new cabinets, and concrete counters Renderings by Ken McBride, Architect were installed. A custom-built mahogany front door Special Thanks to: Barbara Wheeler with paned windows, designed to resemble the original round-topped door, lit up the entry. The largest project Home came in 2005 when the Doyals enlisted216Doyal Twin ConstrucDevon Drive tion to take the house from one story to two, along with other main-level interior projects. In this round of renovations, a false ceiling in the living room was removed to reveal the original 14-foot barrel ceiling. The original front terrace—converted to an enclosed sunporch in Ticket Outlets: Harmony Landing / Hunter Cleaners the 1950s—became a stunning office space with a modArceneaux Art Gallery / Sweet Peas Garden Center ern twist. www.HistoricHollywoodTour.com The upstairs features two bedrooms connected by a bath, a spacious master suite with walk-in closet, and a bonus room that holds the family’s photography archive and laundry. (Don’t miss the exclusive view of Vulcan and the Doyals’ private four-hole putting green as you ascend the double-wide staircase.) In the basement, a children’s den occupies the space where an old shuffleboard court was discovered under an old floor during renovation. Historic Hollywood Tour of Homes Date: Sunday, May 3, 2015 Time: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Tickets: $15 in advance; $17 at the door Historic Hollywood Tour of Homes Sunday, Ticket Outlets: Harmony Landing / Hunter Cleaners 3, 2015 Arceneaux Art Gallery / Sweet PeasMay Garden Center Cooper Home 1:00–4:00 p.m. www.HistoricHollywoodTour.com 308 La Playa Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door Thompson Home 105 Hollywood Blvd Cooper Home 308 La Playa Place Larry Home 214 Devon Drive Renderings by Ken McBride, Architect Special Thanks to: Barbara Wheeler Thompson Home 105 Hollywood Blvd Doyal Home 216 Devon Drive Historic Hollywood Tour of Homes Lary Home Ticket Outlets: Landing / Hunter Cleaners 214 DevonHarmony Drive Arceneaux Art Gallery / Sweet Peas Garden Center Renderings by www.HistoricHollywoodTour.com Kenneth McBride, KPS Group Thanks to: Barbara Wheeler, LAH; Infomedia, Inc. Doyal Home 216 Devon Drive Sponsored by the Hollywood Garden Club Ticket Outlets: Online at www.HistoricHollywoodTour.com / Hunter’s Cleaners / Four Seasons Antiques, Art & Botanicals / Sweet Peas Garden Shop / Chickadee / Table Matters / King’s House Antiques
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