Victorian charms

First things first, and that’s the curb appeal this place has. No pressure, but we’ll be straight with you — for years now, folks have been scooping up Atlanta’s Victorian architecture faster than listings like this one can be written. There are a few reasons, and they all tend to come together at the intersection of “original wooden floors” and “they just don’t make them like this anymore.” Sometimes, however, homes like this come at a price: there’s the mortgage, and in addition, the stacks of cash you need to keep for the renovations.

An old-school layout

We’re going to talk about the upstairs for a minute (we’ll tackle the separate downstairs suite in a sec). The moment you walk in from the quaint, covered front porch, you’ll get the impression that the 2,200 square feet of this home seems to flow, easily, from one room to the next: bedrooms are connected with heavy wooden doors; the ceilings are very high; the original hardwood, dating back to when the home was first constructed, is unbroken from space to space. There’s a nuance that feels very… Southern home-meets-English manor house. Which is what Victorian is all about.

Of the three bedrooms in this home (each one has a fireplace), one can be perfectly utilized as a home office with ample room for a sitting space. We recommend the  one in the front of the house, overlooking the front porch and only accessible from one of the other bedrooms (the kind of layout that encourages you to refer to it as something more stately… how does “my study” sound?). If part of your commute involves working from home, say goodbye to the kitchen nook.

Spa-likeMaster Bathroom

There are some charms in vintage houses that don’t really need updating. A dining room, for instance, can serve the same use, in roughly the same form, in the 21st century as it could in the 19th (bonus points for built-in bookcases, though). This fact, however, is not true when it comes to spaces like... kitchens and bathrooms. Trends change, and the world moves fast.

No such worries here. The kitchen has seen a remodel that includes stainless appliances, an island that grants plenty of room for maneuvering (and for guests just standing around), some tilework, and rustic-chic white cabinetry.

The bathrooms, meanwhile (especially the master bath), more than fit the bill. Think stone-colored tiles, a glass shower, and a giant garden tub, complete with some really top-notch granite countertops.

Oh, and there’s a huge deck in the back, right off the den. Bring the Big Green Egg, do up an intimate sitting space, and you’re set with room leftover for an outdoor table.

In the end, the home hits a hard balance: the past has been unmistakably preserved, but in an homage sort of way, where the recent amenities fill the blanks of modern necessity, seamlessly.

Let’s head downstairs...

Full Basement Apartment

369 Oakland is built on a bit of a hill. From the front, the sweeping lawn and charming brick footpath lead directly into the main house. As it runs along the side of the house, however, the driveway grades downward on its way to the covered two-car port (complete with adjacent storage room). As a result, the backyard is one floor lower than the front.

With that image in your head, you’re equipped to envision the “basement.” Despite being partially underground, there’s still plenty of natural light that comes in through the mid-wall-height windows, and since the basement occupies some of the footprint of the main home, it’s pretty huge — just a hair over 1,200 square feet.

There are two ways to get downstairs. One is via a staircase in the upstairs den (which can easily be closed off at the bottom), and the other is through the separate entrance in the back, just off the driveway. Everyone gets their privacy.

Easy access.

You’re in Grant Park. You know that much. But if you Google this address (in case you haven’t already), you’ll notice that you’re right in the middle of a lot. Memorial Drive runs east-to-west about one block north, and I-20 access is super close, which from here is only a few minutes’ drive the the Connector. Getting where you need to go is a breeze.

But we’d be remiss not to mention the foot traffic that’s available in this hip borough. One block to the north will land out at Oakland Cemetery District — lovely enough by itself — which contains a bustling restaurant district all its own. Tin Lizzy’s, Six Feet Under, and Octane Coffee are about a five-minute walk from your front door. And let's not forget The Larkin: a new mixed-use development sprouting up along the Memorial Drive corridor that will bring a variety of dining, shopping and entertainment venues including a neighborhood food and wine market and great new restaurants like Taqueria del Sol and Ramen Station.

Head in the opposite direction and the tree-lined streets will lead you to Grant Park itself, one of Atlanta’s oldest and largest patches of green space. All of this in a really friendly part of town — there are so many families here that the neighborhood took it upon itself to set up a capable, passionate neighborhood watch program that runs like a Swiss clock.

Summary

For years, Grant Park was a forgotten corner of Atlanta that was in some dire need of TLC. Those days are gone — there’s no doubt that this neighborhood is one of the most desirable places in the city to live nowadays. But it’s also, in its own way, very new — property values are only continuing to increase as the last of the inventory disappears from the market. If an example of well-maintained Victorian architecture at a still-competitive price is where you’ve been looking to set up shop, let us know. We’d love to show you 369 Oakland Ave.