On my recent trip to Atlanta I had a singular goal in mind…to capture the sumptuous beauty and history of Swan House, one of the most elegant (former) private homes in our country and a treasured landmark of this city. As one of many volunteer docents over the years I developed an affection for this residence, and its architect. Through these images I’ll weave the tale of that esteemed architect, Philip Trammell Shutze, whose noteworthy neo-Renaissance Revival talents made this house possible. Upon his death in 1982, Shutze was celebrated as the greatest classical architect in America…and Swan House as his finest residential work!

His studies at the American Academy in Rome in the Beaux Arts tradition informed Shutze’s classical work over his 40 year career, creating many of Atlanta’s most storied homes and buildings. To this admirer, his true brilliance was his sheer exhilaration in drawing from sources across multiple time periods and geographic locations, blending Italian and English classicism. Swan House (1928) is a studied example of combining such an assortment of styles…one might say, eclecticism in its grandest form. Shutze’s talent for details suited the needs and interests of his wealthy Jazz Age clients, Emily and Edward Inman. Paired with Mrs. Inman’s collection of antiques and art, and New York decorator, Ruby Ross Wood’s taste, it was assured that this would be a home unlike any other–the coming together of architecture, commerce, and culture (just ahead of the Depression).

Swan House has two very prominent facades; the East Facade, in its unabashedly English Palladian statement, accented by a dramatically scaled portico, is the formal entrance to the home.

I adore the blue front door and the first sighting of a swan motif, in the fanlight over this door.

The entry hall has a masterful concentric checkerboard floor pattern that accentuates the round shape of this petit rotunda. To the right is the octagonal breakfast room which also served as the family’s dining room (the more formal dining room was reserved for entertaining guests ).

Breathtaking in its design, the spiral staircase, open to the second floor, appears to float, its lightness belying the fact that it required two tons of steel and cement to construct!

After catching your breath, you’ll soon notice another statement about Swan House… the intricacy, quality, and details of the house’s hand-carved wood components…all executed by southern craftspeople, predominantly, Herbert J. Millard.

In the formal dining room, a pair of swan-decorated side consoles/tables, carved in the 1700s, tastefully remind one of the inspiration for the house’s name.

But of course, I’m smitten with the faded watermelon pink Chinese wallpaper (a look enjoying a renaissance at the moment, think Gracie and de Gournay).

Speaking of color, the morning room with its soft pistachio green scheme provides a refreshing contrast to the black and white checkerboard floor in the main hall.

It was the Grinling Gibbons-styled period carved mantle and overmantel in the library that I always admired when giving my docent tours, a dressy note for the Inman’s “cozy spot.”

Floral wall paper continues in the second floor bedroom, with a bed that could be a highlight for any Decorator’s Showhouse of today.

But it’s the bathroom that caught my attention; how divine that the mirrored doors reflect the room’s details so gracefully.

In closing, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that a home with such distinctive architecture, refined interiors, and 25 acres of grounds, deserves a Part II post…to be published next Thursday, November 14th.

On a personal note, Mr. Inman, whose wealth derived from the cotton industry and related businesses (railroads, real estate, banking, and manufacturing) died just two years after moving into Swan House. But his wife, Emily, remained in their home, joined by her son and grandchildren until her death in 1965. In 1966 the house was purchased by the Atlanta Historical Society and opened to the public.