100-Year old Reid House: Atlanta’s original luxury apartments

Reid House, originally Garrison Luxury Apartments, located at the border of stately Ansley Park and Midtown Atlanta, is significant for its Georgian Revival architectural style designed by the noted Atlanta architects Philip Trammell Shutze and Neel Reid. Its history provides insight into the development of Atlanta in the 1920s. The building has been home to socialites, bohemians, artists, and business tycoons. Some former and current residents’ recognizable Atlanta surnames include Alston, Candler, Dewberry, Dorsey, Inman, Lanier, and Woodruff. Reid House is situated across from the High Museum of Art at the corner of 16th Street and Peachtree Street, known as
“Atlanta’s Park Avenue.”

The building from its beginning housed the wealthier citizens of Atlanta and retained that distinction even as older luxury apartments declined. It was solidly built with stunning details. The circulation pattern is appealing to seekers of privacy, since only two units open onto each semi-private elevator vestibule with floors of original black and white marble tile. There are four stacks of apartments— each stack with unique floor plans that run from the front to the back of the building. Each apartment offers either an enclosed sunroom or a large garden room with adjacent masonry planter boxes. The top three floors (of nine) have working fireplaces. It is Atlanta’s version of a “classic six” or “classic-eight” pre-war apartment in Manhattan, New York.

In 1974, the Garrison Luxury Apartments were renovated at a cost of $2 million and renamed the Reid House condominiums for the renowned, classically trained architect Neil Reed, who died at the young age of 40. The award winning renovation by Ed Barnum, was directed by architect Eugene T. Lowry and was done in a sensitive manner that allowed for modernization but retained original yellow pine floors, moldings, fireplaces, and cherry paneling of the interior lobbies. The elegant exterior is unchanged, including the regal pediment faced with a large disc of the crowned head of Liberty above a rectangular block decorated with a motif of six bucrania (skulls of oxen or rams), swag, and stone scrolls.

Today, in its centennial year, the building retains its original purpose for which it was designed in 1924 – a luxury apartment dwelling. Each decade tells an interesting story of its socially prominent, eccentric, and fascinating residents that reflects the artistic, stylish, and cultural history of Atlanta. Come visit Penthouse units 902 and 903 during the Tour of Homes!

Own a piece of Ansley Park history and help the neighborhood! This hardcover picture book of homes is a reproduction of a 1910 publication with pictures and names of the original owners. Notations about existing and demolished houses have been added based on the Atlanta History Center research. Preorder the book at ansleypark.org/store or scan the QR Code.

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