the architecturalist on tumblr

I've started a new venture. I'm now doing a companion blog to the architecturalist on tumblr. A collection of images, new and old, that I find inspiring (and hope you do too). Let me know what you think.

On the Block - Airliewood

photograph via www.airliewood.com

Airliewood, one of the South’s premier Gothic Revival houses, located in historic Holly Springs, Mississippi will be auctioned this Saturday.

When it was built in 1858 for William Henry Coxe, the twelve acre estate was the finest house in Holly Springs, a town full of extraordinarily fine houses. So grand was the house that it was used by Major General U.S. Grant as his headquarters and residence during the winter of 1862 - 1863.

The current owners completed a comprehensive restoration of the house in 2002 overseen by Mississippi architect Sam Kaye. A new wing containing a kitchen, great room, master suite and garages was added. The project received an Award of Merit for Restoration and Rehabilitation from the Mississippi Heritage Trust.

If you ever should decide to leave the grandeur of your own antebellum mansion, remember that Holly Springs is also home to Graceland Too and Memphis is just 30 minutes up the road.

photograph via www.airliewood.com

Above photos: Airliewood photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1975. Via the Library of Congress.

A massive cast-iron fence manufactured by Wood and Perrot of Boston encircles the property. The gate is identical to the one at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point.