Open House #5: Homewood Manor
May 7, 2008
Welcome to Day 4 of our Fantasy Open House week! You guys are really good at this. I love how you pay such close attention to the details of each house and point things out that I hadn’t noticed before. You don’t miss anything.
I’ve been really amazed by the variety of architectural styles represented in Birmingham homes. This one looks very Old English to me, at least outside.
According to the MLS description, this home is on the market for $2.25 million and sits on an acre:
Bill Ingram design construction started in 1999 finished by present owners in 2002. Layered Stucco with slate roof. Huge Cook’s kitchen with Limestone counters, commercial appliances and beautiful breakfast area. Two walk in pantries, all custom cabinetry. Cedar beams in kitchen. Cedar ceiling in dining room with gorgeous chandelier.
Master suite on main with French doors to terrace and heated pool. Three huge bedrooms upstairs with laundry area and 2 baths. Staircase is iron and brass. Full finished basement with bedroom, bath, laundry and work out room. Also huge storage area. 3 car detached garage with cedar carriage doors and finished office/playroom over garage and a media room in the 3rd floor of the garage. Magnificient view of Red Mtn and Vulcan.
Magnificent view of Vulcan? Does that mean Leonard Nimoy lives next door? (Ha! I’m here all week, folks! Tell your friends!) Seriously, I’m thinking that must be a mountain or something. Someone from B’ham can clue us in. It’s probably some famous landmark and I’m showing my ignorance for not knowing about it.
What do you think? As you know, you’ll be choosing one of these homes to “buy” at the end of the week. You’ll also vote for the house you’d least like to live in. So make a note if this should go in either camp!
Don’t forget to come back for the second house tour of the day, which will be just down the road at Rockledge Estate. You won’t want to miss it!
UPDATE: Hooked on Houses reader DaK has done some serious investigative work for us and sent aerial views of this home. Turns out this house sits right behind a sprawling office park and very close to a cell phone tower (the tall white thing to the left of the house in the first photo and to the right in the second). Thanks, DaK, for passing these along!
ONE MORE UPDATE: Hooked on Houses reader AshleyBB, who went to college in Birmingham, has informed me that Vulcan is the statue of the Roman god of fire and forge built in 1904 for the World’s Fair in St. Louis. It has since stood as a symbol of Birmingham in Vulcan Park for over 100 years. She sent me this link with more information: Visit Vulcan. Photos below were found at this site, showing Vulcan when he first appeared at the World’s Fair and how he stands today. (I love learning stuff like this. Thanks, Ashley!)
Did You Miss Any Other Open Houses this Week? Go Catch Up!
- Open House #1: French Chateau in Birmingham
- Open House #2: Shook Hill Mansion
- Open House #3: Sleek Greek Contemporary
- Open House #4: Southern Traditional
- Open House #6: Rockledge Estate
If You’re Hooked on House Tours:
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Paxton Avenue
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Rookwood Drive
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Edwards Road
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Observatory Drive
- HGTV Green Home ‘08
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s William P. Boswell House (never photographed before)
- Designed to Sell? The Purple Angel House
- The Spite House in Virginia (only 7 feet wide!)
- Cobble Court, a French-Norman Estate in Ohio
- Stokesay Court, the manor used in the Keira Knightley film “Atonement”
- Coco Chanel’s elegant Parisian apartment at 31 Rue Cambon
- 1908 Gaslight Mansion in St. Louis
If You’re New Here: Hooked on Houses features decorating inspiration, celebrity house tours, fabulous before and afters, real estate news, fantasy open houses and more fun stuff. It is always 100% ad free. Comments from my readers are the only payment I receive, so I hope you’ll leave one! To see what we’re talking about today, click here.
Entry Filed under: Fantasy Open House. Tags: 1904, Alabama, Birmingham, decorate, House Tour, million-dollar homes, Mountain Brook, mountain view, Real Estate, statue, Vulcan, Vulcan Park, World's Fair.
21 Comments Add your own
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1.
daisy | May 8, 2008 at 12:08 am
I love this house! It’s open, it’s inviting (except for the stray heads from wildlife), and I could live here in a heartbeat. The whole house looks like it fits together. I love it. Inside AND out.
My favorite so far.
2.
Lynn | May 8, 2008 at 1:58 am
Nope, you can have it.
I hate seeing a TV out in the open. NEVER, does a Grand piano and a TV belong in the same room.
I realize I’m judging this house on the furnishings, but that’s what most woman look at when they walk in a house. This house has a “thrown together” look.
Lynn
John 15
3.
reagan | May 8, 2008 at 2:06 am
I love the architecture of this house. I love the open rooms and tall ceilings. I like this house the best out of all the ones I have seen so far!
4.
mamacita | May 8, 2008 at 2:21 am
I really like the interior of this one. And I love the swimming pool’s spouting fountains.
They might be talking about the Vulcan rock mining company - we have one where I live. I can’t imagine why one would think that was a great view, though!
5.
Ashley BB | May 8, 2008 at 6:23 am
There is a huge statue of a man that is named “Vulcan.” It was placed on top of a mountain to overlook the city and represents the mining community there. A couple of years ago, he was taken down to have some cleaning work done.
I just happened to go to college in B’ham
6.
maya | May 8, 2008 at 7:16 am
So far? I’d buy this one. It’s beautiful.
7.
atticmag | May 8, 2008 at 7:30 am
uh oh. animal heads and grand pianos again!
Can’t get past the exterior - it looks like a prison.
Vote: nope
8.
hookedonhouses | May 8, 2008 at 7:38 am
Really? Vulcan is a huge statue placed on top of a mountain to overlook the city and represents the mining community there? I had no idea. Thanks for filling us in, Ashley!! -Julia
9.
Melanie | May 8, 2008 at 8:31 am
I know it is the south (where I was born), but do we really need deer head everywhere? Since the current owners would probably take those with them, I could live here. However, I am left wondering what the upstairs bedrooms and baths are like. (I hope not more TEAL wallpaper!)
10.
Marie | May 8, 2008 at 8:41 am
I love this house. But the dead animals heads on the walls are disgusting. Why do people do that? Anyway…this one is my favorite so far!
11.
Jessica | May 8, 2008 at 9:22 am
The outside and kitchen are kind of cold & scary! But I love the rest of the house. Beautiful eating area with all the windows!
12.
DaK | May 8, 2008 at 10:38 am
It is amazing what you can hide in Real Estate photos. I do like the house but you wouldn’t spend much time outside, they have no land.
13.
REAGAN | May 8, 2008 at 10:56 am
I would hate to live right behind that office park…What a discovery. I guess if we were actually in the area, we would know that type of stuff though.
14.
JLB | May 8, 2008 at 11:33 am
I love this house is is so chic in the way it is laid out and finished inside. I don’t care too much for the decorating…again.. but this house has HUGE potential. This house could be in LA in a second or even in the Hamptons. I love it… Iove it….my favorite so far…. I think.
15.
Laura | May 8, 2008 at 12:27 pm
By far this is my favorite this week…aside from the plethora of animal heads. Really, Birmingham, do we need an intervention? Too bad the location is so bad in terms of the neighbors….the golden rule of real estate is: location location location
16.
Tori | May 8, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’d buy it the second it was offered. The white covered
furnishing are horrible, but they can go. I am a die hard
plant fan so the outside is simply perfect for me! I love
love love this house.
17.
janet | May 8, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Best so far, sans deer heads.
Janet
18.
Amy | May 8, 2008 at 1:53 pm
This house is absolutely beautiful. I could actually see myself living here.
19.
abbreviated | May 8, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Sorry, that pool is just too small.
20.
Sue | May 8, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Love this house…but not the deer heads! : )
As always, each tour is a delight! How I love your blog!
Hugs,
Sue
21.
Angela | May 8, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I love the interior of this house–simplified classic. Love all that slipcovered furniture. We have a white slipcovered sofa–with three young children–that I love. Just throw it in the washing machine with bleach and it is like new again. I really like this kitchen…maybe it is because we are about to paint our cabinets that same color? The only thing throwing me off–besides location–is the exterior entry. Those three windows and front door arranged like that is not visually pleasing to me.
It is fun to read what everyone likes and dislikes. Different is good!