Tudor Treasure: Architect Frank Neely designs an Old English home in Buckhead

This new home wasn’t just designed to look like a manor—it was built using the same time-tested methods

May 11, 2015

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Landscaping preserved aged hardwoods and fosters the illusion of an older home.

In 2008, architect Frank Neely’s clients called him with bad news. They’d decided not to go ahead with the renovation he’d drafted of the 1940s-era Buckhead home where they’d lived for more than 15 years. But three years later, the couple came calling again: They wanted him to create a completely new house—a grand English Tudor.

Architect Frank Neely specializes in historic design.

Their request was right in Neely’s wheelhouse, as he specializes in historic design. “When an architect is truly successful doing historic work, no one would realize he was even here,” says Neely. “My hope would be that folks driving by would just assume it’s a 1920s house and have no idea it is a Frank Neely.”

English Tudor was popular when many intown Atlanta neighborhoods—such as Morningside, Druid Hills, and parts of Buckhead—were originally built. Neely kept the house authentic by using handcrafted materials, techniques, and structures appropriate to the period. As the three-year project continued right through the recession, he had his pick of skilled craftspeople.

“Every piece of molding was made using a custom knife,” says Neely. “There’s a consistent theme, but there are different profiles for every room.” In fact, he created a half-inch-thick pile of hand drawings, including 10 pages just for the limestone fireplaces and trims.

Throughout the home are bespoke touches such as rounded corners where the foyer walls meet each other and the ceiling, a gracefully bowed-out handrail on a stairwell landing, recessed cabinetry, and dozens of leaded-glass arched windows. “The beauty of having something fabricated is that you can do whatever you want without changing the budget,” says Neely. “When all the windows are custom, nothing is custom.”

The ebonized china cabinet is built in. Counters are Calcutta marble.

Rather than having the paneling, molding, and cabinetry painted, Neely specified ancient methods of fuming and ebonizing. For dark oak, steel wool is soaked in vinegar to create iron oxide. When the liquid is applied, the wood’s natural tannins turn it black. (Warning to DIYers: The chemical reaction releases hydrogen and will explode in a closed container.) Fuming, which turns oak a smoky brown, is done by exposing wood to ammonia or ammonia fumes. This process was discovered in Old English barns, notes Neely, where oak was exposed to ammonia given off by the horses.

Neely also adhered to precedent by mimicking ancient building techniques, even when certain trims or supports are now more decorative than functional. For example, in the study, he placed a heavy oak ceiling beam across the front bay window, which creates the illusion of supporting the massive two-story gable above. “As we go through suburbia and we see the Sheetrock mansions, what’s going on outside is never implied inside,” he explains.

In the kitchen, streamlined cabinetry and a chevron backsplash add touches of modern style.

Designer Brian Watford added contemporary touches to keep interiors fresh. In the butler’s pantry, a mirrored tile mosaic forms an updated backsplash.

Creating boundaries between public and private spaces is difficult when the master is on the main floor, notes Neely. “The ranch house did it best with a long, narrow corridor that made it obvious no one should go down the hall.” In this house, a shallow alcove near the living room creates the illusion of a corridor and isolates the master suite.

Paneling keeps the space cozy and private. When closed, the door covers the transom. French doors provide an exterior entrance for business appointments.

Draperies in the study are a soft gray flannel akin to menswear. A heavy ceiling beam across the bay window gives the impression of supporting the two-story gable above.

In the rear, stucco sections are made of pebbledash—concrete covered with stucco, then filled with pebbles placed by hand. The homeowners were highly skeptical when the first samples proved substandard. But the artisan won them over, and the husband even applied some of the pebbles. Walls and steps are made of granite from two different Georgia quarries.

Even the bricks were handmade and carefully selected for color.

The custom approach inadvertently made the house very eco-friendly. “The cabinetry is handmade not because it’s green and the cool thing to do, but because three guys in a shop made it out of maple and locally sourced wood,” says Neely. “The house is entirely handmade brick, slate, limestone, and granite, which are all natural materials.”

The homeowner picked an Oushak rug that inspired the main floor’s soft color palette.

The staircase’s newel post, handrails, and pickets were all custom-designed and carved, then ebonized and fumed rather than painted. The silky finish comes from a heavy coat of Briwax. The flooring consists of 10-inch-wide oak planks in a custom stain. Neely insisted that each board be at least 10 feet long to imply old growth. Wide, short planks look like a “checkerboard,” he says.

The interior design, by Brian Watford, reveals contemporary inspiration—from a mosaic tile backsplash in the butler’s pantry, accented by mirrored tiles, to the zebra-patterned stair runner. However, the homeowners tried to keep at least one sentimental piece in every space. In the family room, it is a dark cherry hutch that seems at home with the oak coffered ceiling.

“I want the house to feel like this is the third or fourth generation living in this place,” says Neely. “That’s our overarching goal, for it to look like it already has stories.”

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2015 issue of Atlanta Magazine’s HOME.