In the year 2000, Dale was the Architect for a well known developer/builder in West Cobb/Paulding when the owner decided to sell the company to a much larger developer. Dale had to make a choice between being absorbed into the big corporate builder world, or find something else to do.
At the same time an opportunity arose to provide home design services for a new homebuilder who had a vision to construct an entire subdivision of ‘Craftsman’ houses. Well . . . 15 years ago the ‘Craftsman Revival’ movement was just getting underway, and most of us in the south didn’t even know what the word meant yet. Never being one that enjoyed the large corporate world, Dale decided to take a risk and start up his own firm – initially just to supply design services for this one builder.
Little did any of us know that a huge movement was just beginning and that fledgling Peek Design Group would be on the leading edge of ‘Craftsman’ design in the south. He set off immediately to study this style of architecture – prominent during what is more correctly known as the ‘Arts and Crafts’ period, and began to create homes of traditional ‘Craftsman’ Exterior detailing but with floor plans that were more in line with the current design trends of today.
The ‘Craftsman’ subdivision was a great success due in great part to the unique streetscape that these unique houses created. Before long, other opportunities for design work arose and Peek Design Group became closely associated with the ‘Craftsman Revival’ in the Atlanta area and beyond.
So when we had the idea to renovate our personal home, the love that we have developed for this unique style certainly played a major role. First of all, our home is only one of 2 or 3 in the entire Applewood development that have ‘traditional bones’ – basically a 2-story box with a strong symmetrical front porch. This structure is the basis for one of the most commonly recognized forms of ‘Craftsman’ homes – known as the ‘Four Square’. All of the other house plans that the builder(s) put up in Applewood are of the 1970’s contemporary diagonal cedar siding variety – which were a much more popular style when we bought our house in 1980.
Secondly, it is just a hop/skip/jump from our home to authentic Bungalows built during that period on Stewart, Maple, and other streets as you travel from our house toward the square. And it is conceivable that one could have occupied our very lot on Polk Street 100 years ago.
Thirdly, we are enamored by not only the ‘Craftsman’ style itself, but also the groundswell movement which created it. Watch for more about this intriguing time in an upcoming post.
