Restoring a piece of history in East Atlanta

Home and Garden

Marc Dobiecki and Jennifer Murray visited East Atlanta bought a century-old Classical Revival in 2003, and so began their loving restoration, beginning with the exterior, including these columns, moldings and light fixtures.

Marc Dobiecki and Jennifer Murray visited East Atlanta for an estate sale and stopped to look at a century-old Classical Revival house for sale. They ended up buying it in 2003, and so began their loving restoration, beginning with the exterior, including these columns, moldings and light fixtures.

Murray (shown) and Dobiecki took three years to plan the restoration. A team of 30 craftspeople was used to complete the exterior renovations.

The distinctive columns and molding of the front entrance were painstakingly stripped and restored. The couple sought craftspeople sensitive to the home's past and able to make repairs without damaging original materials. Items previously removed from the house had been stored in the basement, which helped their efforts.

A certified lead abatement company used a chemical process to remove the paint, which took two months. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division supervised the process.

Tigger, the family cat, walks across the portico. The painting process took six weeks, with DeLoche Painting hand-brushing the primer and paint so it didn't appear sprayed. "It's a very gratifying feeling to know we're restoring a piece of Atlanta," Murray said.

An outdoor sconce glimmers with its former beauty after shedding many coats of paint to reveal the ornate brass underneath.

Sunlight streams through restored lead glass and dapples the wall of the house. Jeff Loose of Buford's Studio Glass Co. removed and cleaned each piece of glass, repairing broken ones and rebuilding the lead divider between the pieces.

Twelve of the 13 stained-glass and lead-glass windows were restored. Six, including this one upstairs, have been installed.

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Marc Dobiecki and Jennifer Murray visited East Atlanta for an estate sale and stopped to look at a century-old Classical Revival house for sale. They ended up buying it in 2003, and so began their loving restoration, beginning with the exterior, including these columns, moldings and light fixtures.

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