Bed & Breakfast an ageless beauty

Home and Garden

Story is about saving historic homes by giving them another use, particularly as bed-and-breakfast retreats. The McCord's home is registered as an Atlanta historic landmark and the owners turned it into a bed-and-breakfast over 25 years ago. There are five guest rooms and a carriage house cottage available for rent. The house has been meticulously restored and furnished with antiques and oriental rugs.

The Shellmont Inn is owned by Ed and Debbie McCord. The McCords turned the 107-year-old mansion into a bed-and-breakfast more than 25 years ago. The house at 821 Piedmont Ave., is located in Midtown about two blocks from Piedmont Park, near the Margaret Mitchell House and a short walk from the Fox Theatre. It has been meticulously restored and furnished with antiques and oriental rugs.

Dr. William P. Nicholson had the house built around 1891 as a wedding present for his bride. Walter T. Downing was the architect -- an Atlantan whose designs included buildings at Oglethorpe University and Georgia Tech as well as homes for other prominent Atlantans. When the house was built, it was sited as far as you could go and still be in the city of Atlanta. Nicholson family members remember fox hunting on the grounds.

The Nicholson children with their dog in front of their home in the early 1890's.

The McCords named their bed & breakfast the Shellmont Inn, "shell" for the large carved wooden shell mounted on the front of the house and "mont" for Piedmont, the road the house stands on.

Debbie and Ed McCord sit on the front porch. The house became the catalyst for a new stage in the McCords' lives, one where they would leave their corporate jobs to engage in the ultimate work-at-home occupation, running a bed-and-breakfast.

The carving on the newell post was thought to keep 'evil spirits' from going upstairs.

An original feature of the home is a two-story, five-panel stained glass window.

A view of the back porch through a detail of a larger, two-story, five-panel stained glass window.

Ed McCord sits under a canopy of hanging baskets on the rear porch.

The home features curved glass panels. Benign neglect and some poor maintenance meant the house came with significant problems. There were seven roofs piled one on top of the other and plaster ceilings that crashed to the floor on the day the couple closed on the house.

Details throughout the home include authentic reproductions of elaborate stenciling, done by Ed McCord.

The veranda room is one of five guest rooms in the Shellmont Inn. The room gives guests direct access to the rear veranda overlooking the gardens and ponds.

The bath in the Veranda room. Maintaining a 127-year-old home is an ongoing project. Ed says there's always work being done on the property on any given day. Bathrooms, for example, come in for periodic upgrades to keep up with the demand for luxurious spaces.

The interior of the original carriage house has been turned into a separate suite.

The carriage house is nestled within the manicured gardens and includes a fishpond.

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The Shellmont Inn is owned by Ed and Debbie McCord. The McCords turned the 107-year-old mansion into a bed-and-breakfast more than 25 years ago. The house at 821 Piedmont Ave., is located in Midtown about two blocks from Piedmont Park, near the Margaret Mitchell House and a short walk from the Fox Theatre. It has been meticulously restored and furnished with antiques and oriental rugs.

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