It goes by many names. The mantuary, the manspace, the man cave. It’s the 21st-century answer to the dens, tool sheds and golf rooms of the past where men retreated for some private time and to work on mysterious “projects.”
But where the “Mad Men” of the ’50s and ’60s sipped mai tais in partially finished basement bars, the contemporary man cave is a male domain on steroids, more likely to come with a full sports bar-complement of pool table, flat screen TV(s) and bar. Additional amenities include state-of-art sound systems, fireplaces, work-out rooms, wine cellars, home theaters, golf simulators and collections of books, records or sports memorabilia. From high-end luxe to DIY homey, the man cave is increasingly a fixture in Atlanta homes, especially as families consider creative ways to refinish their basements and other underused spaces and make them as well-appointed as the rest of their homes.
Brian Robison at Summit General Contracting Inc. in McDonough built out 30 basements last year — many of them man caves. He said the basement renovations of today contrast sharply with the bare-bones basement improvements of the past.
“People are putting a little more money in them and making them as elaborate as upstairs” with crown molding, tray ceilings and the kind of finished features that can make the original contours of the basement disappear, Robison said.
Robison’s man cave re-dos start at $30,000-$35,000 for a 1,000-square-foot basement (not including $15,000 for the typical audio-visual package) and can climb up to $85,000 (including audio-visual) for larger basements. Robison says high-end man caves often include a work-out room, a walk-in wine cellar, a movie room with stage seating and vibrating chairs, one to two bathrooms, a bar and a fireplace. Robison’s personal McDonough mantuary, retail value $70,000, includes a fireplace, bar and pool table with home theater and sound wired by The Home Theater Store in McDonough.
Brian Bergherm, owner of Smyrna’s Georgia Home Theater, has been installing man cave audio-visual systems principally in the northern suburbs since 1989. His home theater systems start at $10,000 and top out at $400,000 while his audio-only systems retail for $3,000-$200,000. Bergherm said there’s a big difference in the way men and women think of sound that helps explain the male need for a “cave.”
“We see women lean toward whole house audio systems for background music. Men want a room dedicated to a large video display system with powerful rumbling audio,” he said.
Bergherm’s high-end Atlanta man caves come tricked out with features like motorized recliners with built-in woofers for home theaters and $30,000 custom indoor golf simulators. The latest man cave toy is a wireless home music system called Sonos, which Bergherm said, “organizes and allows you to play your favorite music, streaming hundreds of free Internet radio stations, play all the songs stored on your computer in programs like iTunes, play from XM, and also easily play songs from your Rhapsody and Pandora accounts.”
Realtor Michael Neville with Keller Williams, who helped a young couple shop for a house with a man cave on an episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters,” sees a lot of people who have “man caves” on their wish lists when looking for news home. Neville cautioned that “most renovations don’t have a 1:1 ratio of return — but if you’re competing with a home next door that has an unfinished basement and you’re listing a home with a finished man cave for the same price or marginally more, there’s a very good chance you’ll be receiving an offer before the neighbors.”
Not all man caves have to break the bank. Kevin Green, executive director of the Clean Air Campaign, created his DIY man cave out of the dirt floor basement of his Little Five Points home using mostly recycled building materials. Green’s cave is outfitted like masculinity’s fallout shelter, with a drum set, amps, stereo, flat screen TV, mini fridge, a large couch and a loft area that has recently been appropriated by Green’s two daughters.
“Time spent down there ranges from playing drums or music to working, making art, chilling and, of course, fleeing — as warranted — sometimes all in the same day. When fleeing, I am often joined by the only other male in our household, Buddy the dog,” Green said.
Phil Oppenheim, a Turner executive who lives with his wife and two young children in Grant Park, is reluctant to use the term man cave, with its Neanderthal, knuckle-dragging associations. He prefers “retreat.” Oppenheim’s mantuary also bucks the tricked-out technology trend, although he does have two computers in his lair, the better to surf music blogs.
Hidden behind a bookcase that opens to reveal the entrance to the room, architect William Simmons of Simmons/Fouts/Fichtel, who carved the small space from the master bedroom in Oppenheim’s 1905 home, calls it “part bat cave, part secret Scooby [as in Doo] chamber.”
“Once locked from the inside, it creates an impenetrable barrier against the outside world,” Simmons said.
“When you get married, it’s not like you erase yourself,” said Oppenheim, who spends two or three hours a day in the room indulging his hobbies of record- and book-collecting and ukulele playing. “Having your own space enables you to at least psychologically stake out your own territory.”
