Family home built by a legend

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Marci and Joseph White say their Virginia Highlands home was built in 1910 by baseball legend Ty Cobb for his mother.

Marci and Joseph White (pictured with daughter Lily) say their Virginia Highland home was built in 1910 by baseball legend Ty Cobb for his mother Amanda Chitwood Cobb, who lived there until her passing in 1936. She lived here with Ty's younger brother, Paul Cobb, and his sister, Florence Cobb.

The Craftsman home features stately columns and a brick exterior. The White family have turned this house with connections to a baseball legend into a warm home for their young family.

"We were looking for a walking-friendly, neighborhood feel, a place with sidewalks," notes Joseph. "I like old houses, we were looking for a certain architectural style, as we looked around Atlanta we gravitated to this area."

"The fireplace is marble, it was most likely refinished in the last 10 years; an original fireplace probably would have been brick," states Joseph.

Joseph points to this chair in the living room as being, "one of the best forms of the Craftsman Morris chair, it's also a signed Gustav Stickley -- that costs as much as a car."

A lady's writing desk in the living room is valued at $3,000 - $4,000, according to Joseph. "If it were a Harvey Ellis inlay it would have been $8,000 - $15,000."

Architectural designer Jimmy Carrion designed the White's gourmet kitchen which is appointed with a six-burner Viking gas stove with a double-oven and griddle.

The kitchen features cabinets by James Henry for Southern Cabinet Design and custom-made hardware. Custom builds were done for a wine fridge and microwave to streamline the kitchen's aesthetic. Light fixtures are reproductions that retain the decor integrity of 1910.

"The dining room has what started my collection of Gustav Stickley furniture; the pieces are from 1902-1910," states Joseph. "When we moved in we were trying to figure out what dining room we would do, I started looking at the Craftsman furniture which is to the period. The rounds (dining table) are very rare. A dealer helped me put together the dining room over a period of two years."

Joseph is particularly proud of their dining room because it contains a full complement of Craftsman style pieces in keeping with the layout of dining rooms of the early 1900s.

Joseph says the server in the dining room dates to 1906. "The High Museum [in Atlanta] has one exactly like it." The original painting is by Italian artist Antonio Benedetto whom the Whites met while in Southern Italy.

A buffet in the dining room is an exceptional piece because of the curve in its design.

Mounted in the master suite is a Venetian lace christening gown sourced from the Venetian Lace School in Venice. It was used to baptize both of the White's daughters. The Whites noticed no one in their generation had one to preserve tradition so they went to Venice to pass on the tradition to their daughters, who will baptize their daughters in that dress.

The White's three-bedroom, two-bath home features 10' ceilings, original glass door knobs, windows and plaster, and hardwoods throughout. Pictured is Amber's bedroom.

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Marci and Joseph White (pictured with daughter Lily) say their Virginia Highland home was built in 1910 by baseball legend Ty Cobb for his mother Amanda Chitwood Cobb, who lived there until her passing in 1936. She lived here with Ty's younger brother, Paul Cobb, and his sister, Florence Cobb.

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