Images: Historic Tudor mansion's condo redo rounds into shape

A unique infill project that bills itself as “a new page” in Atlanta history has begun vertical construction and continues to place properties under contract two years after site plans and initial prices were unveiled.

The Downing Park project is replacing the razed Jackson Hill Baptist Church and repurposing a historic Tudor Revival mansion on a property collectively known as Pinebloom, located where Druid Hills’ southern border meets Candler Park. It continues Atlanta’s appetite for remaking church properties, as evidenced by new projects across the city.

Sellers report that two condos remain unsold at the project’s circa-1914 Tudor mansion component. According to Engel & Völkers Atlanta, the mansion is being converted to five sizable condos, with remaining units priced from $1.75 million. That buys three bedrooms and four bathrooms in 2,730 square feet.

Inquiries to Downing Park sales leaders for updates on construction and other sales haven’t been returned. The project officially broke ground in May last year, and the initial timeline called for delivering the first condos in late 2023.

Downing Park’s website now states the project will start delivering late this year.

Overall, the project is described as a blend of Tudor design and sophisticated, modern updates. Another way of putting it, per marketing blasts on social media: “Step into a realm of eternal allure as you cross the threshold of Downing Park, where timeless architecture beckons.”

The project calls for four varieties of upscale home plans at 1585 South Ponce de Leon Avenue, ranging from the five condos and 11 attached villas to two manor houses and a repurposed carriage house—now under contract—described as one-of-a-kind in Atlanta.

Prices for villas start at $1.3 million, and $2.3 million for manor houses.

Positioned away from Ponce de Leon Avenue, near Candler Park and the PATH Foundation’s Freedom Park Trail next door, the manor homes will each have six bedrooms and relatively huge interior volumes of about 5,000 square feet.

The duplex villas, meanwhile, will offer either three or four bedrooms and sizes between 2,754 and 3,616 square feet, project officials previously told Urbanize Atlanta.

Monte Hewett Homes is building all new residences at Downing Park, while Hammertime Construction is restoring and converting the carriage house and mansion condos. Atlanta-based TSW architect firm master-planned the Downing Park site and is serving as both architect and landscape architect for the development.

Plans call for the Downing Park community to be gated, with access points on South Ponce and Clifton Terrace. Amenities will include a saltwater pool, sunbathing terrace, and lush gardens, according to project officials.

Designed by architect Walter T. Downing, the Tudor home and its carriage house were built in 1914 for Georgia Railway and Power Company president Preston S. Arkwright, while the neighboring Jackson Hill Baptist Church was erected later.

The Pinebloom property had been up for sale for more than a decade, but concerns about the decaying church building next to the mansion and other circumstances hampered prospective deals.

Records indicate the property sold to Joel Reed of Reed and Company—the current developer and a longtime Candler Park resident—for $3.06 million in March 2021.According to the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, the original home and carriage house are considered contributing structures to the Druid Hills Landmark District, while the church was not. 

Reed’s plans for razing the church and repurposing the mansion were approved by both the Druid Hills Civic Association and the church congregation, which will be allowed to worship at a facility on site once construction is complete, as The Christian Index has reported.

The project marks the second repurposing of a historic church property in Druid Hills’ Ponce de Leon Avenue corridor in recent years, following Minerva’s conversion of Druid Hills United Methodist Church into condos called 1200 Ponce.

Another adaptive-reuse project—a pocket neighborhood called Frederick Trust—now stands next door to Pinebloom/Downing Park, just to the east.

Find a closer look at the Druid Hills property today—and a preview of what’s to come—in the gallery above.

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• Druid Hills news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)