Citizens Face Down Developer & City to Delay Wrecking Ball of National

Historic Register Eligible Pink House and Secret Garden

Two-red-heads, a few blondes and a white-haired schoolmarm foil developer's plan to raze National
Register of Historic Places eligible Pink House and Secret Gardens, created by nationally-renown
artists Eleanor and Georges Bridges.

Homewood, AL, July 17, 2018 --(PR.com)-- National Register of Historic Places grants The Bridges'
Pink House And Secret Garden eligibility. This eligibility elevates the Homewood, AL, 97-year-old estate
to national importance.

The powers that be in Montgomery, AL, have determined that Eleanor and George Bridges' house and
gardens are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion B for their association
with Georges and Eleanor Bridges and Criterion C for the structural and landscape architecture.

Collier Neeley, National Register coordinator, and the Alabama Historical Commission's Determination
of Eligibility Committee met in emergency session because the house and gardens, built in 1921, are in
danger of being ransacked and torn down by a developer. The city of Homewood has no preservation
ordinances and no provisions whatsoever for design review.

In June, the developer received the green light from the city of Homewood to build five homes that are at
least two and a half times the size of the neighborhood's historic homes and that tower over them.
Homewood, AL, Historical Preservation Society board member Virginia Fisher said, "Taken together,
there will be significant negative environmental impact for the surrounding area if the house and gardens
come under the wrecking ball."

This 1.4 acres on the corner of East Edgewood Boulevard and Roseland Drive was purchased in 1920 by
Eleanor Massey Bridges, a daughter of prominent Birmingham entrepreneur Richard W. Massey and wife
of artist Georges Bridges. Together, the Bridges designed the house, a stable (later becoming a secondary
residence and then a Lancelot “Capability” Brown type folly or whimsy) and the extraordinary gardens
that occupy most of the property. Together, “the house and gardens constitute their masterpiece,”
according to Homewood, AL, Historical Preservation Society President Martha Wurtele Jones.

The pink stucco, Craftsman-Mediterranean house features an arcaded front porch with the two
self-designed coat of arms of Eleanor and Georges Bridges above. The house was designed with the
creative life in mind as the two-story, 30 x 21 salon (lit by one bank of windows) either served as a studio
for Eleanor to paint large canvases or to host her literary-themed Sunday evening salons. Georges's studio
is adjacent.

It is clear that the Bridges spent as much time outside creating their “giardino secreto” as in their studios
painting or sculpting: they were original creative cross-trainers. Enclosed by old-growth canopy trees,
secondary trees, evergreens and leatherleaf mahonia, the gardens are a formal wonderland of lawns,
terraces, walls with doors and gates, box border, balustrades, urns with topiary and shrubs and flowers,

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which, according to George were arranged and planted by resident fairies. Walkways with benches for
conversation or contemplation and pieces of Georges' Art Deco statuary combine to create an air of magic
for generations of children who have peeked in the gardens, snuck into them or who still to this day,
knock on the blue gate. The Bridges taught art, ballet and drama classes in the gardens and viewed their
gardens as a way to bring health to children and adults.

New (under construction) society website:

https://www.pinkhouse-secretgarden.com/

Homewood, AL, Historic Preservation Society:

https://www.facebook.com/marthawurtelejones/

Gallery of original photography taken by Virginia Fisher may be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/marthawurtelejones/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1422763721158630

Tax-deductible donations may be sent to:

Homewood, AL, Historic Preservation Society
904 South Forrest Drive
Homewood, AL 35209

For more information, please call: Virginia Fisher, 205-478-2019, virginiafisher@mac.com

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Contact Information:
Homewood, AL, Historical Preservation Society
Virginia Fisher
205-478-2019
Contact via Email
pinkhouse-secretgarden.com

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: https://www.pr.com/press-release/759511

News Image:

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