Last year, investors bought a towering, postmodern house that had peered over a tony Ansley Park street for nearly 35 years. They spent $3 million on the home, which was the former residence of a well-known Atlanta businessman, fundraiser and socialite — and then they tore it down. Built in 1980, the massive 9,260-square-foot structure had six bedrooms and some sort of standalone piece in the back. All that's left at 96 Westminster Drive is dirt, grass and part of a retaining wall (not to mention an inordinate number of political signs), but Bobby Garrett of construction company The Garrett Group said the site won't sit empty forever, of course. "This will be a single-family residence for an Atlanta couple," Garrett said. "The proposed house is still in plan development stage." No insight was offered into what the new home will look like, but, judging by Garrett's online portfolio, it likely won't be anything postmodern.
Now, about the owner of the demolished estate. His name was Billy Hulse and, according to a 2012 obituary from the AJC, he was "a pilot, president and chairman of a successful aviation business, an energetic fundraiser for the Atlanta Botanical Garden and other organizations, a generous high society host and an avid fan of jazz, skiing and fly-fishing."
Just two weeks before his death, the Billy Hulse Spinal Cord Injury Lab opened at the Shepherd Center. Hulse and his wife had helped raise $1.2 million for the lab after he hit his head during a bout of night terrors in 2009 and became paralyzed. He died at age 65.
Architecture, floorplans and amenities aside, here's hoping the new residents at 96 Westminster Drive love Atlanta as much as Billy Hulse did.
— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep
· Atlanta businessman Billy Hulse led charge for spinal-injury fundraising [AJC]
[Site photos: Curbed Atlanta; others via Google Maps]
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