Modern-style home architecture pops up in Westview, and not everyone’s happy

Atlanta’s trend toward contemporary home design in recent years has been far-reaching—as evidenced from Summerhill to Brookhaven and beyond—but it’s not quite ubiquitous.

Aside from a few modern-leaning renovations, Atlanta neighborhoods along the Beltline’s Westside Trail have largely avoided the contemporary craze.

But a project underway in Westview is aiming to change that—in a way that’s offensively unsubtle, in the eyes of some neighbors.

Listed a week ago for $499,000, a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house branded with its very own name—“The Haven-Westview”—is being marketed as “breathtaking” modern construction with a “Miami feel” on South Gordon Street. It’s replacing a 1940 cottage and is scheduled to be finished in mid-March, per the listing.

But not everyone’s thrilled about a Westview newcomer clad in cement siding with elevated outdoor hangouts.

“We’ve had a couple of infill construction [home projects] but nothing that has been this out of scale with the rest of the street and nothing with a ‘rooftop deck’ or with the pretentious name like ‘The Haven,’” a Westview neighbor who asked to remain anonymous wrote to Curbed Atlanta.

He described the proportions and design as a “horror show” that could mark only the second Westview teardown for new construction in recent years, by his count. (Its name apparently resulted from an online contest with a $500 gift card at stake).

Records indicate the property was scooped up by an Atlanta-based LLC in October 2017 for about $150,000. The listing agent could not be reached for this story.

At the moment, the project is the priciest listing on the market in Westview, but it does have location on its side. It’s in the shadow of scenic Westview Cemetery, maybe five blocks from an entrance to the Beltline’s Westside Trail.

An added bonus, per the listing: “There is a true neighborhood feel in the area!”

Google Maps

• 1740 S. Gordon Street SW [PalmerHouse Properties]