My good friends from Southern Accents were in town this week to save as many of the architectural relics as they possibly could from the historic Gay House in Montgomery’s Garden District. Home to one of the most beautiful staircases I have ever seen, this Queen Anne beauty sat high upon a hill fighting for survival. It was beautifully restored once but then a fire in 2007 caused so much damage that it was not economically feasible to save it again.
I remember feeling physically ill the morning this picture appeared in The Montgomery Advertiser. The fire is believed to have started from an unattended candle.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a prettier staircase than this one.
from wainscoting
to newel posts
She was a thing of beauty.
Working tirelessly in the heat of a southern summer Kolby and his crew meticulously disassembled each piece of the puzzle so that salvage lovers like me would have the opportunity to find new loving homes for it.
Mantles, windows and doors fill trailer after trailer. How is it possible to feel sadness and excitement at the same time.
How I would love to have the freedom to build the house that I see in my head utilizing the amazing products that were yesterday.
They just don’t made ’em like that anymore.
So as I stand in what used to be, looking through the window of tomorrow’s possibilities, I invite you to join me in my dream of creating wonderful new dwellings filled with the marvel of yesterday’s craftsmanship as we link
old to new,
death to life,
endings to new beginnings.
And if you would like some help adding value to your project
and if you would like to be able to say
“That was fun!” at the end of it
contact me at www.cindybarganier.com
Forever design 
Amber D. Carpenter said, “AMAZING!! That staircase is quite possibly the most equisite thing I have ever seen!”
How lovely and what a teat to see!
It is so important to promote and support artisans,craftsmen and women in our design projects whenever possible to keep these crafts alive for years to come. We can be inspired by these beautiful designs from the past and reinterpret them.
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Thank you Tres. And what a treat to see your beautiful portfolio. Hope to you happen to find me?
Very Kool! What a house it must have been.
Rachel
Wouldn’t you love to just have one night in some of these homes when they were new? I always seem to hear music and see people in beautiful attire floating through the rooms. LOL Ever the romantic I guess. They were probably running around in bare feet washing dishes just like the rest of us but that’s no fun to dream about.
[…] days after I posted about the historic Gay House (here) a friend started talking about another amazing old house in Montgomery that hubby and I actually […]