The Callanwolde mansion, built in 1920, blended the Gothic Tudor style of architecture with modern elements. This style of architecture borrowed from the style widely used in England during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Tudor style made lavish use of half-timbering, as well as oriels, gables, decorative brickwork, and rich plasterwork. Exposed diagonal bracing usually occured at building corners, with the second story often sporting a picturesque overhang. This cantilevered construction partially counterbalances the load carried by spanning portions of the beams.
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Callanwolde was designed by Henry Hornbostel, a renowned Pittsburgh architect. Hornbostel personally supervised construction of the building, which originally had 27,000 square feet of living space. Located in the Druid Hills section of DeKalb County, Callanwolde is part of the residential area laid out by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. Hornbostel also designed the buildings of the original quadrangle of Emory University.
The exterior walls of the Callanwolde mansion are made from a steel framework covered with cement stucco. The home's wooden floors are anchored to timbers laid in concrete masonry units supported by reinforced concrete beams. The house has a central heating system featuring recessed units behind decorative metal screens. Originally, the house was heated by steam but was converted to coal and then to gas in the 1930's. There was no air conditioning installed. A central air-conditioning system was installed throughout the house in 1996, mainly from funds provided by renting the house during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
Innovations The Callanwolde mansion has many innovative features, including the 3,742 -pipe Aeolian organ. The organ, pictured at right, was specially designed for the house and installed during construction. It was purchased from the Aeolian Pipe Organ Company of New York for approximately $48,200. Its seven divisions of pipes are contained in four separately constructed chambers strategically located throughout the house. Decorative ornamentation in the ceiling and walls of the mansion conceals these chambers.
The bathrooms on the second floor of the mansion were considered opulent by the standards of the day. Many were as large as bedrooms and featured large built-in mirrors, brass fixture
s and a great use of marble. Additionally, most bathrooms featured a small wall-mounted toothbrush sink (pictured at left) in addition to the regular pedestal-style bathroom sink. Sitz baths and toe-testers were also common practical comforts found in Callanwolde bathrooms.
Another Callanwolde innovation was the built-in vacuum system that included outlets in every major room. Brass vacuum outlets (pictured at right) were installed along the baseboards in the major rooms on the first and second floors. Long vacuum hoses and attachments were connected to the outlets and debris was stored in a central dust bin. A state-of-the art feature in the early twentieth century, the built-in vacuum never quite mainstreamed. However, the home's buzzer system for calling servants and the single-lane bowling alley that once filled the basement would be considered extravagant even by today's standards.