STATS: A 5,697-square-foot, five-bedroom home with five full baths and one half bath asking $2.2 million, or $384.41 a square foot. Property taxes in 2010 were $22,717.38.
An English Cottage in Atlanta
The 5,697-square-foot home in the North Buckhead area has five bedrooms, five full bathrooms, a wine cellar and a five-hole putting green that converts into a bocce ball court.
Denis Reggie
Built to look like an English cottage, the home was still under construction when photographer Denis Reggie purchased it in 2004.
DETAILS: Built to look like an English cottage, this house in North Buckhead was still under construction when purchased in 2004. Since then the owner has added a two-bedroom guesthouse, a five-hole putting green that converts into a bocce-ball court (fully lit in case you want to play after dinner) and an 1,800-bottle wine cellar. A soft spot for Porsches inspired parking for six cars. The basement has been made into an office (it’s now used as a photography studio) with a separate entrance.
SELLER: Photographer Denis Reggie, who says that at last count he had documented 1,900 weddings including that of John F. Kennedy Jr. to Carolyn Bessette. He was also the photographer of record when his sister, Victoria, married Sen. Edward Kennedy (he says that was his 13th Kennedy wedding, and he will be doing two more this summer).
THE NEIGHBORHOOD: One reason that Mr. Reggie likes Atlanta is because of its airport, the busiest in the world, that allows him to easily shuttle to Palm Beach or Dubai. He says he made day trips to New York when Karenna Gore was a bride to photograph Vera Wang sketching the dress. When he is in town, Mr. Reggie enjoys an organic margarita at Verde.
WHAT I PAID: Mr. Reggie paid $927,500 for the unfinished house in 2004 and then put upwards of $500,000 into it.
WHY I’M SELLING: With his children away at college and graduate school, Mr. Reggie says he no longer needs as much space. Nor does he want the maintenance that goes along with it. “I’m going back to the pampered life,” says Mr. Reggie who is moving just over a mile away to the Ritz-Carlton Residences.
WHAT I’LL MISS: Mr. Reggie says it’s hard to leave the wine cellar, the putting green and the outdoor space.
WHAT I WON’T: The sound of leaf blowers when the landscapers come every week. Of his next home, Mr. Reggie notes that 22 stories up you don’t hear very much.
OTHERS SAY: “It’s a good price,” says Robin Gerrard, an agent with Keller Williams Realty First Atlanta. “It has great charm.” Her favorite feature is the tasting room off the wine cellar, though she says a future buyer might want to reconfigure the basement office into a movie theater.
Sam Bayne
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