145 Henderson Ave.
House Instructions
Restrooms are available. Guests are free to wander around.
About the House
This house was built circa 1900, and the exterior has remained relatively unchanged from its original appearance. Despite its imposing size from the outside, it has only about 2500 square feet of living space all on one floor.
The house is owned by George Daly, a retired North Carolina lawyer who moved to Athens and into this house in 2020. George had a sculpture by Harold Rittenberry installed in the front yard the following year.
George lives with local artist June Ball, whom he has known since 1957. June’s deceased husband, Millner Ball, was George’s college roommate. George bought this house, which he and June share, because there was no wall space for his art at her house.
The entrance hall features one of five fireplaces and several works of art, including:
Calder lithograph above the fireplace mantel.
Seascape by June Ball to the right of the mantel.
Watercolor by Mary Reid next to the front door.
Cartier-Bresson photograph of William Faulkner, taken in 1947 at Faulkner’s home in Oxford, Mississippi. At the time, Faulkner’s books were mostly out of print and he was not widely read. That changed dramatically in 1949, when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The living room is to the right of the hall through large pocket doors, and it features:
Eggleston photograph of a bandstand in Holly Springs, Mississippi, which was a gift to Mr. Daly from his childhood friend, William Eggleston.
Fireplace hearth with a mosaic of Grandfather Mountain by local artist Krisia Ara.
Painting of a scene from Provence, North Carolina, created by a painter with whom Mr. Daly has been unable to reconnect.
Collection of original watercolors by Mary Reid.
Painting of a West Texas scene by Mr. Daly’s uncle-in-law.
Photographs of Paris and Mexico by Lew Reid, husband of Mary Reid. Mr. Reid and Mr. Daly met the first day they were in college and have remained friends since.
Four Cartier-Bresson photographs: (1) Holland in the Snow, (2) Sumatra, (3) New Orleans 1947, (4) Henri Matisse sketching a dove in his house on the French Riviera in 1945, not long after the Germans had departed.
Three early June Ball paintings, purchased by Mr. Daly several decades ago.
The dining room features five June Ball paintings, including one over the mantel of Grandfather Mountain, and one small painting by the Canadian artist Leonard Brooks. It also features a large oak dining table, which was kindly sold to the owners “for a song” by his neighbors Ken Jarrett and Joan Jackson. Two Japanese ladies of unknown provenance silently observe all dinners and record their observations on scrolls.
The kitchen is a modern replacement of the original kitchen, laundry and pantry rooms, and has admirable shelf space.
The back office appears to be a modern addition, but is part of the original house.
The primary bedroom includes another Eggleston, an Eliot Porter photograph (a gift from Eliot Porter’s nephew, former UGA Professor David Porter, to Mr. Daly), and two family photographs taken in the 1910s in North Carolina (Mr. Daly’s father is the little boy at the fence) and Louisiana (Mr. Daly’s father is the little boy in the passenger seat of the Maxwell). Note that the floor to the bathroom slopes down a 6% grade.
The interior hall, a room with no external light, contains books belonging to the current owner and to previous owner, Professor Nancy Felson, who may or may not ever return to claim them.
The front bedroom features a photograph of the exterior of Notre Dame du Haut, a Le Corbusier-designed chapel at Ronchamp in Western France, a photograph (over the mantel) of its interior, and three quilts handmade in the northwesterly North Carolina mountains.
The porch furniture is mostly items gleaned from various curbs.
