Building Description Parker Reynolds House, Anniston Alabama
Overlooking Tyler Hill Square to the east, the Parker-Reynolds house is a roughly L-shaped two-and-a-half story masonry structure covered by a steep-sided tile roof. A polytextural exterior is composed of pressed brick, with terracotta ornamentation and ashlar trim, while galvanized iron is empolyed for cornices and dormer facings. Grafted onto the stylistically neo-French Renaissance or Chateauesque core is an mixture of Richardsonian Romanesque elements, including the heavy Syrian arch that defines the projecting entrance porch, and rough-hewn ashlar quoining.
The asymmetrical facade is dominated by a tall, gabled pavilion capped with a corbie-stepped curvilinear parapet that masks the ridge of the main roof extending longitudinally from front to rear over the body of the house. Bays are irregularly sized and spaced, and the plane of the frontal pavilion is broken by a single-story bow window contiguous to the entrance porch. A three-stage square tower occupies the reentrant angle formed by the intersection of the main pavilion and the laterally projecting west wing, the third stage consisting of the tiered pyramidal roof which is broken at the cornice line by a single wall dormer on each of the two outer faces. Beneath the cornice itself runs a wide, pilastered and foliated terracotta frieze. On the west side of the house is an arcuated, cast-iron porte-cochere; on the east, a small secondary porch of the same material, facing Laps ley Avenue and Tyler Hill Square. The entrance porch on the north or principal elevation is paved in pink and white marble, and opens into a vestibule floored with polychromatic encaustic tile.
Radiating from the ornate foyer and second-floor hallway directly above is a highly developed interior layout. Off the foyer to the right lies a small ceremonial antechamber. To the left of the foyer, through a wide doorway, is the drawing room, with a large dining room directly behind. A narrow corridor leads from the rear of the foyer to an informal family parlor, as well as the back hall, kitchen, and butler's pantry. Parquet floors and ornate neo-Renaissance mantelpieces executed in oak and mahogany enrich the principal rooms throughout the first floor. From the foyer, a wainscoted stairway with a closed-stringer balustrade, turned newels, and heavily molded handrail ascends in three flights around an oblong stairwell to the second story. Carved into the newel caps are the intertwined initials "DP," for Duncan Parker, the first owner. The lower landing of the broad stair is lighted by an enormous stained-glass window into which is worked a dogwood blossom motif.
Except for the insertion of baths and closets, the upper floor adheres essentially to the pain of the floor below, while in muted form the mantelpieces, facings, and architraves repeat the ornament occurring downstairs. The third floor, reached by an enclosed secondary stair, consists of a large central chamber with ancillary rooms. A full basement lies beneath the house. Here may be seen the heavy vaulted arches upon which rests some of the interior bearing walls.
