PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured at the Atlanta book signing for “One Man’s Folly: The Exceptional Houses of Furlow Gatewood” at the Swan Coach House on May 8 are, from left to right, Cindy Rosen (Swan Coach House), Julie Millians (Swan Coach House), Elizabeth Willett (Forward Arts Foundation), Furlow Gatewood, Rod Collins (Beacham & Company), Cathy Christians (Forward Arts Foundation), Sally Allen (Forward Arts Foundation), Cindy Mills (Forward Arts Foundation), and Christina Gaines (Swan Coach House).
Beacham & Company, Realtors photographer Rod Collins recently attended book signings in New York and Atlanta for a new coffee table book called One Man’s Folly: The Exceptional Homes of Furlow Gatewood, for which Collins was the principal photographer. The book examines four houses on a family estate in Americus, Ga. that were restored by Gatewood, who is called “one of the most talented and influential members of America’s design community” in the book’s foreword by acclaimed interior designer Bunny Williams.
Collins is a long-time friend of Gatewood and a fellow Americus native. Collins’ photos reveal the interior and exterior of Gatewood’s homes and antique collections to the accompanying text by Julia Reed, a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and Garden & Gun magazine as well as author of four other books. Collins also captures Gatewood in casual moments with friends, colleagues and Gatewood’s beloved dogs, cats, and peacocks.
Gatewood, 92, was an antiques dealer in New York City for nearly three decades prior to returning to Americus in the 1990s. While in New York, Gatewood was a competitor and later business associate of fellow New York antiques dealer John Rosselli, owner of the highly successful to-the-trade John Rosselli Antiques. The two men even collaborated in the early 1980s to create successful lines of furniture and lighting. Rosselli is the husband of Williams, who is the co-owner of the garden and design store Treillage in New York and is referred to as “one of the doyennes of the interior design world” by The Huffington Post.
In “One Man’s Folly,” Gatewood is the star however. The book showcases the many interests and talents of this “amazing master of discernment,” who shows a propensity for such things as architectural restoration, interior decorating, landscape design, and even cooking of his famous cheese straws. Through a thoughtful photo display we see how Gatewood reclaimed and restored four houses and numerous outbuildings that exemplify various Southern architectural traditions – from a mid-nineteenth-century Gothic to a Palladian-inspired cottage. One such outbuilding, called Peacock House, originally began as a dirt floor greenhouse before becoming a home for 40 peacocks. Now it’s an impeccably designed guest house.
“One Man’s Folly” was published by Rizzoli International. The New York book signing was April 3, while the Atlanta signing was May 8. Other signings have occurred in Seaside, Fla. and Thomasville, Ga. and another Atlanta book signing is planned. To order a copy of “One Man’s Folly: The Exceptional Homes of Furlow Gatewood,” click here or visit Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
