Homes / Private Quarters / Splurge
Architect ties European estate to setting near Athens
Jessica McGowan / AJC
BY JULIE HAIRSTON: When Kim and Lee Barton bought this house near Athens in 1996, it sat amid 11 acres of red clay on the shoals of the Oconee River. The couple hired Atlanta landscape architect Joe Gayle to coax a cohesive vista to surround the home's European lines. "We chose Joe because of his interest in Italian and European landscape architecture," said Kim Barton. They created the inlaid stone pattern next to the porte cochere as a unifying focal point.