J. R. Copeland residence

The J. R. Copeland residence in 1910

The J. R. Copeland residence is a 9,000-square foot Greek Revival-style mansion located at 1210 32nd Street North in the area soon developed as Norwood.

The house was built in the early 1900s for John Copeland, president of the Copeland Brick Company and, later, the Copeland-Inglis Shale Brick Company. The house was designed by Robert Reamer, architect, at about the same time, of the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park.

The square hip-roofed two-story townhouse is fronted by a prominent full-height Ionic tetrastyle portico with a palladian attic window in its pediment. The deep porch shelters a narrow second-floor balcony and wraps, uncovered, around the corner of the house to meet a porte-cochère. The original 1905 stained-glass window for the stair landing is no longer extant.

The family moved out in the late 1920s and the home was soon subdivided into six apartments. In the 1980s it was used as the offices of the Banks Armored Car Company, and a secure vault was added onto the side of the house. It was later the office of a real estate mortgage company and, in 2006, was purchased by Sonia Tutuwan for her Changes Salon Spa & Wellness Center. Her business closed in 2010.

In 2011 the Musician's Cooperative, founded in South Bend, Indiana by twin brothers Tyler and Vinny Trierweiler, announced plans to lease the house as a communal residence and studio for musicians.

In early 2012 the house was sold out of foreclosure to Demian and LeNell Camacho Santa Ana.

References

• Kemp, Kathy (June 25, 2006) "House of beauty: Historic Norwood structure is both home and business."
• Wolfson, Hannah (January 25, 2011) "Norwood music co-op plans place to crash, create in Birmingham." Birmingham News

External links

• J. R. Copeland residence on Google Street View