View source for Georges & Eleanor Bridges residence

[[File:2019 Conklin Bridges residence.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Exterior of the Bridges residence]]
[[File:Bridges house interior.jpg|right|thumb|450px|Living room of the Bridges residence]]
The '''Georges & Eleanor Bridges residence''' is a pink-colored stucco house located at the center of a 2-acre lot at 214 [[Edgewood Boulevard]], bordering [[Roseland Drive]] in [[Homewood]]'s [[Edgewood]] community. It was constructed in [[1921]] for sculptor [[Georges Bridges]] and his wife, the former [[Eleanor Bridges|Eleanor Massey]]. The couple designed the house themselves and Georges built the carved wooden entrance doors.

The main room of the house features a vaulted ceiling reaching 28 feet above the floor, with a balcony running across one side. Outside the main house a stable sheltered horses, which the couple used to traverse the largely undeveloped area, then still known as a valley of dairy farms.

The house is surrounded by elaborate gardens, screened behind thick walls of wisteria-draped evergreens. During the [[Great Depression]] Eleanor had bunk rooms built to house children abandoned at mining camps in the [[Birmingham District]]. She housed and fed them, and led them in school lessons with a heavy dose of arts and crafts. When truant officers formally objected to the arrangement, she packed the children up and moved her school to Taxco, Mexico. After the children were either reunited with their families or placed with foster parents, the Bridgeses opened the bunkrooms up to patients of a local doctor who treated alcoholism. Both Eleanor and Georges continued to teach, volunteering at [[Edgewood Elementary School]] and at [[Birmingham]]'s [[Parker High School]].

Over the years the Bridges residence and its gardens hosted innumerable gatherings of the area's cultural elite, often at weekly "Salons" structured around a particular theme. Both the [[Little Theater]] and the [[Valley Civic Theatre]] trace their beginnings to entertainments at those gatherings, as does the [[Birmingham Theosophical Society]]. Among the notables entertained there were F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna of Russia. The Bridges raised their daughter, [[London Bridges|Mary Eleanor "London" Bridges]] in the house.
 
Eleanor Bridges was named "Birmingham Woman of the Year" in [[1953]] and led countless fundraisers and civic projects. She was forced to hand over the reigns of her "100-year plan to make Birmingham the cultural center of the South" when Georges fell ill in [[1975]]. After Eleanor died in [[1987]] the house was sold to [[Eric Hanson|Eric]] and [[Diana Hanson]] for $85,000. The gardens inspired their t-shirt and art print business that grew into the [[White Flowers]] retail shop. They sold the house to developer [[Pat O'Sullivan]] in [[2004]] for $486,400, partly in order to raise funds for medical bills. The Hansons continued to lease and maintain the 1.4-acre property until January [[2019]].

O'Sullivan filed a 6-parcel subdivision plan shortly after purchasing the parcel. He planned to resubdivide into 5-lots, demolish the 1921 residence and outbuildings, and construct five new homes. The [[Homewood Historical Preservation Society]] was formed in 2018, partly in order to try to lobby for the house's preservation. As the prospect of purchasing and conserving the property dimmed, the group partnered with the [[UAB Department of History]] to create a documentary film about the house and its history.

In October [[2019]] O'Sullivan sold the property for $2.2 million to [[Scott Ellis|Scott]] and [[Holley Ellis]], who planned to occupy and restore the house. In September [[2020]] the Ellises accepted a $2.3 million offer from [[Clayton Mobley|Clayton]] and [[Rachel Mobley]]. The Mobleys' application for a zoning variance for an addition and swimming pool was denied by the [[Homewood Board of Zoning Adjustment]] in June [[2021]]. In November 2021 the Mobleys took out a building permit for a $2.6 million addition.

==References==
* Rittenhouse, Berdine L. (January 21, 1980) "[http://oh.mhsl.uab.edu/emb/ A Memoir: Eleanor Massey Bridges, Feminist: Life in a Segregated Society]" oral history interview. UAB.
* {{Summe-2001}}
* Snell, Mary Ellen (June 26, 2012) "White flowers and the secret garden." ''Homewood Star''
* Singleton, William C. III (June 14, 2018) "Bringing Down the House: Historic Homewood Residence Likely to Be Torn Down." ''Over the Mountain Journal''
* Edgemon, Erin (June 27, 2018) "Secret garden house to be razed as Homewood's popularity soars." {{BN}}
* Cromwell, Sidney (June 20, 2019) "Preserving the ‘Pink House’ on film." ''Homewood Star''
* Hryinkiw, Ivana (October 9, 2019) "New buyers save Homewood’s iconic pink house." {{BN}}
* Van der Bijl, Hanno (September 23, 2020) "Exec's family buys Homewood's famed 'Pink House' – and they have big plans." {{BBJ}}
* Schnader, Ingrid (December 27, 2020) "The Mobleys will soon call the Pink House ‘home’." {{HS}}
* Thornton, William (June 18, 2021) "Owners of Homewood’s ‘Pink House’ suing city as they pursue restoration." {{BN}}

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[[Category:Homewood houses]]
[[Category:1921 buildings]]
[[Category:Edgewood Boulevard]]
[[Category:Roseland Drive]]