Rucker Place provides an elegant wedding venue in Birmingham, Alabama

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Feb. 23, 2016 - PRLog -- Rucker Place, a landmark Shingle Style home on Twelfth Avenue South, is celebrating its l03rd birthday looking like the belle of the ball thanks to the efforts of Home-wood residents Gail and Jack Thompson. This spring marks the classic home's debut as an elegant and historically significant setting for wedding receptions and other private events

In one of fate's fortuitous twists, a young woman's departure for college resulted in a whole new lease on life for a Grande dame of Birmingham architecture.

Describing only child Jennifer's going away to school as "leaving me in a very empty nest," Gail began to consider downsizing from their Hollywood home.  After contacting realtor Jim Kelley, she surprised both herself and her husband, whom she describes as "really believing in me," by falling in love with a 6500 square foot vintage treasure.

After months of securing permits and zoning changes, the minute the house was hers, Gail bought pots of flowers for the porch and began a basement-to-rafters renovation and restoration designed by architects John Fuller and Scott Thompson and carried out by contractor Kenneth Schatz. While the original architect is unknown, Fuller suggests that the home may have been the brainchild of a master Craftsman builder. According to family legend, the oval shaped main parlor and dining room beneath it were modeled on rooms in Savannah.

While leaving period charm in place in high ceilings, heart pine floors, wainscoting, and original doors and window glass, the Thompsons updated the facility by adding handicapped access and a sound system.  Main floor rooms and spacious double porches can accommodate guests for a variety of occasions. The home's walking distance proximity to St. Mary's Episcopal, Southside Baptist, and Highlands Methodist churches makes it a particularly convenient location for wedding receptions and rehearsal dinners.

The grassy lawn, secluded from the street by a steep bank, provides an ideal setting for intimate outdoor ceremonies. While the servants' house and stable once situated on the rear of the property were long ago torn down, Gail's recipe for romance includes arranging for bridal couples to leave in horse drawn carriages.

The National Register lists the house as the only extant. and possibly only ever built, example of fully- developed Shingle Style architecture in Birmingham.  The house incorporates major elements of the style, including an overall free form, a hipped roof with multi-cross hipped dormers, and a half-round two-story bay.

Usually architect-designed rather “‘7 ‘than mass-produced, Shingle Style homes were popular as millionaires' "cottages" along the eastern seaboard in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The style was rarely employed in Alabama, greatly enhancing Rucker Place's status in the estimation of state preservationists.

With a background in real estate and banking, Gail and her attorney husband hardly identified with couples portrayed in television advertising as holders of life-long dreams of being professional hosts. There is a strong sense of serendipity in the story of a woman who stumbled onto a mid-life career for which she seems to have a natural calling.

As she leads visitors on tours of the airy rooms and spacious porches of Rucker Place, Gail's enthusiasm conveys the same sense of pride that must have filled the heart of the first owner, a young turn-of-the-century bride from one of Birmingham's most distinguished families.

For more information or to schedule an event at Rucker Place Birmingham AL, contact Gail Thompson at (205) 558-2485 or visit www.ruckerplace.com on the internet.


Wedding Venue in Birmingham, AL
http://www.ruckerplace.com