One hundred twenty (126) years ago, a dapper young gentleman — interior designer, decorator, painter — broke ground on what he intended to be a showplace and a (very) temporary home. Soon to become famous as a painter of Bull Durham bulls across the South, Jule Gilmer Körner in 1878 headed a growing interior design business. He set out to create a combination bachelor’s quarters, artist’s studio, office, billiard and ballroom, carriage house and stables.
The resulting design reportedly caused a cousin, strolling by one day as the structure rose into the sky, to comment, "That will surely be Jule Körner’s folly."
Jule so enjoyed the concept that he quickly dubbed the building "Körner’s Folly," even setting the name in tile outside the front door. And thus it has been known to this day.
Körner never went through with his plans to build another home on nearby property. When the Folly was "finished" in 1880, he instead continued to carry out on-going renovations and revisions to the home he loved.
The home, today held by a non-profit foundation, and open to the public for tours and special events, has intrigued neighbors and visitors for over a century.
The eccentric structure offers 22 rooms spread out over three floors and seven levels, with ceiling heights ranging from six feet to 25 feet. It was a work-in-progress from the beginning: when Jule married Polly Alice Masten in 1886, portions were enclosed and the stables moved across the street; a top-level room was significantly converted in 1897; Körner died in 1924, feeling that the "work" was still incomplete.
However incomplete, the Folly defies simple description. It is said that no two doorways are exactly alike. It has 15 fireplaces of differing designs of American Encaustic Tiles. Its cubbyholes and trap doors fascinate; its pivoting "windows" and other openings anchor a unique air distribution system. Its murals and artworks add a sense of fancy. Children-sized rooms give way to an airy, elegant, high-ceilinged Reception Room. A former stable becomes a library and a sewing room.
Körner’s Folly is a home chock-full of contrasts and comparisons. It has welcoming public spaces, and hidden nooks and crannies. It is complete with a room fireproof by 1890's standards and another, soaring attic space that became the nation's first known private little theater after first being Jule’s studio.
Superlatives fail; from tile to woodwork, brick to decorative murals by German master Caesar Milch, the Folly is truly like no other home in the world. And it is one whose charms and enchantments deserve to be shared by generations yet to come.
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