10 Things from a Tribune Tastemaker: Jock Leonard

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Clockwise from left: Jock and Teresa Leonard (Jock Leonard); conference table at Leonard Design made from a tornado-felled tree, milled by Southern Accents; metal base fabricated by Apel Steel (Jock Leonard) Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum House in Florence, Alabama (wrightinalabama.com)

In this creative new weekly series, local author, artist and all-around entertaining and eccentric (not to mention classy!) Southern gentleman Ben Johnson South introduces Cullman Tribune readers to the creative thinkers and doers in the Cullman community.

“10 Things from a Tribune Tastemaker”

This week, meet Jock Leonard, architect/Leonard Design

So, I’m having lunch at the new Rumors Deli with Cullman “starchitect,” Jock Leonard, and in the first five minutes after he explores the industrial-chic space and praises the aesthetics and café owner, Annette Harris’ historic preservation, Jock mentions his enthusiasm for repurposing railroad cars as residential and commercial architecture, and he raves about a giant, “Big Fish,” outdoor sculpture by one of his contemporary heroes, Frank Gehry. TASTEMAKER Jock Leonard, proud, third-generation Cullmanite, is one of the most faceted and fascinating creative minds in Alabama.

Here are “10 things from this TASTEMAKER:”

  1. FAVORITE, ALABAMA BUILDING IN 19TH CENTURY? 20TH? 21ST? –St. Andrews Church (Prairieville), Wallace House by Paul Rudolph (Athens), Antioch Baptist Church by Auburn’s Rural Studio (Perry County)
  2. MILITARY WEAPONRY—including ships, tanks, airplanes is an obsession
  3. WHAT TO ADD TO CULLMAN PUBLIC LIBRARY—film “LIFE AS A HOUSE”
  4. BUILDING NOT IN CULLMAN HE WANTS—Cultural Center + Art Museum
  5. HOW TO RECOGNIZE CULLMAN DESIGN GREAT, CHARLES KLEIBACKER—gallery at cultural center
  6. FAVORITE BUILDING SMELL—the “off-gassing” of new materials in a just-finished space
  7. READING PEOPLE’S MINDS—superpower he most desires
  8. TORNADO-FELLED TREE CONFERENCE TABLE—milled by Southern Accents, metal base fabricated by Apel Steel
  9. AVE MARIA GROTTO—every visitor and local should experience
  10. LARKWOOD WATER FALLS—favorite, Cullman sound

Other favorites from this TASTEMAKER: Cullman daytrip—Frank Lloyd Wright, Rosenbaum House (Florence, Alabama); architects—Richard Meier (living), Le Corbusier (dead); All-Steak orange rolls; Dr. Seuss books; Stahl House by Pierre Koenig; autumn in Cullman; Smith Lake weekends; distressed leather club chairs; Beatles not Rolling Stones; watercolor artistry; Cullman buildings—St. Bernard Abbey Chapel, Sacred Heart Church (downtown), former Cullman Health Department, Stitt Medical, Plunkett Dental, Bledsoe Dental (demolished), Cullman Main Library, Nate Brock Villa; MOTTO: Treat others as you like to be treated.

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