It was already a favoritel but Frank Stitt made it famous!

Do you have stories about the Bottega building?  We'd love to hear them!  Please email us!  Thanks!

Second in our series of Birmingham watercolors is the beautiful Highland Avenue building, Bottega Favorita.  Built to house the retail clothier Gus Mayer, it now houses one of the best restaurants in the country according to the James Beard Foundation.  Frank Stitt opened Bottega in 1988 featuring authentic northern Italian cuisine to compliment his Five Points South restaurant, Highlands Bar & Grill.  It's now an institution in Birmingham and a popular destination for tourists and residents alike.

But it was an institution for us long before Frank Stitt's restaurant arrived.  We lived upstairs as newlyweds in one grand apartment accessed through the center of the building via an open cage elevator.  Our home for 11 years throughout the 80's, its approximately 3,000 square feet of living quarters, 4 bathrooms, and a roof garden accessed via tall, crank-out casement windows was designed to house nurses for a nearby hospital.  Prior to the restaurant, a series of decorators occupied the downstairs including the popular Joe McKinnon Interiors. It now houses the offices of the building owner, Tutwiler Investments.

Do you have a story about Bottega?  We'd love to hear it!  Read about our plans on our blog,  What would you like for Bob to paint?  Let us know!   Click here to see previously sent watercolors.

(We are working on a new website and soon hope to be able to offer free downloadable images and postcards of each monthly Bob Moody watercolor.  Stay tuned!)

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