Famed orange-and-blue house for sale

FOR SALE: Orange and blue home with replica of Florida Field on the roof. Must be willing to tolerate the occasional Georgia fan repainting the University of Florida mailbox and smashing the alligator statues.

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ATLANTA - Daryl Cook fought City Hall and lost. Now he's put his orange-and-blue symbol of protest on the real estate market.

"I'm so tired. I'm done with it," he said.

About three years ago, Cook painted his Atlanta-area home in Gator colors to protest government agencies that prevented him from subdividing the property. Last week, a local court rejected his lawsuit over the rulings.

So now he plans to sell the house, which is currently being rented out.

"It's not as much fun as it used to be," he said.

Cook is a civil engineer who graduated from UF in 1985. He dubbed the house "the Swamp of Dunwoody" for obvious reasons.

The roof is painted with yard lines and end zones that say "FLORIDA" on one side and "GATORS" on the other. Search for "Dunwoody Club Drive" on Google Earth and the whole thing is clearly visible.

The home is located among McMansions that start in the $500,000 price range. Mark Lipton, who currently rents the place, said he's grown used to sightseers and vandals making regular appearances on the property. "You get some people that destroy things, and you get some people that want to take pictures," he said. "It's a mixed crowd."

Cook's protest started after he proposed to tear down the house and replace it with two large, new ones. His neighbors opposed the required zoning change and won, so he was stuck with the house on land zoned for agriculture.

He responded by bringing some farm animals onto the property to match the zoning designation and surrounding the house with alligator statues. He did most of the paint job in one night with a few buckets from a home improvement store and a sixpack of beer.

"It was me being a bad boy and showing my displeasure," he said.

He named some of the animals after his favorite Gators: Spurrier the rooster and three goats named Donovan and the Gatorettes.

"Effectively, what I ended up with is a petting zoo," he said.

The animals brought more drama, such as foxes invading the property to feast. His pigs escaped into neighboring properties. About two years ago, he ditched the animals, rented the property and moved away.

"It became too much work," he said.

Lipton is a Syracuse fan but rented the place because he was going through a divorce and needed a home near his boy's school. He hopes Cook changes his mind about selling.

But Cook is ready to move on. He's selling the property as is, with the thought that the buyer will demolish it and build a fancy home to match the neighborhood.

"It's always been a knockdown property," he said.

But that doesn't mean Cook is ditching his passion for the Gators. He owns a Ford F-150 truck customized with Gator seats, hubcaps and about everything else Gator.

Recently, he removed the hood and hauled it to a meeting of the Atlanta Gator Club for Urban Meyer to sign it.

"I put my money where my mouth is," he said. "I put my passion where my mouth is."