WEST END ATLANTA

The West End Historic District is an urban neighborhood located southwest of downtown Atlanta. The district is a large, intact residential area with a number of community resources scattered throughout and with a concentrated linear commercial core along Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard. The neighborhood is located along its main thoroughfare, Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard (formerly Lickskillet Road, Sandtown Road, and Gordon Street), which runs through the district’s center in a east-west direction.

The large majority of buildings in the district are houses constructed from about 1870 into the 1930s. These houses are rich mixture of architectural styles and house types. The most prominent styles are Folk Victorian, Queen Anne, Craftsman, and Minimal Traditional. There also few Stick Gothic Revival, Colonial Revival, and Neoclassical Revival houses in the district.

The prominent house types included within the district are Gabled-ell, Queen Anne, New South, American Foursquare, and Bungalows. The Craftsman style bungalow is the most predominant style in the district, with all four types of bungalows represented: gabled front, hipped roof, side gabled, and cross gable. Also within the district are several multi-family dwellings consisting of duplexes and small apartment buildings.

Community landmark buildings found in the neighborhood include several historic churches. They include the 1911 Gothic Revival-style St. Anthony’s Catholic Church with Art Deco influenced educational building, the 1950 Gothic Revival-style Emmanuel Lutheran Church, and the 1952 Colonial Revival-style West End Baptist Church. The Romanesque Revival-style Joseph E. Brown High School was constructed in 1923 with an addition added in 1929.

FOLK VICTORIAN house style 1870-1910 

Folk Victorian houses are numerous in Georgia. They were commonly built in both the rural and urban areas from 1870 to 1910. They are simple house style with Victorian-era decorative detailing. It can be difficult to distinguish between Folk Victorian and Queen Anne houses. The Folk Victorian is usually simpler that the Queen Anne and most of the decoration is limited to the front porch. The Folk Victorian is simple in its form while Queen Anne consists of many geometric shapes.

Inspired by the late medieval Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture of England, the Queen Anne style was popular in the South from the 1880s to the early 1900s. It is notable for its asymmetrical form and variety of exterior surface textures, materials, and details. Originally developed for masonry designs, this style became very popular in the United States where it was adapted to wood-framed houses.  

CRAFTSMAN house style 1900 - 1930

The Craftsman style was the most popular early 20^th century style in Georgia. It is American in origin. Created primarily in California, it spread rapidly across the country by means of pattern books and magazines. The Craftsmen style was a break with the popular revivals of historical styles and a movement toward the modern house. It was influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement and by wooden architecture of of Japan. The Craftsman style produced carefully designed houses, in which materials, especially woodwork, and the way in which they were put together into a structure were emphasized. The Craftsman style is closely associated with bungalow house type; however, it was popular as ornamentation for many different house forms.

MINIMAL TRADITIONAL House Style 1940 - 1950

During World War II domestic building slowed and when it resumed, houses which had previously been constructed using historical examples were now being designed as variations of the modern styles. The first phase is called Minimal Traditional period based on the 1920s and 1930s Tudor Revival houses.

 GABLED ELL COTTAGE House Type 1875-1915

Of the late 19^th century house types in Georgia, the gabled ell cottage perhaps has the most examples. In plan, it is T- or L-shaped, and it usually, though not always, has a gabled roof. West end has many examples of gabled ell cottages, both T- and L-shaped.

QUEEN ANNE COTTAGE Type 1880-1900

Popular from the 1880s to the turn of the 20^th century, the Queen Anne cottage house type is characterized by irregular shapes and complex arrangements of parts. The Queen Anne cottage house can be one or two stories, with the two story type being referred to as a Queen Anne house.

NEW SOUTH COTTAGE Type 1890-1920

Coined by Atlanta Constitution editor Henry Grady, the term “New South” became synonymous with the economic growth of the area at the turn of the 20^th century.

 The New South cottage is similar to historic house types such as the Queen Anne cottage but updates them into a contemporary form. The house type was popular between the late 19^th century and 1920, and can typically be found throughout West End in the Folk Victorian style.

BUNGALOW House Type 1900-1930

The Bungalow house type was popular throughout Georgia, in both rural areas and cities, between 1900 and 1930, and is the most commonly found house type in the West End Historic District. They were usually single story.