The Iconic Briar Hills Condominiums

As you head south on Briarcliff Road towards Little Five Points you’ll pass the eye-catching white brick Briar Hill Condominiums.  Though the Druid Hills and Little Five neighborhoods are most famously known for being featured in the Oscar-winning film Driving Miss Daisy, the Historic Briar Hill Condominiums offer their own glimpse into Atlanta’s post-war history.

Briar Hills was completed in 1947, a year before Driving Miss Daisy’s setting.  Built by the Solloway Realty company, the first tenants were all Jewish, a fact which Miss Daisy would have appreciated. 

According to Susan Schlittler, a realtor at 14 West who has represented many of the condos, “The Solloways came from Queens, developed the complex, and filled it with their family and friends.”

Katherine Whelchel, who has lived in the complex since the 70’s, remembers the elderly Solloways fondly.

“Mr. Solloway lived here while the complex was being built and kept an office on the ground floor of one of the front units," she said. "After they sold all the units, he built a house next door on Briarwood Drive NE*.  He lived there til he died and after his death his wife stayed on.  She would take walks around the complex looking so grand in a fur coat and with two lucite canes.  She was something else!”

The complex was the first cooperative in the state of Georgia and a hallmark of post-war construction. 

“During and just after the war, building materials were scarce,” Schlittler said.  “Mr. Solloway was displeased with the texture of the bricks so he painted them white and they’ve been white ever since!”

Schlittler’s mother lived in the Briar Hills buildings and she remembers the neighbors as “well known families.”  The board, comprised of these families, screened would-be-neighbors carefully.  According to Schlittler, “to purchase one, even as late as 1980, one had to be ‘interviewed by the board’ and ‘owner financing’ had to be offered with 29-perecent down.”

By the mid 1980's, two attorneys that lived in the complex initiated changes so that anyone could purchase through any lender if qualified. The complex then became the Briar Hills Condominiums.

Wayne Pierce, who first bought at Briar Hills in the 70s, remembers being surprised when the board came to his workplace to interview him.  Since then, he has owned six different units at Briar Hills, including the one he lives in now. 

“The art-deco architecture is great as is the proximity to things in Atlanta," he said. "And until recently, the tax advantage in Dekalb County was great too.”

It turns out Driving Miss Daisy isn’t Druid Hill’s only cinematic claim to fame.  Boxing Helena, directed by David Lynch’s daughter Jennifer Chambers Lynch and starring Sherilyn Fenn of Twin Peaks, was partially filmed in the complex in the early 90s. 

“That was exciting for the complex,” said Whelchel. “We all sat on the curb drinking beer and watching the filming.”

*1344 Briarwood Drive NE is currently for sale.