Community Corner

Classic Home Tour: 2012 Druid Hills Tour of Homes

Preview the homes and garden

By Lisa Campbell Harper

Seeking some artistic inspiration this weekend?

The Druid Hills Civic Association offers a great activity for architecture, garden and art lovers alike as they host the 2012 Druid Hills Tour of Homes and Gardens & Artist Market – Druid Hills: The Second Century, April 20-22, 2012. 

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Preview the homes and gardens here

The neighborhood known as Druid Hills has quietly entered its second century, yet the community’s origins are well more than 100 years old.

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One might say that Druid Hills had its start in the intuition of several prominent Atlanta business executives and the remarkable imagination of architect Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons.

In 1890, Atlanta investor Joel Hurt began amassing the 1,492 acres of undeveloped land that would eventually comprise Druid Hills. In 1893, Olmsted presented initial plans that included roads, lakes, building sites, and the linear parks.

While preliminary grading and landscaping occurred during the first few years of the twentieth century, not a single home was built until Joel Hurt sold the land to the Druid Hills Corporation, led by Asa G. Candler, founder of the Coca-Cola Company, in 1908.

In 1909, the first Druid Hills estate, built for Asa Candler’s brother John, was constructed at the corner of Briarcliff Road and Ponce de Leon.

The family of Clyde King – he made a fortune selling plows and agricultural supplies to farmers – became the first to occupy a Druid Hills home, also along Ponce at the corner of Oakdale. In 1910, The American Contractor listed dozens of bids for homes in Druid Hills.

The community grew further with the founding of the United Methodist Church and the Druid Hills Golf Club.

While it is tempting to declare a distinctive architectural style for each Druid Hills home, in fact many of the neighborhood’s houses are eclectic. 

Among those genres featured on the 2012 tour, you may recognize elements of Tudor, Craftsman, French Manor, and Italian Renaissance Revival as you stand on the sidewalk. Step inside, however, and you will find a variety of design and decorative motifs both new and old.

The tour is easily accessible with convenient parking available along the Tour route where designated by standard signage. Parking is also available at two nearby churches, 1410 and 1428 Ponce de Leon Avenue. If a riding tour is more your style, a complimentary trolley will run during Tour hours along the Tour route, stopping at each home and garden on the Tour.

If you go: Druid Hills Tour of Homes; Saturday, April 21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, April 22, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

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