Fairlie - Poplar Historic District
The Fairlie--Poplar Historic District is Atlanta's historic central business district and includes the largest concentrated collection of commercial and office buildings in Atlanta from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Individually, these buildings represent some of the city's finest late Victorian and early 20th-century commercial buildings, and range from storefront commercial buildings to skyscrapers. Local interpretations of prevailing national architectural styles, including Chicago, Renaissance Revival, Neoclassical, Commercial, Art Deco, Georgian Revival, and Victorian Eclectic styles, are found here. The buildings of the district also represent the shift in building technology from loadbearing masonry and timber walls to steel and concrete framing.
Known at the time as "Atlanta's new modern fireproof business district," the area developed during the years when Atlanta emerged as the commercial center of Georgia and the Southeast. It constituted a major northward expansion of Atlanta's 19th-century business district, which was largely concentrated in an east-west band along the railroad tracks cutting across the city. The new business district contained a wide variety of wholesale and retail operations, which marketed a broad spectrum of consumer goods and services. Public agencies and many of Atlanta's business offices were also located here. Building materials included brick, stone, cast iron, wood, pressed metal, terra cotta, and plate glass. The buildings in this district range in height from two to 16 stories, the taller constructed with steel or concrete frames, while the smaller buildings were built with loadbearing masonry and timber structural systems. Individual buildings listed in the
Historic postcard depicting the view down Peachtree St. from the Candler Building. The Fairlie--Poplar Historic District begins at the triangular corner of the English-American Building--in the center of the postcard--and includes the right half of the image
Courtesy of Jody Cook
National Register of Historic Places that lie within the Fairlie--Poplar Historic District include the English-American Building , and the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse.
The Fairlie--Poplar Historic District is roughly bounded by Marietta, Peachtree, Luckie and Cone sts. Many of the businesses in the district are open to the public during normal businesses hours. For more information visit Fairlie Poplar. Walking tours are available at 2:00 pm on Sundays from March-November. Visit The Atlanta Preservation Center for more information.
Information and photos courtesy of the National Register for Historic Places Atlanta, Georgia Travel Itinerary, a subsidiary of the National Park Service.
