THE HISTORY OF 1200 PONCE

The History of 1200 Ponce

The Druid Hills community was initially imaged by local businessman Joel Hurt and developed with funding from Atlanta's leading families, including Coca-Cola founder Asa Griggs Candler. Historic records report the first house built in Druid Hills around 1905 was located at 1200 Ponce. It was owned by Judge John S Candler, brother of Asa Griggs Candler.

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In 1892, Hurt hired Frederick Law Olmsted, known as the father of landscape design and perhaps best known for his work on New York City’s Central Park, because he knew of the designer’s extraordinary success and hoped to apply his talents to a rapidly sprawling Atlanta. Olmsted was tasked with designing one of the city’s first planned suburbs, Druid Hills. Olmsted incorporated large, open designs connected with nature to reflect the nation’s desire for unity as it recovered from a vicious Civil War.

The original house was removed in 1951 to make room for the Druid Hills Methodist Church, which was designed by the renowned architectural firm of Ivey & Cook (1923-67). Lewis Cook was the principal designer and responsible for the consistently high quality of the firm's design. Ernest Daniel "Ed" Ivey was the architectural engineer and was also instrumental in founding the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology.

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An original copy of the church's fundraising brochure from 1951 was found during the redevelopment of 1200 Ponce. The fundraising goal was to raise $215,000 in 100 weeks to build the new church. The brochure included the sage comment that "careful students of our city's expansion agree that Atlanta is expanding in this direction and beyond."

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Undated photo on the tennis court that was located on the 1200 Ponce propety as part of the Judge Candler property.

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Today, Minerva Homes is honoring the property's historical legacy by the adaptive reuse of the original church and school and by adding three newly designed buildings that draw extensively from the area architecture. As we designed our vision for 1200 Ponce, we couldn't help but hear the faint whispers of Hurt, Candler, and Olmsted. We hope they would be proud.

Minerva Homes

2292 Henderson Mill Road

Atlanta, GA 30345

Main Office: 678-808-8000

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