Techwood Homes

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Coordinates: 33°46′4″N 84°23′30″W / 33.76778°N 84.39167°W / 33.76778; -84.39167
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Techwood Homes Historic District
Atlanta, Georgia
Coordinates33°46′4″N 84°23′30″W / 33.76778°N 84.39167°W / 33.76778; -84.39167
Built1935
ArchitectBurge & Stevens; J.A. Jones & Co.
Architectural styleColonial Revival
NRHP reference No.76000632
Added to NRHPJune 29, 1976[1]
Techwood Homes, late 1930s
Family in Techwood Homes apartment, late 1930s

Techwood Homes was an early

Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, opened just before the First Houses. The whites-only Techwood Homes replaced an integrated settlement of low-income people known as Tanyard Bottom or Tech Flats. It was completed on August 15, 1936,[2] but was dedicated on November 29 of the previous year by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The new whites-only apartments included bathtubs and electric ranges in each unit, 189 of which had garages.[3] Central laundry facilities, a kindergarten and a library were also provided. Techwood Homes was demolished in advance of the 1996 Olympics and is now Centennial Place Apartments.[4]

History

The complex was designed by

Georgia Tech alumnus and architect Flippen David Burge of Burge and Stevens (later Stevens & Wilkinson),[5] and organized by Charles Forrest Palmer, a real estate developer who had become an expert on public housing and would later head up both the newly created Atlanta Housing Authority and the Chamber of Commerce.[6] The landscaping was designed by Edith Henderson, who also designed the neighboring Clark Howell Homes with her partner Grace Campbell.[7][8]

The name came from Techwood Drive, in turn named for nearby

Georgia Tech. The project included a 300-student dormitory for Georgia Tech, McDaniel Dormitory, commonly referred to as Techwood Dorm. It was run by the Atlanta Housing Authority
. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s the area was synonymous with urban blight in Atlanta.

Techwood Homes was built on land cleared by demolishing the Flats, a de facto integrated shantytown adjacent to downtown, home to 1,611 families, most poor, 28% African American.[9] The Public Works Administration replaced the shantytown with 604 units for white families only, with income qualifiers out of the range of many former inhabitants.[10]

The neighboring Clark Howell Homes was built in 1941 in a less institutional style. A. Ten Eyck Brown was the architect. Clark Howell was also reserved for whites until 1968, with an all-black counterpart at the University Homes project (built 1938) near Atlanta University Center.[11]

Except for a few historic buildings, Techwood Homes was

Centennial Place.[2] The first phase opened in 1996 just before the Centennial Olympics, hence the new name. Former residents were relocated to other areas, given Section 8 vouchers to assist with rent. Only 78 of the original residents were able to move back into Centennial Place, which had far fewer subsidized units than Techwood Homes.[12][9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ a b "Techwood Homes". The Atlanta Housing Authority. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
  3. ^ Sams, Gerald W. (ed): "AIA Guide to the Architecture of Atlanta", page 153. University of Georgia Press, 1993.
  4. ^ "Old Atlanta by Charla Johnson June 9, 2020". April 29, 2020.
  5. ^ McMath, Robert C.; Bayor, Ronald H.; Brittain, James E.; Foster, Lawrence; Giebelhaus, August W.; Reed, Germaine M. Engineering the New South: Georgia Tech 1885–1985. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
  6. ^ Biographical note, "Palmer, Charles F.", Emory Library EmoryFindingAid
  7. ^ "Edith Henderson Papers". The Atlanta History Center website. Accessed Oct. 13, 2015.
  8. ^ Catron, Staci L. "Biography of Edith Harrison Henderson". The Cultural Landscape Foundation website, August 11, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Holliman, Irene V. "Techwood Homes." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 26 August 2020. Web. 28 July 2021.
  10. OCLC 985448400
    .
  11. ^ Sams, page 154
  12. ^ Portwood, Jerry (February 6, 2002). "Techwood turnaround". Creative Loafing Atlanta. Creative Loafing Media. Retrieved December 1, 2007.

External links

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