Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the
Druid Hills Historic District also incorporates in its
entirety the previously listed Druid Hills Parks and Parkways
Historic District. Druid Hills, its beautiful linear
parks and wooded lots designed and laid out at the turn of the
century by Frederick Law Olmsted, stands today near the center of
Atlanta’s sprawling metropolitan area.
Some find it hard to believe that this magnificent urban
neighborhood was conceived and executed as one of Atlanta’s first
suburbs. Yet it remains today essentially unchanged and was
recently described by the U.S. Department of the Interior to be
"significant
as the finest example of late 19th and early 20th century
comprehensive planning and development in the Atlanta area, and
one of the finest period suburbs in the Southeast."
In the early 1890’s, Atlantan
Joel Hurt was an
innovative developer who had already been involved in several
prominent projects in the city. He assembled a large tract of land
to be developed for residential use and hired Olmsted, America’s
premier landscape architect, to plan his "ideal residential
suburb."
By the time Olmsted began to design Druid
Hills in 1893, he had already completed many projects, the
best-known being Central Park in New York City. His other works
include the grounds of the United States Capitol, the Biltmore
Estate in North Carolina, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, the Stanford
University campus, and numerous park and parkway systems in cities
such as Boston, Buffalo, and Chicago.
Early in his career Olmsted had planned, with Calvert Vaux, the
community of Riverside, Illinois, to be the prototype of a planned
suburb. Druid Hills, designed near the end of his career,
demonstrates the evolution of his ideas about the relation of
suburbs to the city.
Olmsted expressed his philosophy of suburban living in an 1890
letter to Joel Hurt; he envisioned the homeowner returning hot and
tired from the city through a park to homes
"well shaded by handsome,
umbrageous, permanently thrifty trees" in a neighborhood with a
"pleasing rural, or, at least, semi-rural, character of scenery
. . . to be permanently enjoyed."
Olmsted’s vision of suburban living was
eventually realized in Druid Hills, but after he had made several
trips to Atlanta to confer with Hurt and had begun the design
phase, financial setbacks halted the project for several years.
Before work resumed, the aging Olmsted retired, and Hurt hired the
successor firm of Olmsted Brothers to develop the objectives
proposed by the elder Olmsted.
Significance
Landscape
and urban scholars have established that Druid Hills represents a
major innovation in suburban design. Its central corridor, Ponce
de Leon Avenue, with its separated vehicular and pleasure drives,
functions as the central promenade of the community—a linear
version of the traditional village green. Each of Ponce de Leon’s
median parks is distinct in its landscaping; the parks range from
relatively open greenswards to nearly impenetrable woods.
In an early proposal, Olmsted had written of "roads of moderate
grace and curves, avoiding any great disturbance of the natural
topography." The suburb’s streets do follow the natural terrain,
and its open spaces enhance the picturesque vistas integral to
late 19th-century landscape planning.
Later development in Druid Hills preserved the environment of
pleasing vistas, parks, and parkways in the spirit of Olmsted’s
original concept. Authorities believe the area fulfills the three
major components of his vision of 20th Century suburban living: a
park or public space as the central focus of the suburbs; a
parkway, conceived as both a connector and pleasure drive; and
residences on large acreages that differ from the typical narrow
town lot. Many well-known Atlanta architects including Neel Reid,
Philip Trammel Shutze, Ernest Ivey, and Lewis Crook, Jr. designed
homes facing the parks and winding streets.
Influence
Through
the years, Olmsted’s design for Druid Hills has exerted a powerful
influence on suburban planning in Atlanta. Associates who gained
their experience from Druid Hills later worked on Ansley Park,
Morningside, Garden Hills, and Avondale Estates. Design elements
were emulated in Brookwood Hills, the West Paces Ferry area, and
more recent communities around the city, including office parks
that emphasize green space and natural terrain. In fact, some
scholars maintain that had it not been for Frederick Law Olmsted’s
Druid Hills, Atlanta would not be the park-like city it is today.
Integrity
Because of the vigilance of the Druid Hills Civic Association,
Olmsted’s last major suburb retains its original lot
configurations and open spaces. The historic district, which
includes 1,300 acres, was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places in two stages in 1975 and 1979. "In a national
context," the Department of the Interior has attested, "Druid
Hills is a rare example of Olmsted’s design intentions intact in
its principal features."
Frederick Law Olmsted’s ideas of suburban living endure today in
the rolling landscapes and winding roadways of Druid Hills, still
cherished by residents for its eclectic architecture, pleasing
vistas, and beautiful parks.
Learn more about Frederick Law Olmsted and
the Olmsted Brothers: go to www.olmsted.org
