St. John Chrysostom Melkite Church at 1428 Ponce de Leon Avenue. When this structure was built (1916) it served as the home of one of Atlanta's most prominent citizens: Coca-Cola big shot Asa Candler, who had this house built for $210,000. Included among the house's many impressive features is a game room built in the basement for Candler's children. The single lane bowling alley installed for his kids still exists down there!
Coca-Cola was far from Candler's only business interest; he also did very well in banking and real estate. He was the original developer of the Druid Hills neighborhood. In 1916, Candler stepped away from his business interests to serve as the mayor of Atlanta.
Click here to see a fine vintage postcard of the Candler house.
Date: 1955
TOP PHOTO COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPT, PULLEN LIBRARY, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
St. John Chrysostom Melkite Church at 1428 Ponce de Leon Avenue.
After Candler's death in 1929 this building was converted to a boarding house for a time and was subsequently purchased by the American Legion to serve as their Georgia headquarters.
Much of the information concerning this building came the St. John Chrysostom Melkite Church's website where they have an extremely detailed page dealing with the history of the Candler mansion. If you're still hungering for more details, then I highly recommend you click on the link.
Date: 04/04/04
