The Herndon Home is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

and

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

at 587 University Place NW, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. An elegant Classical Revival mansion with Beaux Arts influences, it was the home of Alonzo Franklin Herndon (1858-1927), a

rags-to-riches Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popul ...

success story who was born into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, but went on to become Atlanta's first

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

as founder and head of the

Atlanta Life Insurance Company The Atlanta Life Financial Group was founded by Alonzo Herndon in Atlanta, Georgia. Born into slavery, he started in Atlanta as a young barber, eventually owning three shops. He became Atlanta's richest African American and a highly successful ...

. The house was designed by his wife

Adrienne Adrienne is the French feminine form of the male name Adrien. Its meaning is literally "from the city Hadria." * Adrienne Albert (born 1941), composer * Adrienne Ames (1907–1947), American actress * Adrienne Armstrong (born 1969), wife of Gr ...

, and was almost entirely built with African-American labor. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000,Frank J. J. Miele, John Sprinkle, and Patti Henry (November 1999) , National Park Service and and had previously been declared a "landmark building exterior" by the city of Atlanta in 1989.Herndon Home, at City of Atlanta

Description and history

The Herndon Home is located in Atlanta's

Vine City English Avenue and Vine City are two adjacent and closely linked neighborhoods of Atlanta, Georgia. Together the neighborhoods make up neighborhood planning unit L. The two neighborhoods are frequently cited together in reference to shared ...

neighborhood, adjacent to the campus of

Morris Brown College Morris Brown College (MBC) is a private Methodist historically black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded January 5, 1881, Morris Brown is the first educational institution in Georgia to be owned and operated entirely by African Ame ...

(formerly the campus of

Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Founde ...

) on the north side of University Place NW. It is a two-story rectangular structure, faced in brick, with a flat, balustraded roof, porches projecting from the sides, and a massive neoclassical entrance portico, supported by large paired columns. The entrance is framed by wide sidelight windows and topped by a semi-oval transom, all windows displaying etching and tracery. The building is capped by a full entablature and modillioned cornice. The flat roof is usable as an open terrace, although it was reported to be in poor condition in 2000. The building interior is elaborately fitted with original period wood, stone, and plaster. The main living rooms have murals on the wall depicting elements of the Herndon family history. The house was built in 1910 for Alonzo and Adrienne Herndon. Much of the building's design is credited to Adrienne, who was a drama teacher at Atlanta University, and had intended the rooftop terrace, from which the university campus was visible, as a performance venue. According to available documentation, all of the work on the mansion, except for its electrical and plumbing systems, was performed by African-American laborers and contractors. Alonzo Herndon was born into slavery in 1858, and was freed, while still a child, by the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. From this virtually penniless beginning, Herndon built a chain of barbershops in Atlanta, and in 1905 founded the

, which grew to become the nation's largest African-American-owned insurance company, and made him a millionaire. Herndon's son Norris continued to run Atlanta Life until his own death in 1955. The vacant Herndon Building on

Auburn Avenue Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Au ...

, where Alonzo built his business, was seriously damaged in the 2008 Atlanta tornado (which also passed very close to the Herndon Home), and was demolished in late April 2008. The Herndon Building was one of three

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

in the

Sweet Auburn Historic District Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones ...

associated with the life of Alonzo Herndon. The

Building and the

Rucker Building Rucker may refer to: People * Rucker (surname) Places United States * Rucker Park Greg Marius Court at Holcombe Rucker Park is a basketball court in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, just ea ...

are the other two.

Herndon Foundation

The Herndon Home is now owned by the nonprofit Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Foundation, which since 1983 has operated the home. The home is open for tours.The Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Foundation: The Foundation
/ref> The foundation supports entrepreneurship.

References

External links

Herndon Home web site

Atlanta, Georgia, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
*Merritt, Carole
"African Americans in Atlanta: Adrienne Herndon, an Uncommon Woman."
''Southern Spaces'', March 16, 2004, http://southernspaces.org/2004/african-americans-atlanta-adrienne-herndon-uncommon-woman. {{Atlanta landmarks Houses completed in 1910 National Historic Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state) Houses in Atlanta African-American museums in Georgia (U.S. state) National Register of Historic Places in Atlanta Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Museums in Atlanta Historic house museums in Georgia (U.S. state) City of Atlanta-designated historic sites English Avenue and Vine City

Description and history

Herndon Foundation

See also

References

External links