This Macon Lustron is the remaining one in town. Lustron houses were prefabricated, enameled steel homes built for a short time between 1948 and 1950 to address housing shortages caused by World War II. They were designed with built-in cabinets and radiant heating, a method to deliver heat via the floor or walls.
Charles and Myrtle Constantine were the first homeowners of the MO23 model in desert tan. Cecil and Hazel Brickle purchased the home in 1960 for $8,750.
Thank you for joining me in my travels around the South. It’s been a great year of wandering backroads and a few main ones. If I learned anything, it is that people love abandoned houses, buildings with unexpected histories, and (in)famous graves.
Located just off downtown Plains is the home Rosalynn Smith Carter’s (1927-2023) childhood home. She lived here with her parents, Wilburn and Allie Smith, her brothers, Jerry and Murray, and her sister, Allethea. Her family moved into the home when she was a toddler.
The modest Queen Anne home, built in 1910, contributes to the historic district.
Below are photos of the home from the Library of Congress’s Historic American Buildings survey.
(side note: I just happen to be driving through Plains about an hour before it was announced that President Carter had passed away.)
Broad Avenue Elementary was built in the 1930s and was open until 2005. It was abandoned until 2019 when the nonprofit organization Southwest Georgia Rising purchased it in hopes of turning it into a rural innovation center.
In 2024, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation included it in its annual list of Places in Peril. The brickwork and details highlight construction not seen in modern school buildings. The book at the roofline is an interesting touch for the facade.
Briar Hills Historic Condominiums were built and designed in the 1940s by real estate developer, Solloway Realty Company, and architect, David S. Cuttino. Briar Hills is located between the Virginia-Highlands and Druid Hills neighborhood on Briarcliff Road. The mid-century modern development was the first cooperative built in Atlanta. Initially, it was created as a Jewish community. It is a contributing property to the Druid Hills Historic District.
Asa “Buddie” Candler Jr. (1880-1953) was the son of Asa Griggs Candler (1851-1929), a politician and businessman wbo purchased the Coca-Cola recipe from John Pemberton in 1888. Buddie Candler helped build the Coca-Cola empire as helped in the development of bottling locations across the United States.
Known as a bit of an iconoclast, Buddie Candler did things his way (I highly recommend Sara Butler’s book and website for a deep dive into Buddie’s life story). In 1910, Candler moved from the elite neighborhood, Inman Park, to Briarcliff Farm. By 1916, the farmhouse life was no longer for him, and he wanted to build a palatial estate on the property.
Architect Charles Frazier designed the home, which was completed in 1922. The Georgian Revival home was expanded several times over the years. It featured a music room, a commercial-sized kitchen, seven bedrooms, and a solarium, among other things. The estate featured a zoo, servants’ quarters, tennis courts, stables, greenhouses, and a community pool. The zoo featured a collection of animals that were eventually given to start the Grant Park Zoo.
The home was sold in 1948 as a veterans hospital, but that never happened. It became the Georgian Clinic, later the Dekalb County Addiction Center. It later became part of the Georgia Mental Health Institute.
The building is now owned by Emory University, and plans are underway to restore it and turn it into a nursing home.
