ANSLEY PARK SPARKS A NEW BOOK
by Bob Foreman © 2013
Everything you always wanted to know about Atlanta’s Ansley Park neighborhood (but were afraid to ask) may be found in a brand new book authored by native Atlantan Don Ariail. The latest in Arcadia’s Images of America series, this excellent tome bubbles with well-researched writing and is replete with photos and informative maps.
When one considers Atlanta’s record for historic preservation, the fact that Ansley Park still exists at all is nothing short of a miracle.
Constructed as a neighbor to the vast Amos Rhodes estate between 1904 and 1930, Ansley Park was designed with streets laid out “to preserve the natural contours of the land” and incorporated building types from bungalows to mansions. From this bleak and treeless land would emerge a magical enclave of winding boulevards, secret lanes, and sunken parks.
Ansley Park was developed from West Peachtree eastward and originally included the fantastic mansions which lined both sides of Peachtree Street, from Pershing Point down to Fifteenth. Of those half-hundred lots, the Mitchell King residence (1382 Peachtree at 17th Street) and The Castle at 87 Fifteenth are all that remain.
The Castle, built as a retirement cottage for Confederate Officer Ferdinand McMillan and termed “a hunk of junk” by a nameless former mayor, provided a Mecca for painters and actors in the 1960s when it was owned by arts doyen Hazel Roy Butler and housed Luis Maza and Dick Munroe’s Pocket Theatre. From that rare vantage one could witness the pulverization of Hattie High’s mansion (the original museum building) by the new arts center and the evisceration by MARTA of wonderful Lombardy Way and the last of in-town housing in which artists and actors could actually afford to live, not to mention park in front of.
Today’s Ansley residents discourage the use of their neighborhood as a cut-through from Peachtree to Piedmont, but among the facts that Mr. Ariail’s book reveals is that Fifteenth Street was constructed to provide the long-awaited Northwest Passage between Peachtree and the Piedmont Driving Club.
Fascinating photographs and anecdotes document the author’s section on Houses and Residents. Other chapters describe famous residents, such as authoress Peggy Mitchell and Atlanta Ballet founder Dorothy Alexander; Edwin Ansley’s stately estate which for decades served as the Governor’s Mansion; social organizations with emphasis on the Ansley Golf Club; and nearby churches and schools.
Spring Street public elementary school, now tenderly preserved as Vince Anthony’s Puppetry Center, is well-represented and evokes an era entirely different from our own. With a student body of 450 and a class size of thirty, in 1948 a mere seventeen ladies were required as faculty, including Mrs. Douglas (principal) and Mrs. Bingham (cafeteria). Kids who lived in the vicinity were guaranteed a first-rate education for free, far removed from today’s drug-free zones, metal detectors and special license plates for “educators.” The faces of the children are smiling open and fearless.
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