Above: Clipping of a newspaper feature praising Buddie’s new Inman Park house.
Fourth Ward
In 1905 Asa Candler, Sr., made arrangements to get out of the cotton mill business and move his second son home. When Buddie returned to Atlanta in 1906 he was initially set up with a job at Coca Cola as a shipping clerk and added to the board of a tontine life insurance company. By 1908 he was moved over to the Candler Investment Company, which managed all of Asa, Sr.’s, real estate holdings. During this period Buddie lived at 348 N. Jackson St. in a neighborhood known as Fourth Ward. Fourth Ward sits just west of the Inman Park neighborhood, where the rest of his family lived. The short duration of his residence in this location indicates that he always intended to live in Inman Park within walking distance of his parents’ house, and only resided at the N. Jackson St. residence during construction.
The Atlanta street numbering system went through a revision decades ago, which makes matching old directories to current locations a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, Sanborn Fire Maps and the city directory’s penchant for listing intersections helps to narrow down the location. In today’s numbering system the house would have been the second lot to the north of the intersection at what is now named Parkway Dr. NE and Angier Ave. NE. A small greenspace named Parkway-Angier Park stands on this location now.
Little information can be found about this house, partly because it was directly in the path of the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917. In fact, it sat only a couple of blocks from properties that were dynamited in an attempt to control the path of the flames. By the time the fire blazed through, Buddie and his family had already moved on Druid Hills, well outside of the path of danger. The Jackson St. house, on the other hand, was undoubtedly destroyed. Another notable house that was destroyed in the fire was the one once occupied by future Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield, whose name is now indelibly associated with the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, a property that once belonged to the Candlers.
The map below was created by a Google Maps user who traced the path of the fire, time-stamped how it progressed throughout the day, and added lots of other details, including the small fire that broke out at the Candler Warehouses, which Buddie managed, that spread the fire department too thin to be able to respond effectively to the inferno that leveled the Fourth Ward.
The aftermath of the devastating fire of 1917. More than 1500 homes were destroyed, including Asa Candler, Jr’s, first Atlanta home on N. Jackson St.
More information about the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 will be included in a future site update..
Inman Park
In 1907 the Atlanta City Directory listed Buddie’s address as 220 Euclid Ave. in Inman Park, but he may not have actually moved in until 1908. His Inman Park home was designed and built by prominent Atlanta architect, George Murphy. George Murphy also designed and built the Candler Building and Callan Castle, where Asa, Sr. and Lucy Elizabeth lived.
In 1908 a feature ran in the Atlanta Georgian that provided the floor plan and construction details of Asa, Jr.’s, home. A photo provides a glimpse at the size of the house, including the generous front porch that sits to the side similar to Callan Castle and Howard’s Inman Park home that was built a few years later. The photo also shows the roofline and vent of a garage where he stored his collection of automobiles. On Sept 18, 1910, an interview with Asa, Jr., about his driving hobby claims he owned “six or seven” cars, all stored together in a barn. In 1911 this outbuilding would become the location of the first of several fires in Buddie’s life. More on that event in a future site update.
Records show that his younger brother, Walter, owned the house next door, and that they both kept horses on their properties. Records also show that Walter sold his house after Buddie moved to Druid Hills and resided for a short period in a victorian home that occupies the southwest corner of Euclid St. and Hurt St. While both Buddie’s and Walter’s houses were demolished in the 1970s, the victorian at Euclid and Hurt still stands. See the map in the sidebar for locations of Candler homes.
Fourth Ward and Inman Park Gallery
1906 ATLANTA CITY DIRECTORY. ASA, JR., LIVED ON N. JACKSON ST. AND WAS LISTED AS A SHIPPING CLERK FOR COCA COLA. HOWARD IS LISTED AS SECRETARY OF THE CANDLER INVESTMENT COMPANY AND HIS HOME ADDRESS IS AT THE GLENN HOUSE WITH HIS IN-LAWS IN INMAN PARK.
1907 ATLANTA CITY DIRECTOR. ASA, JR., IS LISTED AT THE EUCLID ADDRESS BUT MAY NOT HAVE MOVED IN YET. HE WAS EMPLOYED AS A SECRETARY OF THE CANDLER INVESTMENT COMPANY, THE POSITION OCCUPIED BY HIS OLDER BROTHER THE PREVIOUS YEAR, WITH AN OFFICE AT THE CANDLER BUILDING. HOWARD IS LISTED AS VICE-PRESIDENT OF COCA COLA AND STILL LIVED WITH HIS IN-LAWS.
1908 ATLANTA CITY DIRECTORY. ASA, JR., IS LISTED AS SECRETaRY-TREASURER OF THE ATLANTA INVESTMENT COMPANY, THE SAME TITLE AS THE ONE HE HELD AT WITHAM COTTON MILL.
Source: The Atlanta Georgian.
Map of Inman Park, National Historic Places application, 1978. Illustration shows planned highway construction, which successfully bulldozed properties but was never built. The red star notes the location of Asa Candler, Jr.’s, residence, demolished. The Green star notes the location of Walter Candler’s residence, demolished. The blue star marks Callan Castle, home of Asa, Sr., and Lucy Elizabeth. The yellow star marks Howard Candler’s residence.
Sanborn Fire Map, 1911 showing the approximate location of Buddie’s house. Walter’s house (next door) and Buddie’s house fell into the gutter of the binding of the map so this image is a composite with a location estimate based on street numbering system and Atlanta city directories.
JAckson St. lot, former site of Asa Candler, Jr.’s, home, 1906-1907. Now Parkway-Angier Park.
Euclid Ave. lot, former site of Asa Candler, Jr.’s, home, 1907-1911. Now Freedom Park.
