Techwood Homes
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Techwood Homes Historic District
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Techwood Homes, late 1930s
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| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
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| Coordinates | 33°46′4″N 84°23′30″W / 33.76778°N 84.39167°WCoordinates: 33°46′4″N 84°23′30″W / 33.76778°N 84.39167°W |
| Built | 1935 |
| Architect | Burge & Stevens; J.A. Jones & Co. |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 76000632 |
| Added to NRHP | June 29, 1976 |
Techwood Homes was the first public housing project in the United States, opened just before the First Houses. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, it replaced a shantytown known as Tanyard Bottom or Tech Flats. It was completed on August 15, 1936, but was dedicated on November 29 of the previous year by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The apartments included bathtubs and electric ranges in each unit, 189 of which had garages. Central laundry facilities, a kindergarten and a library were also provided. Techwood was intended to eliminate the slums that the poor had been living in, but eventually became one itself.
The complex was designed by Georgia Tech alumnus and architect Flippen David Burge (later Stevens & Wilkinson), and organized by Charles Forrest Palmer, a real estate developer who had become an expert on public housing and would later head up both the newly created Atlanta Housing Authority and the Chamber of Commerce. The landscaping was designed by Edith Henderson, who also designed the neighboring Clark Howell Homes with her partner Grace Campbell.
The name came from Techwood Drive, in turn named for nearby Georgia Tech. The project included a 300-student dormitory for Georgia Tech, McDaniel Dormitory, commonly referred to as Techwood Dorm. It was run by the Atlanta Housing Authority. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s the area was synonymous with urban blight in Atlanta.
The neighboring Clark Howell Homes was built in 1941 in a less institutional style. A. Ten Eyck Brown was the architect. Clark Howell was reserved for whites only until 1968, with an all-black counterpart at the University Homes project (built 1938) near Atlanta University Center.
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