With all of the new hi-rise ‘multi-family’ construction of condominiums and apartments, a popular misconception is that the houses in Midtown (Piedmont to Monroe, Ponce De Leon to 10th Street) are single family homes. While this is understandable to a point, it’s not entirely accurate.
When the Midtown neighborhood was laid out in the early 1900s, Peachtree Street, Juniper Street and Piedmont Avenue were lined with large mansions and grand apartment buildings. East of Piedmont the homes were slightly smaller, but still rather large – between 1,500 and 5,000 square feet. Just like the main avenues, many of these streets also contained apartment houses, some quite large as on Myrtle off of 5th , Charles Allen at 10th and all along Ponce De Leon Avenue.
During the early and mid 1940s, numerous large historic homes in Midtown were divided into several apartments to house families while the husbands were serving in World War II. Then, in the 1960s, the homes that were divided into multiple units were occupied by “hippies” because of their affordable rent. In the recent 20-30 years, many of those same homes were renovated and sold as condominiums. Through the years, many of the historic homes also succumbed to fire, and were subsequently replaced with apartment buildings and small condominium complexes.
As you drive through historic Midtown today, many of the beautiful “single family homes” actually contain multiple condominiums or apartments.
