Herndon Home

Completed in 1910, the Herndon Home, was the residence of Alonzo Herndon and his family. Herdon was a former slave raised in a sharecropping family after the Civil War. Herndon studied barbering, and owned and managed a string of barbershops in downtown Atlanta after the Civil War, one of which was considered to be the most elegant in the country with marble floors and chandelier. Investing his income into real estate, Herndon became the largest black property owner in Atlanta by 1900. Later, Herndon founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, located in the Sweet Auburn Historic District, and became Atlanta's first black millionaire. The home was primarily designed by Adrienne Herndon, Alonzo's first wife and a teacher at Atlanta University. The couple had one son, Norris. Adrienne died of Addison's disease just three months after the home was completed. In 1912 Alonzo married Jessie Gillespie. The Herndon home is a two-story, 15-room Beaux Arts mansion built by local black craftsmen. The formally composed building is constructed with multi-colored brick, and features a two-story entry portico supported by Corinthian columns. One-story porches to each side of the building echo this theme in brick piers and wooden capitals. An elliptical fanlight over the main entrance and the balustrade above the full entablature of the building's cornice add a distinctly Georgian Revival flavor to this imposing residence. The Herndon Home is a lasting tribute to the hard work and talent of extraordinary African Americans in Atlanta, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000.
Completed in 1910, the Herndon Home, was the residence of Alonzo Herndon and his family. Herdon was a former slave raised in a sharecropping family after the Civil War. Herndon studied barbering, and owned and managed a string of barbershops in downtown Atlanta after the Civil War, one of which was considered to be the most elegant in the country with marble floors and chandelier. Investing his income into real estate, Herndon became the largest black property owner in Atlanta by 1900. Later, Herndon founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, located in the Sweet Auburn Historic District, and became Atlanta's first black millionaire. The home was primarily designed by Adrienne Herndon, Alonzo's first wife and a teacher at Atlanta University. The couple had one son, Norris. Adrienne died of Addison's disease just three months after the home was completed. In 1912 Alonzo married Jessie Gillespie. The Herndon home is a two-story, 15-room Beaux Arts mansion built by local black craftsmen. The formally composed building is constructed with multi-colored brick, and features a two-story entry portico supported by Corinthian columns. One-story porches to each side of the building echo this theme in brick piers and wooden capitals. An elliptical fanlight over the main entrance and the balustrade above the full entablature of the building's cornice add a distinctly Georgian Revival flavor to this imposing residence. The Herndon Home is a lasting tribute to the hard work and talent of extraordinary African Americans in Atlanta, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000.

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