Capitol View War Housing

July 26, 1942, the realty firm of Haas & Dodd announced that they were selling houses for war workers on a 35 acre tract of land adjacent to Perkerson Park and near the Sylvan Hills subdivision. At this time, the new subdivision was called Fairmount Forest. The tract was located at the corner of Deckner and Stewart Avenue and was once part of the Perkerson properties. Fifty houses were planned for this subdivision and at the time of the announcement, twenty-four houses had been constructed. These were located on Belmont Avenue, south of Deckner and sold for less than $4,o00 for a five-room house and less than $5,000 for a six-room house.

Haas & Dodd noted that the houses were designed by "one of Atlanta's leading architects" to be in harmony with the existing houses in the community and that no two houses would look the same. The article cites that the subdivision and housing was authorized by the government for defense workers, which are described as: "a member of the armed forces, a person engaged in a plant producing war materials, either by direct contract or by subcontract, or an employee of a branch of the United States government engaged in war activity.

In a subsequent article in November of that year, the name of the subdivision had changed to Fairmount Park and we learn that the developer was Fairmount Development Company, though still being sold by Haas & Dodd. The 35 acre tract was subdivided into 125 lots. The lot sizes were considerably larger than those previously subdivided in Capitol view, the frontage being no less than 71 feet and the houses situated on the lots so that at least 25 feet stood between each house. The house set backs were determined by a desire to "preserve and balance the yard space."

By this time, the 50 houses had been completed, 32 of which had been sold, all to war workers. The completed houses were located on Belmont Avenue and Athens Avenue. The site was noted to be convenient to the Chevrolet Plant, Fort McPherson, the Candler Warehouse, the airport, and other war industry locations. The builder for this project was W. R. Jordan. The article repeated the previous assertion that the homes were designed by a leading Atlanta architect, unfortunately no name was ever mentioned.

NOTE: There is a picture associated with the 2nd article cited below, however AJC retains the rights to it and I can not publish on the page. However it is interesting in that the houses are very visible as there are no trees.

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"To Build 50 Homes in New Subdivision for War Workers." The Atlanta Constitution, July 26, 1942, pg. 8D, ProQuest Historical Newspapers Atlanta Constitution (1868-1939).

"Fairmont Park Subdivision is Growing Fast." The Atlanta Constitution, November 8, 1942, pg. 7D, ProQuest Historical Newspapers Atlanta Constitution (1868-1939).