Brightwell Shotgun Row
The National Park Service has not published a boundary polygon for this district; the map shows the listed properties inside it and the district's reference point.
Why it's listed
Six double-shotgun houses on Barber Street in Athens, Georgia, form a compact row built between about 1935 and 1940 by Helen Brightwell. Three face Barber Street and three face Crawford Avenue, a small unpaved lane at the rear, making a back-to-back arrangement that is the only one identified in Clarke County. Each house has weatherboard siding, a front-gable roof, brick chimneys and a full-width front porch. The houses were designed as duplexes but were converted to single-family use soon after construction. Double shotguns are scarce locally, and these six account for a notable share of those recorded on a 1947 insurance map. The row also stands in New Town, an African-American neighborhood that grew from the 1890s beside the Seaboard rail line to house workers for nearby industries. City directories show working-class Black tenants such as cooks, laundresses and laborers. Rehabilitated in 1997, the houses are now rented by students.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29).
| Period of significance | c.1935-1950 |
|---|---|
| Styles | Other: double-shotgun house |
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Black, Community Planning and Development |
| Acreage | 0.5 |
| Boundary source | not published |
| Full listing page | Brightwell Shotgun Row (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.