Fairlie-Poplar Historic District

Fairlie-Poplar is a roughly 10-acre commercial district in downtown Atlanta, just northwest of Five Points. Its narrow streets follow a rigid grid, and brick, stone, cast iron, terra cotta and plate glass buildings rise two to sixteen stories, built to the sidewalk line and sharing party walls. The district holds Atlanta's oldest skyscrapers alongside Victorian storefronts, early twentieth century office buildings and loft structures, in styles ranging from Victorian Eclectic and Chicago to Renaissance Revival, Neoclassical and Art Deco. It was listed because it is the largest and most concentrated intact remnant of the city's late nineteenth and early twentieth century business center. Once billed as Atlanta's new modern fire-proof business district, it grew northward from the older railroad-centered downtown as Atlanta became the commercial hub of Georgia and the Southeast. The buildings also illustrate the move from loadbearing masonry and timber to steel and concrete framing, and early elevators and air conditioning. Six buildings in the district were already individually listed.