medical arts building on

Life Care Center Of America

The Medical Arts Building in Downtown Atlanta has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The dilapidated building at 384 Peachtree Street is one of a few surviving examples of the expansion of Atlanta’s central business district north of Five Points during the first three decades of the 20th century. As one of the first buildings in Atlanta to include a covered parking garage, it also represents the increasing influence of the automobile on the city. The building, developed by local doctors Cliff Sauls, Grady E. Clay, James E. Paulin and Malvern D. Huff, is an excellent example of an early 20th-century mid-rise office building, utilizing Neoclassical elements of pilasters, decorative cornice and clean lines. The building is also the work of noted Georgia architect G. Lloyd Preacher, who designed many buildings in Atlanta, including Atlanta City Hall and the Wynne-Claughton Building. Construction on the Medical Arts Building began in May 1926, and was completed in 1927. Global X, which provides capital to adaptive reuse projects for historic buildings, announced last month that it will refurbish the long-decaying structure.

Meet Little Finn, a Jack Russell/ Beagle mix. This little guy is full of fun! If you’ve never had a Terrier, you should probably know they are full of personality and can be feisty, especially with other dogs, so Little Finn would love to exercise with only his human, at least for now.

He has been with the Atlanta Humane Society for a while, so his adoption fee has been reduced, and his perfect home would be with adult humans only. Little Finn is hoping your search for the perfect companion will be FINN-ished once you meet him!

You can meet Little Finn at the Atlanta Humane Society (AHS) Mansell Campus, 1565 Mansell Road, Alpharetta, 30009. For hours and more information, call 404-875-5331 or visit atlantahumane.org.

Currently, the Howell Mill campus of the AHS, 2.29 acres of land at 10th Street and Howell Mill in Midtown, is being offered for sale; proceeds will fund several new AHS projects.

Keeping Blandtown Alive

By Collin Kelley

Artist Gregor Turk is keeping the name of one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods, Blandtown, alive.

Turk recently installed a large sign on the small lawn of his studio on English Street that reads “Welcome to the Heart of Blandtown.” It’s part installation, part reminder as new homes are literally springing up all around the tiny white house that is one of only three remaining original structures in the neighborhood.

Blandtown has slowly been absorbed into what is now called West Midtown, while Brock Built Homes has named the new development around Turk’s studio West Town.

Turk’s studio, a tiny white cottage he guesses was built in the late 1950s or early 60s, is dwarfed by the two-story, single-family half-millon dollar homes that have sprung up on both sides, behind and across the street.

“This neighborhood has a history and I think people will embrace the name – like they have with Normaltown in Athens or Boring, Oregon – if they know more about it,” Turk said.

The neighborhood was named after Felix Bland, a freed slave who settled in the area after the Civil War. For many years, it was a thriving AfricanAmerican community, but it has slowly been erased, Turk said. As a matter of fact, looking at an original map of the area, part of the Westside Provision District, which includes restaurants like Bacchanalia and JCT Kitchen, and trendy fashion and interior design shops all lie in what was once Blandtown.

Turk moved into his Blandtown studio in 2002 when English Street’s most notable address was a crack house. “They would put a Tweety Bird piñata in a tree when they got a new shipment in,” Turk recalled. A half- dozen other homes in the neighborhood were occupied by residents and vagrants alike. Turk – whose art has appeared

Artist Gregor Turk stands outside his studio on English Street with the "Welcome to the heart of Blandown" he erected last year. Turk's studio is one of only three original structures left in the historic community, which has become known as West Midtown. The studio is also surrounded by new singlefamily homes in a community that has been marketed as "West Town."