The new house featured yellow-brick and a tile roof, large eaves, and decorative brackets. Hancock constructed a new, Italian Renaissance style house to the west of 306 Ponce on the same lot in May of 1910 which would have been right on the corner of Ponce de Leon and Argonne. Hancock Sr., his wife Virginia, and their two sons Kerfoot and William Hancock, Jr. Ed Maddox, son of an Atlanta City Councilmember, and his business partner Charles Hooks, with whom Maddox partnered to establish the Atlanta Cotton & Stock Exchange. However, by 1900 the Quinby family had moved out and for the next five years the home was rented to several individuals and families.
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The couple moved in Atlanta’s elite society, and even five years after the home was constructed, the Adairs proclaimed there was “no prettier or more modern home in the city.” The two-story home featured nine rooms, a slate roof, two porcelain tubs, a furnace, gas, electricity, and a four car garage. Teakcle Quinby, moved into their new home at today’s 306 Ponce de Leon (then 162 Ponce de Leon). Hemphill, co-founder of The Atlanta Constitution in 1868 and mayor from 1891-1893, purchased lots including 306 Ponce in 1888.ġ0 years later, in July 1898, Hemphill’s daughter, Lula Belle Hemphill Quinby, and her husband L. 306 Ponce De Leon Ave was first platted in 1883 but appears to have remained undeveloped until the late 1890s. Courtesy of Joe White HistoryĮarly Ponce De Leon Avenue was pushed by developers Richard Peters and renowned real estate duo George and Forrest Adair to be the most exclusive, upper class corridor in Atlanta. Miss Opal Foxx ( Benjamin Smoke), Ru Paul, & Miss Felecia at the Celebrity Club. Small Business Big Mission – Atlanta Business Chronicle, May 28, 2020.Ashby Street Theatre, Atlanta Eagle on Georgia Trust’s ‘Places in Peril’ list – SaportaReport, Nov 11, 2020.Iconic LGBTQ bar Atlanta Eagle could soon be historic landmark, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Dec 18, 2020.Iconic Atlanta Eagle gay bar to get historic landmark designation from city – Atlanta Journal Consitution, Dec 21, 2020.COVID Won’t Stop Atlanta’s Most Iconic Leather Bar From Queering The South –, Dec 21, 2020.Understanding the Atlanta Eagle’s historic significance, worsening condition, high susceptibility to development, and the ability of the site to provide the LGBTQ community with a cultural anchor in Midtown, the proactive designation of the Atlanta Eagle Building was a core component of Historic Atlanta’s 2020 LGBTQ preservation strategy. Historic Atlanta prepared and submitted 40+ pages of designation materials to the City of Atlanta in June of 2020 to request the local designation and protection of the Atlanta Eagle.
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Historic Atlanta’s successful advocacy on behalf of the building’s preservation has resulted in Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the Department of City Planning’s Office of Design nominating the building for landmark status- a zoning designation that would protect the building from demolition and require approval for exterior changes to the building. Over the past 35 years, the building has developed strong LGBTQ significance during its use as Celebrity Club, Renegade’s Saloon, and The Atlanta Eagle. The building, originally built as a single-family home in 1898, has been home to outsider communities like the LGBTQ community since 1985. The property is historically significant in the LGBTQ community as a site of social interaction as a site that is associated with the historic pattern of policing, harassment, and social control of the LGBTQ community and as a site associated to Ru Paul Charles. The Atlanta Eagle is significant for its long-time association to the LGBTQ community and as an excellent example of a historic home altered for commercial use during the 20th century as Ponce De Leon Ave shifted from an upper class residential boulevard to a commercial corridor.