Avondale Estates Historic District

02/20/09

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Photo Gallery: Avondale Estates Historic District

Amongst the beautiful houses in this community lies the home of Gutzon Borglum. Information on his work on Stone Mountain is contained in the marker text at the bottom of this gallery. His house is featured in the last two photos of the gallery.

Marker text:
The Gutzon Borglum House
Avondale Estates
1924-1925
Gutzon Borglum, the world famous sculptor of Mt. Rushmore and the first man to work on the Confederate Memorial carving on Stone Mountain, lived in this house from 1924 to 1925. He had begun the Stone Mountain carving in 1923 with his plan that included Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and an army of Confederate soldiers on horseback, fading into the granite.
In 1924, Borglum became and early resident of the city of Avondale Estates, one of the first planned communities in Georgia. George Willis, the city's founder and Borglum's close friend, had urged him to live here while working on the Stone Mountain carving. Borglum accepted because Avondale Estates was convenient both to Atlanta and to his work on Stone Mountain.
In a controversial funding dispute with the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, Borglum destroyed his models for the carving and left Avondale Estates in 1925 to begin his monumental work on Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Borglum died in 1941.
044-90 Donor: Avondale Community Action Georgia Historic Marker 1983

Travel Main | Alston House | Avondale Estates Historic District | Blair-Rutland Building | Briarcliff | Briarcliff-Normandy Apartments | Callanwolde | Cameron Court District | Cheek-Spruill House | Cleburne's & Maney's Divs. | Decatur Cemetery | DeKalb County Courthouse | Neville and Helen Lustron Farmer House | Gentry House | Cora Beck Hampton Schoolhouse and House | Kirkwood School | Agnes Less Chapter House of the UDC | Mary Gay House | Oglethorpe University Historic District | Russell and Nelle Lustron Pines House | Pythagoras Lodge No. 41 | Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children | The Seminary | Smith-Benning House | South Candler Street - Agnes-Scott College Historic District | Steatite Boulder | Steele-Cobb House | Stone Mountain | Stone Mountain Boat Cruise | Stone Mountain Covered Bridge | Stone Mountain Crossroads | Stone Mountain Museum | Stone Mountain Plantation | Stone Mountain Quarry | Stone Mountain Train Ride | The Stoneman Raid | The Swanton House | US Post Office - Decatur | Wheeler's Cav. at Decatur | Zuber-Jarrell House (Linden Manor)

This site was last updated 02/20/09