Margaret Mitchell House and Museum facts for kids
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Crescent Apartments (Margaret Mitchell House)
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Margaret Mitchell House
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| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
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| Built | 1899 |
| Architect | Denning, Mr. |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 96000649 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | June 21, 1996 |
The Margaret Mitchell House is a special museum in Atlanta, Georgia. It was once the home of a famous writer named Margaret Mitchell. She lived here in the early 1900s.
The house is in a part of Atlanta called Midtown. Its address is 979 Crescent Avenue. It was built in 1899 as a large family home. Later, it became an apartment building called the Crescent Apartments.
Margaret Mitchell and her husband lived in Apartment 1 from 1925 to 1932. While living there, she wrote most of her famous book, Gone with the Wind. This book won a special award called the Pulitzer Prize in 1937.
The house is important because it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The City of Atlanta also calls it a historic building. Today, it is part of the Atlanta History Center. It has exhibits that teach visitors about the building's past.
Contents
History of the House
The Margaret Mitchell House started as a single-family home in 1899. But the area around it quickly grew with businesses. So, in 1907, the first family moved away.
The house was sold many times. In 1913-1914, something interesting happened. The house was moved to the back of its lot. A new basement was built underneath it. It then got a new address on Crescent Avenue.
In 1919, the building was changed into ten apartments. It became known as the Crescent Apartments. Three brick stores were built where the house used to stand.
Margaret Mitchell's Home
The Crescent Apartments were a good place to live for Margaret Mitchell. It was close to trolley lines and her parents' house. Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh moved into Apartment 1 when they got married in July 1925.
However, the building's owner had money problems. The house was sold at an auction in 1926. The next owner also faced difficulties when the stock market crashed in 1929. The building was not kept up very well. Margaret Mitchell even called their apartment "the Dump."
By 1931, only two apartments were rented, including the Marshes'. They moved to a bigger apartment nearby in 1932.
Changes Over Time
A new owner took over the Crescent Apartments. It became popular again for a while. But after World War II, the building was in poor shape. In 1946, the porches on the Crescent Avenue side were removed. The original front porches were lost when the house was moved in 1913.
By the 1950s, the building was mostly empty. Some businesses used parts of it. Students from Georgia Tech also liked to rent the old apartments. In 1964, a new shopping center opened nearby. This made the old business area less important.
But the Crescent Apartments got a much-needed update. It was renamed the Windsor House Apartments.
Saving the House
In 1977, the last renters moved out. A new owner planned to rebuild the area. By the late 1980s, this plan did not work out. Many historic buildings in the area were torn down, but the Margaret Mitchell House remained.
The old Crescent Apartments continued to get worse. A small fire damaged a corner of the building in the late 1980s. In 1989, Mayor Andrew Young helped save the house. He made it a city landmark.
When people decided to fix up the property, they looked at its history. The front of the house was made to look like it did in 1899. The back of the building was restored to how it looked when Margaret Mitchell lived there.
Fires and Restoration
Sadly, another fire, thought to be arson, badly damaged the building in September 1994. After this, a German car company, Daimler-Benz, gave $4.5 million. This money helped restore the property and buy the land around it. Daimler-Benz hoped to use the house for events during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
In May 1996, just before the Olympics started, the house was set on fire again. The restoration was almost finished. But this fire damaged or destroyed everything except Margaret Mitchell's apartment.
After the 1996 fire, $2 million from insurance helped continue the restoration. The house was officially opened on May 16, 1997. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
See also
