Herndon Building, Historic office building in Sweet Auburn, United States
The Herndon Building was a three-story, L-shaped brick structure at 251 Auburn Avenue, marked by a large H prominently displayed on its front facade. Inside, it contained 60 offices, 6 storefronts, and a hotel section distributed across multiple floors.
Its completion in 1924 marked a major development in Sweet Auburn and competed directly with the Odd Fellows office complex built by Benjamin J. Davis. The building was demolished in 2008, ending a chapter of African American business history in Atlanta.
The building served as home to several African American organizations, including the NAACP offices, Atlanta Urban League, and the Atlanta School of Social Work during the mid-1920s and early 1930s. These institutions made it a vital center for Black community work and education in the region.
The building was situated on Auburn Avenue with multiple floors of shops and offices that were easy to navigate from a central location. Visitors today should know that the structure no longer exists, as it was demolished in 2008, though the address remains significant in the neighborhood's history.
Alonzo Herndon cleverly incorporated salvaged materials from demolition work into the building's interior design and developed an adjacent gas station that later became a police precinct. This unexpected connection between private enterprise and municipal infrastructure reveals the scope of his business ventures.
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