BLOOMFIELD HISTORIC DISTRICT

The Bloomfield Historic District is the area roughly bounded on the west by heavily-traveled South Milledge Avenue, on the north by Peabody Street one block south of the Baxter Street east-west traffic artery, on the east by the University of Georgia grounds, and on the south by Rutherford Street one block west of the Lumpkin Street thoroughfare.

This densely developed thirty acre district is named for Bloomfield Street, its principal avenue, running parallel to South Milledge and intersected by several other streets. Houses with uniform setbacks stand on small and predominantly rectangular lots. As the principal building material, wood functions structurally and decoratively, although brick and stucco finishes or detailing appear among the more recent houses. The northern end of the district features Victorian Eclectic houses dating from the 1890s; these wood-framed structures exhibit modest period detailing including gable ends with decorative vents, bay windows, and wrap-around porches. Developed in the first two decades of the twentieth century, the southern portion of the district encompasses residences of the Craftsman style and Bungalow form along with a few buildings of the American Foursquare form and the Tudor Revival style. Typical features include low-pitched roofs, front dormers, wide eaves with exposed rafters, a variety of exterior wall treatments, and massive front porches. Only a few 1950s apartment buildings intrude on the intact portion of this historic urban neighborhood.

In the late 1880s Robert L. Bloomfield, a prominent Athens industrialist and landowner, subdivided a portion of his land along the east side of Bloomfield Street into lots, where several houses were soon built. In 1912 his son-in-law, John E. Talmadge, Jr., divided the nearby Hall Street area into lots. The west side of Bloomfield Street, mostly back lots and cow pasture for the large homes on South Milledge Avenue, began to be sold off and subdivided in the 1920s. The southernmost portion of this district was surveyed and subdivided in 1890, but John Mell purchased all the lots and attached them to his adjoining residence on South Milledge Avenue, which delayed development of this area. The proximity of the Milledge Avenue streetcar line made the district increasingly attractive to middle-class Athenians, which stimulated its growth during the Twenties and Thirties into a modest middle-class neighborhood.

Within the Bloomfield district, buildings judged worthy of individual recognition include the Parr House and three residences located at 145, 163, and 193 Mell Street, all of them interpretations of the Craftsman style designed by turn of the century Athens architect, Fred Orr

The Bloomfield Street Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (April 18, 1985) and has been locally designated as a Historic District (November 1, 1988).