The West Hancock Avenue Historic District is the area roughly bounded on the north by Hill Street, on the east by Franklin Street, on the south by Broad Street and Hancock Avenue, and on the west by the Plaza.

Originally a black community settled in the rural outskirts of Athens, the region is now situated entirely within the city limits. The northern and central sections of the area extend the city's original gridiron street pattern; however, the development also encompasses an irregular street design west of Rocksprings Street. Side streets drop off dramatically from Hancock Avenue, which runs along an undulating ridge and serves as the main transportation route through the district. Houses, closely fronting the street, possess similar setbacks and occupy small rectangular lots. Wood-framed vernacular buildings with front porches predominate, displaying one-story construction, front porches, and pyramidal, gable, or hip roofs. A few two-story buildings and several Bungalow and Shotgun forms provide variety within the area. Common architectural features include central doors, double pen or two front doors, recessed porches, dormer windows, and front gables. Other stylistic elements include Greek Revival doors with transoms and sidelights, Neoclassical porches, Queen Anne fishscale shingles, and Victorian porch posts. The district contains a twentieth century vernacular church with Georgian Revival details; this brick church features a modified-cross plan, a central spire upon a gabled roof, round-arched windows with marbled glass, and a portico with columns and three pedimented entrances. Brick commercial buildings primarily occupy corner lots along Hancock Street .

Platted as a portion of Lynwood Park in 1906, although settlement had begun in the late-nineteenth century, the district developed into one of Athens' early black residential areas. The Lynwood Park plat, which included the areas of Hancock, Glenhaven, and Billups streets and the southwestern portion of the district, reflected the evolution of the district from the original grid pattern to an irregular street design. In 1913 the area between Milledge Avenue and the western city limits became an exclusively black settlement, comprising one-sixth of Athens's black citizens. Because of such racially segregated housing patterns, the West Hancock region served as home to a wide cross-section of the city's black residents. A residential hierarchy developed, with the more level and elevated sites chosen for larger homes built by the most successful black families. Tradesmen and unskilled laborers lived in the district along with educators, lawyers, and doctors, such as Dr. T. J. Elder, a prominent educator, and Dr. Andrew Jones, a physician. Along with the Reese Street Historic District, this district has remained largely intact and identifiable as an urban black neighborhood.

The West Hancock Avenue Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (March 30, 1988).