House Proud: A Social History of Atlanta Interiors, 1880-1919

From middle-class cottages to Gilded Age mansions, House Proud presents a view of Atlanta, reflected through the city’s most highly prized homes. Richly illustrated with archival photographs and annotated with historical commentary, House Proud traces Atlanta’s response to national trends in interiors and furnishings and identifies those architects and interior decorators who helped craft Atlanta’s image as a City of Beautiful Homes. The interiors presented tell the story of Atlanta and its people during the dynamic decades of 1880-1919, when the city emerged from reconstruction and entered a period of notable expansion and economic progress. Images and textural commentary illustrate how the homes came to embody the aspirations of both the New South and the New Rich. Seen as proof of Atlanta’s post-war progress and artistic sophistication, homes were fundamental to the city’s ongoing efforts to promote itself and reconcile its regional past with its hopes for the future.