Buckhead - Atlanta, Georgia

Garden Hills is a large urban forest neighborhood between Peachtree and Piedmont roads, bordered on the north by Pharr Road and on the south by East Wesley Road. For intown living, Garden Hills has it all: winding streets lined with old trees, an imposing mix of early 20^th century homes, pocket parks, landscaped traffic islands and a neighborhood pool/recreation center – all convenient to shopping, transportation, schools and churches. The oldest streets were given historic district status in 1987.

Homes in Garden Hills range from Georgian, Tudor and Spanish Revival to Craftsman, with a scattering of later styles.

Garden Hills was developed beginning in 1925 by Phillips Campbell McDuffie, a prominent Atlanta lawyer, who formed the Garden Hills Corp. and advertised the area as "Beautiful Garden Hills." He envisioned a country club community with a pool and community center at its heart.

The neighborhood was planned in three phases: the Country Club section, from Rumson Road east to North Hills Drive including the pool and community center; the Peachtree section, from Peachtree Road to Rumson Road; and the Brentwood Section, from North Hills Drive to Piedmont Road.

Three parks are in or near Garden Hills: Sunnybrook Park, a wooded strip with a stream and stone bridges is at Brentwood Drive and Brentwood Terrace; Alexander Park, named for Aaron Alexander, whose family owned the tract in the 1800s, on East Wesley Road across from the Garden Hills Pool; and Frankie Allen Park, a large complex on Pharr Road that includes baseball diamonds, tennis courts and granite grill/picnic areas.

Garden Hills Elementary School and Atlanta International School (formerly North Fulton High School) on North Fulton Drive are beautiful examples of the work of famed Atlanta architect Philip Shutze. They are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Also nearby on Peachtree Road are the Moorish-style Alhambra Apartments, built in 1927 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Traffic islands throughout the neighborhood are landscaped and contain granite neighborhood markers.

The Garden Hills pool is still the heart of the neighborhood, a popular gathering place at East Wesley Road and Pinetree Drive. For information on pool facilities, call (404) 848-7220. A rustic clubhouse (built in the 1920s) with a large porch and fireplace had the feeling of a cabin tucked in woods.

For pool hours, fees and rules, click here.

The clubhouse burned in a fire of undetermined origin on April 21, 1999, but the building has been rebuilt and recaptures much of the original feeling. There also is a playground and soccer field.

For more about Garden Hills' past, see historian Bill Bell's "McDuffie's Homes."

Public schools (see Buckhead Education) include Garden Hills Elementary, Sutton Middle School and North Atlanta High.

MARTA bus service is available along both Peachtree and Piedmont roads and rapid rail service is available at the nearby Lindbergh MARTA station at Lindbergh Drive and Piedmont Road.