Herndon Home

Herndon Home was the Atlanta, Georgia mansion home of Alonzo Franklin Herndon, a rags-to-riches hero who was born into slavery, but went on to become Atlanta's first black millionaire. He founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. Built in 1910 and located at 587 University Place NW in the Vine City neighborhood, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000. It had previously been declared a "landmark building exterior" by the city of Atlanta in 1989. The vacant Herndon Building on Auburn Avenue, where Alonzo built his business, was already in very poor condition and was seriously damaged in the 2008 Atlanta tornado (which also passed very close to the home). It was demolished in late April 2008. The Herndon Building was one of...