City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (404) 688-3353

Address: 327 St. Paul Ave. SE

Description: Progress has its price, and much of the architecture that once symbolized Atlanta has, for various reasons, disappeared. Even so, the visitor to the modern city can still encounter remarkably preserved places that afford insight into how Atlantans once lived. The Atlanta Preservation Center’s walking tours through Atlanta’s historic districts are a great way to experience different parts of the city’s heritage. APC’s tour of the Fox Theatre, offered four times weekly throughout the year, is especially popular, since it’s the only way to see the grand movie palace’s interior without buying a ticket to a show. The Fox tour is given Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.; meet at the 600 Peachtree St. entrance.APC’s other tours, which are all conducted outdoors, are given from March through November. All tours (except the Fox Theatre) are canceled in the event of rain; no tours are given on legal holidays. Admission for each tour is $10 for adults, $5 for students and persons 65 and older. Reservations are necessary only for groups of 10 or more. On-board guides for bus tours are also available. Here’s what’s featured on the outdoor tours:The Sweet Auburn/MLK District tour takes visitors though this center of African-American Atlanta’s early commerce and social life. At the heart of the community is the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic District, featuring Dr. King’s birth home, church, and tomb. The tour is given on Saturdays at 10 a.m.; meet in front of the APEX Museum, 135 Auburn Ave., near Courtland Street.The Historical Downtown tour spotlights the architecture at the core of Atlanta’s first high-rise district and includes six historic building interiors. The tour is given Friday at noon, Saturday at 10 a.m., and Sunday at 10 a.m.; meet at the Candler Building, 127 Peachtree St.The Frederick Law Olmsted Druid Hills tour will take you through the elegant 1893 neighborhood laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted and featured in the Oscar-winning movie for best picture Driving Miss Daisy. Here, along winding, tree-lined streets, are exquisite mansions designed by renowned Atlanta-based architects Neel Reid, W.T. Downing, and Philip Shutze. For maximum impact, take this tour springtime when Druid Hills is splendidly arrayed with blooming dogwoods and azaleas. The tour is given on Saturday at 10 a.m.; meet in front of St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1410 Ponce de Leon Ave., at the corner of Oakdale Road. On the Ansley Park tour, you can enjoy the lovely lawns and elegant homes of another of Atlanta’s original suburbs designed with automobile (not trolley car) commuters in mind. Ansley Park has many fine homes by such architects as Downing, Reid, and Shutze and was the site of the Georgia Governor’s Mansion for more than 40 years. The tour is given the second and fourth Sunday of the month at 2 p.m.; meet in front of the First Church of Christ Scientist, 1235 Peachtree St. The Inman Park tour has visitors strolling through Atlanta’s first planned suburb, which was developed by Joel Hurt in the 1880s. Not coincidentally, Hurt ran Atlanta’s first electric streetcar line to his new suburb 2 miles east of Downtown, which was then part of a separate town called Edgewood. Hurt’s own home is still standing, as are the homes of Coca-Cola magnates Asa Candler and Ernest Woodruff. After many years of decline, Inman Park began to rouse itself in the late 1960s and is now a nationally recognized symbol of neighborhood preservation and revitalization. The tour is given Thursday and Sunday at 2 p.m.; meet at the King-Keith House Bed & Breakfast, 889 Edgewood Ave.