The Herndon Home is located in Atlanta's Vine City neighborhood, adjacent to the campus of Morris Brown College on the north side of University Place NW. It is a two-story rectangular structure, faced in brick, with a flat, balustraded roof, porches projecting from the sides, and a massive neoclassical entrance portico, supported by large paired columns. The entrance is framed by wide sidelight windows and topped by a semi-oval transom, all windows displaying etching and tracery. The building is capped by a full entablature and modillioned cornice. The flat roof is usable as an open terrace, although it was reported to be in poor condition in 2000. The building interior is elaborately fitted with original period wood, stone, and plaster. The main living rooms have murals on the wall depicting elements of the Herndon family history. The house was built in 1910 for Alonzo and Adrienne Herndon. Much of the building's design is credited to Adrienne, who was a drama teacher at Atlanta University, and had intended the rooftop terrace, from which the university campus was visible, as a performance venue. According to available documentation, all of the work on the mansion, except for its electrical and plumbing systems, was performed by African-American laborers and contractors. Alonzo Herndon was born into slavery in 1858, and was freed, while still a child, by the American Civil War. From this virtually penniless beginning, Herndon built a chain of barbershops in Atlanta, and in 1905 founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, which grew to become the nation's largest African-American-owned insurance company, and made him a millionaire. Herndon's son Norris continued to run Atlanta Life until his own death in 1955. The vacant Herndon Building on Auburn Avenue, where Alonzo built his business, was seriously damaged in the 2008 Atlanta tornado, and was demolished in late April 2008. The Herndon Building was one of three contributing properties in the Sweet Auburn Historic District associated with the life of Alonzo Herndon. The Atlanta Life Insurance Company Building and the Rucker Building are the other two.
Herndon Foundation
The Herndon Home is now owned by the nonprofit Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Foundation, which since 1983 has operated the home. The home is open for tours. The foundation supports entrepreneurship.
