The September 11, 1969 Homes section of the Atlanta Journal newspaper featured an article about the second phase of the Embry Hills subdivision. The neighborhood is described as one mile east of the Expressway (I-85) and just south of the new perimeter highway at Chamblee-Tucker Road. The I-285 Perimeter was not completed until 1969.
The neighborhood got its name from the owner-developer, Jack Embry of Embry Realty Company. He was both realtor and home builder. Embry later served as President of the DeKalb Real Estate Board and President of the DeKalb Developer’s Association. He was also Chairman of the Board of the Embry National Bank. (Atlanta Constitution, March 31, 2003)
70 homes in the first phase were already sold and occupied by 1960. The first phase included a range of architectural design including contemporary and traditional. The second phase offered 56 lots. Embry announced there would be a total of 233 homes when the subdivision was complete.
Prices in phase two ranged from $25,000 to $37,500 and lots averaged 100 by 200 feet.
One model home is described as a ranch-style brick home with three bedrooms. Another home is a four-bedroom tri-level brick home.
The neighborhood adjoined the site of Atlanta Baptist College, today’s Mercer University of Atlanta. Since the land that became Mercer was originally owned by the Warren family, it seems like Embry Hills probably was as well.
The 14-acre site right next door to the neighborhood was purchased by the DeKalb County Board of Education from the Warren family for a new elementary school. That became Warren Elementary School..
The Embry Hills Club is mentioned in the 1960 article, where a swimming pool was built on 10 acres for resident member of Embry Hills. The first Girl Scout Brownie troop I was in used to meet at the Embry Hills Club in the mid-1960s.
The developer, Embry, also zoned 22 acres at the highway along Chamblee Tucker Road for a shopping center. The Embry Hills shopping center has evolved many times through the years.
I can’t remember much about the early years of Embry Hills, but there was a dance studio and a fitness center. A little research online told me that the fitness center was My Fair Lady “Beauty retreat and figure salon” in 1971 with two other locations at Cheshire Bridge and Sandy Springs.
Everything about this ad for My Fair Lady screams 1970s. It appeared in a 1971 Atlanta Journal.
Alan Wilson remembers working at the Embry Hills Winn Dixie in 1972 when the Doraville refinery fire occurred. He could see flames and smoke from that vantage point.
Other memories for me include Huddle House and S & S Cafeteria and a dance studio. I believe it was called Barbara Bramble Dance Studio, but that is one of those memories that is a bit vague even though I took classes there!