 Dennis O'Kain photographs
Collection DescriptionHistorical NoteDennis O'Kain is an architectural photographer in Georgia and works in the Southern United States. The Bloomfield Historic District is a densely developed thirty acre residential district in Athens, Georgia, named for the central thoroughfare, Bloomfield Street. It is roughly bounded by Bloomfield and Peabody Streets, the University of Georgia campus, Rutherford Street, and South Milledge Avenue. Houses with uniform setbacks stand on small and predominantly rectangular lots. The architectural styles vary from Victorian Eclectic houses dating from the 1890s, to the Craftsman style, Bungalow form, American Foursquare and the Tudor Revival style. In the late 1880s Robert L. Bloomfield, a prominent Athens industrialist and landowner, subdivided a portion of his land along the east side of Bloomfield Street into lots, where several houses were soon built. In 1912 his son-in-law, John E. Talmadge, Jr., divided the nearby Hall Street area into lots. The west side of Bloomfield Street, mostly back lots and cow pasture for the large homes on South Milledge Avenue, began to be sold off and subdivided in the 1920s. The southernmost portion of this district was surveyed and subdivided in 1890, but John Mell purchased all the lots and attached them to his adjoining residence on South Milledge Avenue, which delayed development of this area. The proximity of the Milledge Avenue streetcar line made the district increasingly attractive to middle-class Athenians, which stimulated its growth during the 1920s and 1930s into a modest middle-class neighborhood. Within the Bloomfield district, buildings judged worthy of individual recognition include the Parr House and three residences located at 145, 163, and 193 Mell Street, all of them interpretations of the Craftsman style designed by turn of the century Athens architect, Fred Orr. The Bloomfield Street Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been locally designated as a Historic District. Oglethorpe County, in northeast Georgia, is the state's seventeenth county. for more information see the article Oglethorpe County in New Georgia Encyclopedia. Scope and ContentThe collection consists of photographs of the Bloomfield area of Athens, Georgia, and photographs of Oglethorpe County, Georgia. The collection also includes reproductions of photographs from the Wilson glass negatives in Special Collections. Administrative InformationPreferred CitationDennis O'Kain photographs, ms2040, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this RepositoryRelated collections in this repository are Dennis O'Kain photographs of NationsBank Plaza, ms2943. | ||||||||||||||||||