243 Nacoochee Ave

243 Nacoochee Avenue sits on land that once was a part of the Buena Vista plantation and later developed along with much of the Boulevard neighborhood as Athens’ first streetcar suburb by the Athens Park and Improvement Company. Built between 1909 and 1912, based on city directories, 243 Nacoochee reflects a Queen Anne-style cottage. 

Drawing on the earliest depiction of the house in the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of 1913, 243 Nacoochee has retained its historical structure, with little record of the alterations to the house. However, the consistent listing of 243 Nacoochee’s construction year as 1955 on online realty sites suggests that there was significant unspecified renovation to the home in this period. 243 Nacoochee Avenue retains its historic character, with a Folk-Victorian style common to its era and the neighborhood, with little recorded renovations to suggest changes to this character. 

David and Maggie Chandler are the first recorded residents of 243 Nacoochee Avenue, living there circa 1912 through 1915 at the latest, with David working as a carpenter in this period. Unlike many homes in the Boulevard neighborhood which served as duplexes or other split households, 243 Nacoochee Avenue seems to have primarily, if not entirely, a single family home throughout its history. However, the house is similar to the majority of the Boulevard nei in that its residents until 1958 at the very earliest were primarily members of the working and middle class, working as streetcar operators, electricians, and dental hygienicists. Contrary to common perceptions of this period, both male and female residents in this period worked outside the home, as was more common in this working and middle class neighborhood. 

From the mid to late-1920s to the early-mid 1950s, the Fulcher family lived in 243 Nacoochee, with the patriarch, Ezra, working as an electrician for LM Leathers and Sons and the WA Mathis Company before opening his own company, Fulcher Electrical Services. A prominent later resident from 2003-2006 was Paul Trudeau, drummer for well-known Athens bands in the 1990s and 2000s, Harvey Milk and National Anthem. While the structure of 243 Nacoochee Avenue has remained largely unaltered, it has been the home for residents in a wide range of fields, representing the complex nature of Athens throughout its history as a center for both industry and art.