467 Boulevard

Constructed between 1913 and 1915, as indicated by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Athens, 467 Boulevard stands as a pyramidal cottage-type home in a vernacular style. The home has undergone several documented changes and renovations throughout its history, including a significant, unspecified renovation in 1978, a kitchen renovation in 2005, and a downstairs bathroom renovation shortly before 2021. In addition, individual elements have been altered, including the installation of a stained glass window in a room off the kitchen. However, many of the aspects of the home have remained unchanged, with little alteration to its original design by 1967. It retains original heart pine floors– a wood native to Georgia and much of the Southeast– four original fireplaces, and original pocket doors between the dining room and living room. Through the preservation of its design and many interior elements, 467 Boulevard remains an excellent example of a home with a historic folk style not often seen in Athens. 

The earliest recorded residents of 467 Boulevard were I.A. and Laura Rubenstein in 1915, who also had a cook, Fannie Smith, who was listed at 467 Boulevard but lived at 547 Pulaski Street. I.A. Rubenstein was a landlord in Athens, renting to both white and African-American tenants, as well as the Chaplain of the Mount Vernon Freemason Lodge. Throughout the decades following the Rubensteins, 467 Boulevard housed various household compositions, sometimes one larger family and at other times several couples sharing the home, with some renting from the owning couple. 

Until at least 1958, these owners and tenants were primarily members of the working and middle classes, serving as railroad conductors, textile workers, painters, and grocers. Contrary to common conceptions of this period, both male and female residents in this period often worked outside the home. One prominent resident was Thomas K. Duncan, a member of the Duncan family that lived in the home from the 1940s until 1986, who served in a Field Artillery Unit of the US Army in the mid-1950s and also worked at the Kroger grocery store that once stood at the corner of Pulaski and Broad Street. Curtis Crowe, the drummer for the iconic Athens New Wave band, Pylon, also owned the home from 1986 to 2004. In its approximately 110 years, 467 Boulevard Avenue has served as a home and a place of life for a variety of individuals and families, hosting everyone from railroad conductors to rock stars.