The Northcrest Historic District, in unincorporated Dekalb County, has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Located just outside the I-285 perimeter highway, southeast of Doraville, and about 11 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, the district is roughly bounded by Chamblee-Tucker Road on the south, Northcrest Road on the west, and Pleasantdale Road on the north and east.
The nomination was sponsored by the Northcrest Civic Association, and nomination materials were prepared by graduate students in the Heritage Preservation Program at Georgia State University.
The Northcrest Historic District was developed as part of an explosion of growth in suburban DeKalb County in the years following World War II. The neighborhood provided housing and other amenities for workers in new industries in the area, such as the Doraville General Motors plant. The district is significant as a good example of a planned tract development in suburban Atlanta. The district consists of several contiguous and historically-related suburban residential developments constructed between 1959 and 1975.
The largest and earliest of the subdivisions was Northcrest, while other subdivisions include Hidden Acres, Concord Manor, and Northcrest East. The subdivisions were planned to include single-family houses, one multi-family apartment complex, a park, a school (Pleasantdale Elementary), and a swim/tennis club. The landscape plan dictated open lawns on wide curvilinear streets that work with the hilly terrain to create picturesque viewsheds. Designed for automobiles, the neighborhood included few access points and few sidewalks, except near the school.
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