Inman Park was historically one of Atlanta’s most popular intown neighborhoods. Located within 3 miles from downtown, it was the city’s first planned suburb, laid out in the late 19th century by businessman Joel Hurt according to the principles espoused by one of America’s most influential landscape architects, Frederick Law Olmsted.
Today, Inman Park is noted for the beauty of its landscape and architecture, and its wealth of historic Victorian homes, many of them formerly owned by some of Atlanta’s most famous residents.
The neighborhood is also a destination for visitors wanting to experience the best of Atlanta’s culinary and cultural scene, focused around the Krog Street Market in the west of Inman Park, and the Little Five Points district on its east.
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Inman Park begins roughly two miles east of Downtown Atlanta, and immediately east of the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. It is one of Atlanta’s most easily accessible intown neighborhoods. See on map
Inman Park is within a short drive of most other central Atlanta locations, although parking can sometimes be difficult to find.
Parking is most readily available in and around the neighborhood’s commercial areas, at the Krog Street Market or around Little Five Points. In the residential center of Inman Park, on-street parking usually requires a residents’ parking permit; street parking can be easier to find in adjacent neighborhoods.
Parking is also available at the Inman Park/Reynoldstown MARTA station.
A more convenient option in many cases will be to use Atlanta’s public transit.
The neighborhood is served by MARTA’s Inman Park-Reynoldstown train station, on the blue and green lines. From there, you can either walk or cycle (bike share rentals are available at the station) to your destination or complete your journey by bus.
Inman Park is easily walkable, with many tree-lined, shaded streets. Most points of interest, including the Krog Street Market, Little Five Points and the Carter Presidential Museum (just north of Inman Park) will be no more than a mile from the station.
Several bus lines also serve the neighborhood and nearby areas, which depending on where you are traveling from may offer a more direct service.
Inman Park is within reasonable walking distance of the Martin Luther King, Jr National Historic Park (less than a mile west of Inman Park) and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum (immediately north).
With a bike, Inman Park is also easy to get to from further afield, connected to several other popular Atlanta locations including Virginia-Highland and Piedmont Park via the Eastside Beltline Trail.
Although the neighborhood itself is primarily residential, Inman Park’s perimeter commercial areas provide a wide variety of dining and drinking options that make the area one of Atlanta’s favorite culinary destinations.
Inman Park has three main nodes around which the majority of its dining establishments are located.
On Krog Street, in the west of Inman Park, is the Krog Street Market, an indoor market and food hall situated within a renovated 1920s warehouse. Vendors sell a range of produce and prepared foods, and there are also several bars and cafés to choose from (plus full-size restaurants nearby). The market can sometimes be crowded.
Additional restaurants, bars and cafés can be found in the immediate vicinity of the Krog Street Market.
On Inman Park’s eastern border and a little beyond it, in the small neighborhood of Little Five Points, are several more restaurants, cafés, and bars The core of the neighborhood, home to a vibrant arts and evening entertainment scene, is centered around the intersection of Moreland and Euclid Avenues.
The third area for finding a place to eat is the northern edge of Inman Park, near the intersection of North Highland Avenue and Elizabeth Street. Here, another concentration of restaurants and cafés has grown, this time around a modern development of apartment blocks.
Atlanta businessman Joel Hurt created the original Inman Park subdivision – a 135-acre area roughly corresponding to the locality now preserved as the Inman Park Historic District – from 1889 as part of a broader project comprising the planned residential suburb, the development of downtown skyscraper office buildings, and a new streetcar to connect the two, running out along Edgewood Avenue.
Inman Park was developed in line with the principles put forward by the noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted, who co-designed New York’s Central Park, believed that natural scenery was the best antidote to the stresses of urban life. From the mid 19th century, this was a principle that he and other landscape architects put into practice in the design of naturalistic urban parks and park-like residential subdivisions.
In Inman Park, designed by Joseph Forsyth Johnson under Joel Hurt’s close supervision, these ideas were employed to produce a park-like respite from the city.
Broad, curvilinear streets followed the contours of the land, in contrast to the harsh grid of the city proper. Open landscaping with large areas of grass – eventually to be populated with hundreds of mature, shade-casting trees – made the suburb seem like one large park, front yards merging visually into the landscape as a whole. Some areas were left free of development, reserved as public park spaces that could never, in theory, be built upon.
The idea appealed to some, at least, of Atlanta’s residents. Many large and beautiful homes were built in Inman Park, made convenient to businessmen downtown by Hurt’s new streetcar.
However, although Inman Park attracted many of Atlanta’s wealthiest citizens – including Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler – the development was not the success Hurt had hoped for. Lot sales were slow, and he was eventually forced to subdivide some of the intended park areas, when it began to look as though the suburb would not turn a profit.
By 1910, the new suburban developments of Ansley Park and Druid Hills (the latter another of Hurt’s own ventures) had become the more fashionable places to live, and interest in Inman Park dried up. Large original lots were split into smaller ones, and people began to build more modest properties in the once-exclusive neighborhood.
Inman Park fell into a serious decline from the 1920s through the middle decades of the century. In the 1970s, Inman Park was “rediscovered” by residents and preservationists. Local residents formed the Inman Park Restoration group and began to restore the area and its homes. Today, Inman Park is again one of Atlanta’s most desirable neighborhoods.
Inman Park is known for its peaceful atmosphere and tree-lined streets, and it is a good place to see some of Atlanta’s most beautiful historic homes and architecture. Inman Park is suitable for both walking and cycling, and it is accessible off the Eastside BeltLine Trail.
Inman Park has some of best examples of Victorian residential architecture in Atlanta. The Queen Anne, Victorian Eclectic and Greek Revival styles predominate.
Asa Candler’s 14,000 square foot mansion, Callan Castle (145 Elizabeth Street NE), designed by George Murphy in the Classical Revival style in 1902-3, is one of the largest homes in the neighborhood. Another well-known house is the Queen Anne style Beath-Dickey House (866 Euclid Avenue), constructed in the 1890s for local ice magnate John Beath.
Inman Park’s more impressive architecture is mostly in the interior parts of the neighborhood, in the area centered around its small parks and main roads, Edgewood and Euclid Avenues. Smaller houses and bungalows are more common around Inman Park’s borders, constructed in the 1920s and 1930s by speculative builders.
Other points of interest include the Krog Street Tunnel (connecting Inman park to neighboring Cabbagetown), a constantly-changing concrete canvas for Atlanta’s grafitti artists; and the Inman Park Trolley Barn, a historic former streetcar depot at 963 Edgewood Avenue NE currently used as an events space.
If you are visiting in late April, don’t miss the Inman Park Festival and Tour of Homes, one of Atlanta’s most popular neighborhood events.
Little Five Points, arranged along Euclid and Moreland Avenues on the eastern edge of Inman Park, has been one of Atlanta’s officially-designated commercial areas since the 1920s. The district evolved into one of Atlanta’s earliest suburban shopping districts due to its location near to several of the city’s former trolley lines.
Today, Little Five Points is a fashionable district of independent music, shoe clothes and other stores, plus bars, cafés and restaurants. Its Venice Beach vibe, with colorful painted buildings and murals, attracts a mostly younger crowd.
Little Five Points is also one of Atlanta’s arts and entertainment districts. Performing arts venues include 7 Stages Theatre (1105 Euclid Avenue NE), the Variety Playhouse (1099 Euclid Avenue NE), Aisle 5 (1123 Euclid Avenue) and the Horizon Theatre Company (1083 Austin Avenue).
Several guided tours of Inman Park are available, which can be a great way to get to know a neighborhood if you don’t have much in-depth knowledge of architecture or local history.
Please note that prices below are exclusive of sales tax and gratuity, where applicable.
The Atlanta Preservation Center offers occasional walking tours focused on the history and architecture of Inman Park. The cost is $13 for adults, and $7 for seniors (60+) and students.
The tour usually runs every other Sunday; visit this page for more details and upcoming dates (follow the “book now” link to see availability).
If your interests lie more toward food than architecture, local company Food Tours Atlanta provides guided walks of Inman Park’s culinary highlights, with tastings at several neighborhood restaurants.
Tours are available Friday through Sunday, and tickets cost $95 for adults and $60 for children. Advance reservations are required: call 404-822-3884 or book online.
You can also see Inman Park by Segway. ATL-Cruzers offers a tour that visits Inman Park as part of a journey through several of Atlanta’s historic eastern neighborhoods. Tours are available daily, for $59 per person (this activity is not suitable for children under 14). Training in the safe use of a Segway is included. Reservations are required: you can book online or call at 404-492-7009.