Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a mansion with a menagerie of exotic animals? Well, imagine yourself transported back in time to the 1920s standing in front of Briarcliff, the former estate of Asa Candler Jr., son of the Coca-Cola co-founder. Briarcliff, a grand Colonial Revival mansion, was built in 1922, on a sprawling 42 acres on Briarcliff Road in Druid Hills, near Atlanta. This was a true testament to the opulent lifestyle of the Candler family.
Today, the mansion and its surrounding grounds are part of Emory University’s Briarcliff Campus, a beautiful and historic site. But beyond the grand facade of the mansion, lies a story full of eccentricity, ambition, and ultimately, a dramatic decline. Asa Candler Jr. wasn’t content with just a lavish home, he wanted an estate that would be talked about for generations. To that end, he built not just a giant mansion but also tennis courts, stables, greenhouses, and even a zoo.
He filled his zoo with tigers, lions, a leopard, a gorilla, baboons, and a herd of six elephants. As if a living menagerie wasn’t enough, Candler also had a massive cathedral-sized pipe organ, a $94,000 behemoth, installed in his music room. It was the largest privately owned organ in Georgia at the time, and the eighth largest that Aeolian had ever built for a private residence. To add to the extravagance, he also had a public swimming pool on the grounds, a touch of generosity in his otherwise opulent world.
But all good things eventually come to an end. By the 1940s, Asa Candler Jr. started facing financial difficulties. He sold the estate to the General Services Administration in 1948 with the idea of creating a veterans’ hospital. However, amidst the chaos of the war, the hospital never materialised. The estate was then handed to the state, and the once grand home became an alcoholism treatment center.
Today, the Briarcliff mansion stands empty and in disrepair. The once-opulent home is now a reminder of a bygone era. Yet it continues to be a captivating site, attracting photographers and filmmakers alike. It is a testament to the ambition and eccentricity of a man who wanted to build a grand and unforgettable legacy, and a reminder that even the most extravagant of dreams inevitably fade with time.