The Solarium – The Story of a Community Gem in Oakhurst

By Amy Wilson

Sunday marks the 10th annual Patio Party at the Solarium in Oakhurst, truly one of the historic architectural gems in Decatur. 

This building has a compelling story – not just because it’s a beautiful place that is home to numerous community events, but because it also serves as an example of how a diverse group of volunteers who care about their neighborhood can come together to make a difference.

Originally called the Scottish Rite Convalescent Home for Crippled Children, the building was designed in 1919 by Neel Reid, one of Atlanta’s most renowned architects. Until the 1930’s, few drugs were available to treat childhood diseases such as polio, so the original hospital design put an emphasis on providing young patients with plenty of sunshine and fresh air.  

The Georgian Revival style building was situated for southern exposure and its generous windows, including clerestory windows above the main roofline, bathe the interior with natural light. The front rooms, originally long, screened-in porches, allowed bedridden children to be wheeled into the fresh air during the warmer months. In the 1940’s, when new medicines were developed to treat polio and other diseases, the importance of the screened porches was reduced and they were ultimately enclosed with the current casement windows.

When Scottish Rite Hospital moved north of Atlanta in the 1970’s (and later merged with Egleston Children’s Hospital) the building and property were abandoned and began a slow decline.  

The building sat nearly empty for many years, but it was never vandalized or ‘tagged’ and none of the windows were broken. It seemed to be waiting patiently to be restored again to a beautiful and vital part of the neighborhood.

The City of Decatur stepped forward to acquire the property and led efforts to rescue the multi-acre complex. At the neighborhood level, a group of volunteers came together and formed The Community Center of South Decatur in 1979 as a non-profit organization with the goal of saving The Solarium from destruction.

Over the years, the board has raised and invested more than $100,000 into improvements and maintenance of The Solarium at Historic Scottish Rite.

The larger Historic Scottish Rite complex now houses a restaurant, several doctors’ offices and other business.   

The Solarium is still maintained and preserved by the all-volunteer board of the Community Center of South Decatur as a gathering place for the neighborhood. The Solarium plays host or co-host to many neighborhood events, including:

• Spring and fall jazz concerts on the lawn,
• Serving as volunteer headquarters for Decatur’s massive MLK weekend of service projects,
• The annual BBQ, Blues and Bluegrass Festival,
• A gathering space for meetings, classes and special events.

In recent years, the Community Center of South Decatur has helped to raise more than $50,000 to fund grants that have gone to Decatur community organizations.

To help pay for the maintenance and day-to-day operations of the building, the Solarium is made available for private rental for weddings and other events.  

In addition to providing needed operational revenues for the space, these rental events bring thousands of people into Oakhurst to patronize our thriving local businesses.   

The Community Center of South Decatur has come a long way since that group of civic-minded Decatur residents gathered in 1979 and resolved to save the old Scottish Rite Hospital property from the wrecking ball.  

Those neighbors bestowed on us two priceless gifts.  One is The Solarium, which now serves as our beautiful community center. The other is a model of how a diverse group of people can transcend their individual differences and act together over a period of years, overcoming one obstacle after another, and finally achieve what they set out to do.  

The Community Center’s mission is essentially the same today as it was nearly 35 years ago:  

In the spirit of the founders of the first Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children, our mission is to preserve and maintain the Solarium as a community resource; and to offer programs, activities and services for the assistance, education and enjoyment of the entire Decatur community.  

Each year we make a little more progress and build a little more momentum.  

Join us at the 10th Annual Patio Party fundraiser on Sunday, June 2.  Buy an engraved brick and mark your spot in Oakhurst’s treasured history.

Amy Wilson is an Oakhurst resident and longtime member of the board of the Community Center of South Decatur.