Many longtime residents will already be painfully aware of this, but I noticed a slightly less blatant travesty of urban renewal than the new DeKalb County Courthouse when I was perusing AtlantaTimeMachine yesterday.

Take a look.

OK, so here’s a pic looking across the north side of the Square…see the white-faced Lenz Inc building that used to house Square Roots and Zocalo? Eh…you could take it or leave it, right? But to the trained eye that brick on the northern and southern elevations tells the building is much older than this minimalist facade would lead you to believe.

Well, take a look at the second pic from 1948 below.

That’s the same beautiful building before it had its face ripped off!

How can I be sure? Well if you need confirmation beyond the brick elevations (or you just don’t trust me) check out the window pattern on the second floor. Three sets of three. Same building.

So, here’s the question…how much of the original front facade is still under that (I’m guessing) stucco? The roof line has definitely been changed from partial mansard (tile?) and those parapets are no longer there, but maybe, just maybe, some of the building’s detail still exists beneath the surface.

DeKalb tax records say it was built in 1938, but I’d be very interested to hear if anyone out there knows any other historical info about this particular building. Can you imagine bringing that back to the Square?