Brick warehouses from the early twentieth century line streets on the edge of downtown.
What Castleberry Hill looks like
Castleberry Hill sits on the southwest edge of downtown Atlanta, where more than a hundred brick warehouses from the early twentieth century still line streets like Mangum, Walker and Peters. Arched window openings run in rows across their upper floors, some topped with stepped parapets, red brick standing beside buildings painted white or grey.
A working rail spur runs behind the properties on , cut below street level along a low embankment. A former mill building stands beside the tracks, its upper floors showing faded painted lettering visible from the bridge that crosses the spur.
On , a two story brick warehouse is still painted with THE BOTTLE WORKS in large letters across its upper wall. Many of the district's other warehouses have been converted into loft apartments and galleries, some with garage door entrances and corrugated metal additions. Downtown Atlanta's office towers rise past the low rooflines at the far end of the street.
The neighborhood holds a monthly gallery walk called the Second Friday Art Stroll, when storefronts and gallery windows along its main streets stay lit into the evening. , a few blocks from the galleries, has a red two story building with a hand painted sign over its door.
Shot in Castleberry Hill
For the AMC series The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes rode a horse over the Nelson Street Bridge in the season one premiere. The Norfolk Southern Building directly across the bridge stood in for a department store rooftop later the same season. Crews for the film The Boss and the HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks have also shot in the neighborhood, with no specific street or building named.
Taken 3, 2015
The railroad spur behind Walker Street
A stretch of rail spur runs behind the properties on Walker Street, from Mangum Street to Haynes Street. Taken 3 filmed here in 2014, and the Fox series The Resident used the same stretch.
What Castleberry Hill can double for
The Bright Leaf Historic District along West Main Street in Durham, North Carolina
Durham's Bright Leaf Historic District has brick warehouses from the same period as Castleberry Hill's, including the Watts and Yuille Warehouses, two identical two story Romanesque brick buildings built in 1904. The Norfolk and Western rail line ran along one edge of the district, the same relationship the spur behind Walker Street has with Castleberry Hill's own warehouses. The two warehouses are now Brightleaf Square, a retail conversion with shops and outdoor seating filling the courtyard between them. That signage and seating would need to be avoided to hold the block as an unrenovated tobacco warehouse. Try searching two story brick tobacco warehouse now.
The Tobacco Historic District along Vine Street in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem's Tobacco Historic District has brick R. J. Reynolds tobacco warehouse buildings from the 1890s to the 1930s, with railroad tracks and bridges forming part of its northeastern edge, a similar working relationship to the spur behind Walker Street here. The district's buildings are laid out as one large factory campus rather than spread across separate blocks, so a shot of a single building or loading platform holds better than a wide view of the whole district. The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter redevelopment has added landscaping, signage and glass storefronts to many of the ground floors, which would need to be avoided or dressed out to hold as a plain early industrial warehouse block. Try searching brick tobacco warehouse loading platform now.
Morris Avenue in Birmingham, Alabama
Morris Avenue was Birmingham's main wholesale district from 1880 to 1900, lined with masonry warehouses built close to the rail lines that once served them, a similar working relationship to the one the spur behind Walker Street has with Castleberry Hill's own warehouses. Its buildings mostly run three and four stories, taller than Castleberry Hill's, so the comparison holds best in a tight shot rather than one that takes in a full building height. Morris Avenue is paved in Belgian block rather than the asphalt on Castleberry Hill's streets, so a shot that includes the road surface would need to cover or avoid the paving. Try searching masonry warehouses Belgian block paving now.
