A granite courthouse square ringed by brick storefronts, with the plaza HBO's Watchmen dressed as present-day Tulsa.
What Downtown Decatur looks like
Decatur Square is a plaza of patterned brick paving at the center of downtown, bordered on every side by two- and three-story brick buildings. A gazebo with a standing-seam roof stands at its middle, teal light poles lining the walkways around it. A glass office tower rises just behind the gazebo on one side. Awnings and string lights run along the storefronts across the plaza, with tables set out on the sidewalk.
The stands on one side of the square in gray granite. It rises two stories under a shallow portico with paired columns, set back behind a lawn. It now holds a local history museum rather than a working courthouse. The block behind the building is closed to cars and covered by the plaza, so the courthouse fronts a walkway rather than a street on that side.
Court Square itself is lined with red brick storefronts under painted signs, among them the and the building next door that houses Sweet Melissa's. A few blocks off the square, Art Deco buildings from 1939 and 1946 survive too. The Sharian Rugs building on Church Street is cream stucco with a curved silver marquee, and the Blair-Rutland Building turns its corner in mauve brick wrapped in glass block.
A CSX freight line, the old Georgia Railroad, runs through downtown a few blocks from the square. , a restaurant and bar, occupies a red brick depot building moved off the tracks and set beside them. , a listening-room music venue, sits in a narrow storefront on North McDonough Street just off the square. 's Collegiate Gothic buildings in brick and stone border the square a few blocks south, past the MARTA station beneath the plaza.
Shot in Downtown Decatur
The Historic DeKalb County Courthouse has stood in for a different courthouse on screen. In the Hulu series Candy, its granite front and steps played the Texas courthouse where the real 1980 murder trial took place. The HBO series Watchmen used the square outside it instead, in 2019, dressing the plaza for present-day Tulsa.
Watchmen, 2019
Decatur Square
Played Tulsa, Oklahoma
The HBO series filmed several scenes in East Court Square in 2019, and the city's own account describes the plaza dressed with glowing blue lantern effects for its own sci-fi visuals. A bakery near the courthouse, the Milk and Hanoi Bakery, played the hideout of the masked vigilante Sister Night. The plaza's teal light towers and patterned brick paving were added in a 2007 renovation, years before the show arrived.
What Downtown Decatur can double for
Downtown in Tulsa, Oklahoma
The HBO series Watchmen used Decatur Square as present-day downtown Tulsa in 2019, with its red brick storefronts standing in for a Tulsa block. The buildings ringing the square run one to three stories in brick, close in scale to Tulsa's own downtown storefronts. The plaza's teal light towers and patterned brick paving date from a 2007 renovation, so an earlier Tulsa would need them kept out of frame along with the glass office tower behind the gazebo. Modern shop signage and parked cars need dressing to sell an earlier Tulsa; a present-day shoot can use the square as it stands. Try searching brick storefronts downtown Tulsa now.
The Barre Downtown Historic District in Barre, Vermont
Barre's own Downtown Historic District runs along North Main Street in the same two materials as the DeKalb County courthouse square, brick storefronts next to granite quarried nearby. Most of the district went up between the 1880s and the 1920s, close in scale to the two- and three-story blocks around Decatur Square. Barre's own city hall stands four stories in brick and stone, taller than the Decatur courthouse, so the match holds along the storefront blocks rather than at the civic building itself. Vermont gets snow and bare trees for months, while these photographs show the square green and leafed out, so a production would need to match seasons and keep modern shop signage and parked cars out of frame. Try searching granite and brick storefronts now.
The Wharf Area Historic District in Staunton, Virginia
Staunton, Virginia's Wharf Area Historic District sits beside its own rail line. Two- and three-story brick warehouses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries run along it, converted into restaurants and shops by the old C&O depot. Kimball House itself sits in a circa-1891 railroad depot moved off the tracks a few blocks from Decatur Square along the old CSX freight line. The comparison holds only for that depot district, since Staunton's own courthouse is a domed brick building with an ornate portico, unlike the plain granite one on Decatur Square. Stay within the Wharf blocks rather than Staunton's own courthouse square, and keep modern restaurant signage and parked cars out of frame. Try searching brick depot district warehouses now.
