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The architecture of Atlanta is marked by a confluence of classical, modernist, post-modernist, and contemporary architectural styles. Due to the Battle of Atlanta and the subsequent fire in 1864, the city's architecture retains almost no traces of its Antebellum past. Instead, Atlanta's status as a largely post-modern American city is reflected in its architecture, as the city has often been the earliest, if not the first, to showcase new architectural concepts. [1] However, Atlanta's embrace of modernism has translated into an ambivalence toward architectural preservation, resulting in the destruction of architectural masterpieces, including the Commercial-style Equitable Building (Atlanta's first skyscraper), the Beaux-Arts style Terminal Station, and the Classical Carnegie Library. The city's cultural icon, the Neo-Moorish Fox Theatre, would have met the same fate had it not been for a grassroots effort to save it in the mid-1970s. [2]
Because Atlanta was a settlement that grew from a planned railroad terminus and later a railroad junction, rather than being planned in a grand manner, its antebellum architecture was unremarkable compared to patrician Savannah or other older Southern cities. The town's most important buildings included Edward A. Vincent's Union Station (1853), the Atlanta, Trout House and Washington Hall hotels, and the Atlanta Bank. An 1859 industrial journal noted that: [3]
19 commodious brick stores were erected in 1858…besides a large number of fine residences, mostly of brick. Many of the new improvements are imposing structures, and would not suffer by comparison with the most elegant portions of our modern cities.
Not a single antebellum building from what was the town of Atlanta remains today. Remaining antebellum architecture inside the city limits consists of four houses that were well outside the city limits in the 19th century, as well as the Tullie Smith House which was moved to the Atlanta History Center from a location in North Druid Hills, an adjacent suburb. [4] The oldest building in Downtown Atlanta is the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot (1869).
Most of Atlanta was burned during the Civil War, depleting the city of a large stock of its historic architecture. Yet Atlanta, architecturally, had never been particularly "southern." Because Atlanta originated as a railroad town, rather than a patrician southern seaport like Savannah or Charleston, many of the city's landmarks could have easily been erected in the Northeast or Midwest, [2] and indeed this was one reason why Atlanta referred to itself frequently as "the New York" or "the Chicago of the South." [5] [6] [7] [8]
Throughout the American Renaissance and beyond, Atlantans were amazed at successive waves of ever more impressive hotels, civic and industrial architecture, and office buildings, such as the Equitable Building (8 stories, 1892), Candler Building (17 stories, 1906), and Rhodes-Haverty Building (21 stories, 1929). Among the most notable architects active in Atlanta between the Civil War and World War Two were A. Ten Eyck Brown, Francis Palmer Smith and G. Lloyd Preacher.
During the Cold War era, Atlanta followed global modernist trends, especially with regards to office towers and commercial buildings. Examples of modernist architecture include the Westin Peachtree Plaza (1976), Georgia-Pacific Tower (1982), the State of Georgia Building (1966), and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis (1985).[ citation needed ]
The era's most notable architect may be Atlanta-native John Portman, whose Hyatt Regency Hotel (1968) made a significant mark on the hospitality sector. A graduate of Georgia Tech's College of Architecture, Portman's work reshaped downtown Atlanta with his designs for the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, Peachtree Center, the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, and Truist Plaza.[ citation needed ]
In the latter half of the 1980s, Atlanta became one of the early-adopters of postmodern designs which reintroduced classical elements to the cityscape. Many of Atlanta's tallest skyscrapers were built from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, with most displaying tapering spires or otherwise ornamented crowns, such as One Atlantic Center (1987), 191 Peachtree Tower (1991), and the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta (1992). And at 1,023 feet (312 m), Atlanta's tallest skyscraper—the Bank of America Plaza (1992)—is the 61st-tallest building in the world and the 9th tallest building in the United States. [9]
More recently, Atlanta's built environment has been getting more eclectic and diverse. For example, 3344 Peachtree (2008) is more in the glass-walled modernist vein, while Millennium Gate (also completed in 2008) is the largest classical monument in the U.S. to have been dedicated since completion of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. [10]
With the dawn of the twenty-first century, many former industrial buildings were repurposed for residential and retail use, many along the BeltLine, former railroad rights-of-way which became a ring of trails around the central city. Examples are Ponce City Market, Krog Street Market, Telephone Factory Lofts, Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, King Plow and Goat Farm Arts Centers and many others, particularly in the Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park Village, Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown, and the Marietta Street Artery.[ citation needed ]
Arts facilities have led the way for modernists in Atlanta architecture with the High Museum designed by Richard Meier with a 2005 addition by Renzo Piano. A recent design competition resulted in Freelon Associates (in conjunction with HOK) being selected as the architect for the new $100 million home of the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Michael Graves' post-modern style is exhibited in the Ten Peachtree Place office building in Midtown and the Michael C. Carlos Museum on the campus of Emory University. The 50-story One Atlantic Center was designed by Philip Johnson in association with John Burgee. Completed in 1980, the Atlanta-Fulton Central Public Library was designed by one of the 20th century's most notable modernists architects, Marcel Breuer, who holds the distinction of having studied and taught at the Bauhaus, where early in his career Breuer first became a renowned furniture designer. Atlanta also has its own Flatiron Building, built in 1897, five years before the more famous Flatiron Building in New York City (1902). [11]
Rank | Name | Height ft (m) | Floors | Year | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bank of America Plaza | 1,023 (312) | 55 | 1992 | 63rd-tallest building in the world, 10th-tallest in the U.S. Has been the tallest building in Atlanta, Georgia and the Southern United States since 1992. Tallest building in any U.S. state capital. [12] |
2 | Truist Plaza | 871 (265) | 60 | 1992 | 77th-tallest building in the world, 25th-tallest in the U.S. [13] |
3 | One Atlantic Center | 820 (250) | 50 | 1987 | 125th-tallest building in the world, 38th-tallest in the U.S. Also known as the IBM Tower. [14] [15] [16] |
4 | 191 Peachtree Tower | 770 (235) | 50 | 1990 | 200th-tallest building in the world, 57th-tallest in the U.S. [17] [18] |
5 | Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel | 723 (220) | 73 | 1976 | 93rd-tallest building in the U.S. Stood as the tallest all-hotel building in the world from 1976 until 1977. [19] [20] |
6 | Georgia-Pacific Tower | 697 (212) | 52 | 1982 | [21] [22] Total building area is 1,567,011 sq.ft. [23] |
7 | Promenade II | 691 (211) | 38 | 1990 | [24] [25] |
8 | AT&T Midtown Center | 677 (206) | 47 | 1982 | Also known as the BellSouth Building. [26] [27] |
9 | 3344 Peachtree | 665 (203) | 48 | 2008 | Also known as the Sovereign. [28] [29] |
10 | 1180 Peachtree | 657 (200) | 41 | 2006 | Formerly known as the Symphony Center. [30] [31] |
Atlanta is home to the award-winning, internationally acclaimed Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (formerly Scogin, Elam and Bray Architects). Contemporary practices include BLDGS, Lightroom, Dencity, G+G Architects, Houser Walker Architecture, plexus r+d, Smith Dalia, Square Feet Studio, and Robert M. Cain, Architect. Large firms include Stevens & Wilkinson, Perkins and Will (Owned by Dar Al-Handasah), Collins Cooper Carusi, TVS (Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates), Lord Aeck Sargent, Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, and Cooper Carry Inc.
The Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture, located just west of midtown Atlanta offers both pre-professional undergraduate and professional graduate degrees in architecture, and hosts regular lectures and symposia of interest to students and professionals. Kennesaw State University formerly known as Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, offers a five-year professional undergraduate degree and also hosts lectures and exhibits works in the architecture building's gallery space.
The Young Architects Forum of the Atlanta chapter of the American Institute of Architects sponsors open design competitions, exhibits, and lectures of interest to the profession and the general public.
Bank of America Plaza is a supertall skyscraper between Midtown Atlanta and Downtown Atlanta. At 311.8 m (1,023 ft), as of February 2024 the tower is the 23rd tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Southeastern region of the United States, and the tallest building in any U.S. state capital, overtaking the 250 m (820 ft), 50-story One Atlantic Center in height, which held the record as Georgia's tallest building. It has 55 stories of office space and was completed in 1992, when it was called NationsBank Plaza. Originally intended to be the headquarters for Citizens & Southern National Bank, it became NationsBank's property following its formation in the 1991 hostile takeover of C&S/Sovran by NCNB.
One Atlantic Center, also known as IBM Tower, is a skyscraper located in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. It is the third tallest building in Atlanta.
The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta, is a skyscraper hotel on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, adjacent to the Peachtree Center complex and the former Davison's/Macy's flagship store with 1,073 rooms. At 723.0 ft (220.37 m) and 73 stories, a total building area of 1,196,240 sq ft (111,134 m2) and a 187 ft (57 m) diameter, the tower is the fourth-tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere, and the 30th tallest all-hotel building in the world.
Georgia-Pacific Center is a 212.45 m (697.0 ft), 1,567,011 sq.ft skyscraper in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It contains 52 stories of office space and was finished in 1982. Before the six-year era of tall skyscrapers to be built in Atlanta, it was Atlanta's second-tallest building from 1982 to 1987. It has a stair-like design that staggers down to the ground, and is clad in pink granite quarried from Marble Falls, Texas.
The State of Georgia Building is a 44-story, 566 feet (173 m) skyscraper located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Built in 1966, the building was the tallest building in the Southeast at the time. It was Atlanta's tallest until 1976, when the Westin Peachtree Plaza surpassed it. It was built on the site of the Peachtree Arcade, A. Ten Eyck Brown's 1917 covered shopping arcade which connected Peachtree and Broad streets. 2 Peachtree Street was originally constructed as the new headquarters building for First National Bank of Atlanta, also known as First Atlanta, replacing its older (1905) headquarters building next door. It was designed by a partnership of Atlanta architectural firm FABRAP and New York firm Emery Roth & Sons. First Atlanta was acquired by the holding company for Wachovia Bank in 1985, but continued to operate under its own charter until 1991. In 1991, under new liberalized banking laws, First Atlanta was merged into the charter of Wachovia Bank of Georgia. Shortly thereafter, Wachovia moved its Georgia offices to 191 Peachtree and 2 Peachtree Street was acquired by the state of Georgia for government offices.
Peachtree Center is a district located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the structures that make up the district were designed by Atlanta architect John C. Portman Jr. A defining feature of the Peachtree Center is a network of enclosed pedestrian sky bridges suspended above the street-level, which have garnered criticism for discouraging pedestrian street life. The district is served by the Peachtree Center MARTA station, providing access to rapid transit.
Hancock Whitney Center, formerly One Shell Square, is a 51-story, 697-foot (212 m) skyscraper designed in the International style by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, located at 701 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the tallest building in both the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, and is taller than Louisiana's tallest peak, Driskill Mountain. The building is primarily used for leasable office space, with some retail space on the ground level.
The Hyatt Regency Atlanta is a business hotel located on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Opened in 1967 as the Regency Hyatt House, John C. Portman Jr.'s revolutionary 22-story atrium design for the hotel has influenced hotel design enormously in the years since. The hotel instantly became one of the most recognized buildings in Atlanta.
Colony Square is a mixed-use development and sub-district in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, located on Peachtree Street in between 14th and 15th Streets. The oldest high-rise development in Midtown, the sub-district was built between 1969 and 1975, with Henri Jova of Jova/Daniels/Busby serving as principal architect. It was the first mixed-use development in the Southeast.
Smallwood is an American architectural firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1979, the company has approximately 108 total employees across all of its locations and generates $25.00 million in sales (USD). There are 2 companies in the Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc. corporate family; with the Atlanta office serving the United States and international clients with an additional office in Singapore. Its Atlanta office is headed by eleven principal architects, many of whom are members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and are Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certified Professionals. The firm has worked on designs in corporate, commercial, hospitality, multifamily, industrial, governmental, and educational settings.
999 Peachtree is a high-rise class A office building in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Built in 1987 by Heery Architects and Engineers, the building is situated on the Midtown Mile, at the intersection of Peachtree Street and Tenth Street.
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