Marietta Street is a historic street in Downtown Atlanta. The street leads from Atlanta towards the town of Marietta, as its name indicates. It begins as one of the five streets intersecting at Five Points, leading northwest, forming the southern border of Downtown's Fairlie-Poplar district, continuing through Downtown's Luckie Marietta district, then entering West Midtown's Marietta Street Artery neighborhood, until terminating at its junction with West Marietta St., Brady Ave., and 8th St.
Marietta street is one of the original seven streets in Atlanta, along with Decatur, Whitehall, Peachtree, Pryor, Loyd (now Central), and Alabama. [1]
Before the American Civil War, the finest residences were located on both sides of Marietta Street, extending westwards from Five Points for about a mile. [2] In the first years of the 20th century, several of the city's tallest skyscrapers were built on Marietta Street, and a concentration of financial companies were headquartered on the street, such as the Third and Fourth National Banks of Atlanta, and later, the Atlanta Trust Company and Citizens & Southern National Bank.
Notable buildings and sites, from Five Points northwestwards, include:
Notable buildings no longer standing include:
See also Marietta Street Artery for notable industrial architecture in the northern reaches of Marietta Street.
Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta. Beginning at Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown; a few blocks after entering into Buckhead, the name changes to Peachtree Road at Deering Road. Much of the city's historic and noteworthy architecture is located along the street, and it is often used for annual parades,, as well as one-time parades celebrating events such as the 100th anniversary of Coca-Cola in 1986 and the Atlanta Braves' 1995 and 2021 World Series victories.
The architecture of Atlanta is marked by a confluence of classical, modernist, post-modernist, and contemporary architectural styles. Due to the complete destruction of Atlanta by fire in 1864, the city's architecture retains 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. 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, 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.
Atlanta City Hall is the headquarters of the City of Atlanta government. It was constructed in 1930, and is located in Downtown Atlanta. It is a high-rise office tower very similar to dozens of other city halls built in the United States during the same time period. Located in South Downtown, it is near other governmental structures, such as the Georgia State Capitol and the Fulton County Courthouse. The Neo-Gothic structure features many architectural details that have helped to make the building a historical landmark. It is Atlanta’s fourth city hall.
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts, it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county, state, and federal government facilities; Georgia State University; sporting venues; and most of Atlanta's tourist attractions. It measures approximately four square miles, and had 26.850 residents as of 2017. Similar to other central business districts in the United States, it has recently undergone a transformation that includes the construction of new condos and lofts, renovation of historic buildings, and arrival of new residents and businesses.
Five Points is a metro station of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the transfer point for all rail lines and serves as the main transportation hub for MARTA. It provides access to Station Soccer, the Five Points Business District, Underground Atlanta, City Hall, the Richard B. Russell Federal Building, CobbLinc, Ride Gwinnett, GRTA Xpress Transit, and the tourism heart of Downtown Atlanta. It provides connecting bus service to Zoo Atlanta, Grant Park, Atlanta University Center, East Atlanta Village, Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, Carter Center, Atlanta City Hall, South Dekalb Mall and Fulton County Government Center.
101 Marietta Street, formerly Centennial Tower, is a 140 m (460 ft), 36-story skyscraper in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The building was completed in 1975 and renovated in 1998, resulting in a name change, new facade, and chevrons added to the building which increased its original 136 m (446 ft) height by 4 m (13 ft). The property is considered a class "A" office building consisting of 600,000 square feet.
South Downtown is a historic neighborhood of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. South Downtown is primarily home to city, county, state, and federal governmental offices, which prompted the city to adopt signage declaring the area "Government Walk." Although much of South Downtown is dominated by surface parking lots, the neighborhood was passed over during the redevelopment boom of the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in the demolition of much of Downtown's architecturally significant buildings. The result is myriad buildings from the 1950s and earlier that retain their historic structural integrity.
The J. Mack Robinson College of Business Administration Building is a 14-story highrise at the corner of Broad and Marietta streets in the Fairlie-Poplar district of downtown Atlanta, which houses the business school of Georgia State University. When completed in 1901 as the Empire Building, it was the first steel-frame structure and the tallest in the city, until surpassed by the Candler Building in 1906.
55 Marietta Street, formerly the Fulton National Bank Building and the Bank South Building is a 21-story, 89.9 m (295 ft) office building in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the tallest building in the city when completed in 1958 until surpassed by One Park Tower in 1961. 55 Marietta Street is the site of the U.S. Post Office and Customs House, which served from 1910 to 1930 as City Hall
The Piedmont Hotel was a hotel in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Construction on the building, which was designed by architect Willis F. Denny, began in 1901, and the building was opened to the public in January 1903. Considered one of the finest hotels in the city at the time, numerous famous guests stayed at the hotel while visiting Atlanta, including three presidents of the United States. Unlike other Atlanta hotels, the Piedmont sought to emulate the style of hotels in the northeastern United States and was commonly referred to by locals as "our New York City hotel". In 1929, the building went through an extensive renovation overseen by the architectural firm of Pringle & Smith. In 1965, the owners of the hotel agreed to sell the property to the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, who planned to build a new office building on the site. The hotel was demolished that year and in 1968, the Equitable Building was completed.
The Exposition Cotton Mills were cotton mills located in what is now the West Midtown area of Atlanta at the upper end of the Marietta Street Artery, an area rich with industrial heritage architecture. They were built on what had been Oglethorpe Park for the International Cotton Exposition of 1881 and were demolished in 1952. A warehouse and distribution center now occupy the site.
Morgan & Dillon was a major architectural firm of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It later became Morgan, Dillon & Lewis.
The Peachtree Arcade was a shopping arcade in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building, modeled after the Arcade in Cleveland, was designed by Atlanta-based architect A. Ten Eyck Brown and was located between Peachtree Street and Broad Street near Five Points. Construction began in 1917 and was completed the following year. Located in the city's central business district, it was very popular with citizens, functioning as an unofficial "civic center" for the city. However, by the 1960s, the arcade was facing increased competition from shopping malls located in Atlanta's suburbs, and in 1964, the building was demolished to make way for the First National Bank Building, a skyscraper that, at the time of its construction, was the tallest building in both Atlanta and the southeastern United States. In 1993, the American Institute of Architects named the building as one of Atlanta's most notable landmarks to have been destroyed.
The Metropolitan is a condominium building at 20 Marietta Street NW at the southeast corner of Broad Street in the Five Points district of Downtown Atlanta. It was built in 1908 as the Third National Bank Building And is Atlanta's first skyscraper. It was later the Atlanta Federal Savings and Loan Building, and in the 1960s was resurfaced with dark glass. It was converted into condominiums in 1996.
The U.S Post Office and Customs House in Atlanta was a landmark building located on Marietta Street, occupying the block bounded by Marietta, Fairlie, Walton and Forsyth streets in the Fairlie-Poplar district of Downtown Atlanta. The building opened in 1878. In 1910 the City acquired the building and it was used as the Atlanta City Hall until 1930, after which it was razed. The lot was rebuilt in 1958 as the Fulton National Bank building, now the 55 Marietta Street building.
The Paramount Theatre was a movie palace in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building was designed by Philip T. Shutze and was completed in 1920 as the Howard Theatre, a name it kept until 1929. It was located at 169 Peachtree Street, in an area that soon became the location of several other major theaters, earning it the nickname "Broadway of the South". With a seating capacity of 2,700, it was at the time the second largest movie theater in the world, behind only the Capitol Theatre in New York City. In addition to functioning as a movie theater, the building hosted live performances, with several nationally renowned orchestras playing at the venue through the 1940s and Elvis Presley playing at the theater in 1956. By the 1950s, however, movie palaces faced increased competition from smaller movie theaters and the rise in popularity of television, and the Paramount was demolished in 1960.
Edgewood Avenue is a street in Atlanta, Georgia, United States which runs from Five Points in Downtown Atlanta, eastward through the Old Fourth Ward. The avenue runs in the direction of the Edgewood neighborhood, and stops just short of it in Inman Park. Edgewood Avenue was first important as the route of a streetcar line to Inman Park, Atlanta's first garden suburb and home to many of its most prominent citizens. Today, the avenue is known for its restaurants and nightlife around its intersection with Boulevard.
The Henry W. Grady statue is a monumental statue of Henry W. Grady in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Built by Alexander Doyle in 1891, the statue lies at the intersection of Marietta Street and Forsyth Street in downtown Atlanta and was unveiled shortly after Grady's death in 1889. The statue has recently been the subject of controversy, as several groups have called for its removal due to Grady's support of white supremacy.