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Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel | |
---|---|
Hotel chain | Westin Hotels |
General information | |
Address | 210 Peachtree Street NW Atlanta, Georgia |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 33°45′34″N84°23′19″W / 33.75943°N 84.38855°W |
Opening | February 27, 1976 |
Management | Marriott International |
Height | Roof: 723.0 ft (220.37 m) Antenna: 883 ft (269.1 m) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 73 |
Floor area | Meeting space: 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | John Portman & Associates Ai Group |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 1,068 |
Number of suites | 40 |
Number of restaurants |
|
Parking | 300 spaces |
Website | |
www | |
References | |
[1] [2] [3] [4] |
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) [5] 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. [6]
The first building on the site was the first official Georgia Governor's Mansion in Atlanta, a Victorian-style home purchased by the state in 1870 at the southwest corner of Peachtree Street and Cain Street (later International Boulevard, now Andrew Young International Boulevard). After housing 17 governors of Georgia (each limited to a single term of office) until 1921, it was demolished in 1923 for the Henry Grady Hotel, named for Atlanta Constitution newspaper journalist/magnate and philanthropist Henry W. Grady. That and the Roxy Theatre were in turn demolished for the current building.
Designed by developer/architect John Portman, the hotel opened on February 27, 1976 [7] as the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, managed by Western International Hotels. The hotel was Atlanta's tallest building until 1987, when it was overtaken by One Atlantic Center. It was the tallest hotel in the world for a year, until it was surpassed in 1977 by its architectural twin, the Detroit Plaza Hotel, the central tower of the Portman-designed Renaissance Center in Detroit. It was also the tallest building in the southeastern United States, surpassing One Shell Square in New Orleans. It lost that title in 1983, when the Southeast Financial Center in Miami surpassed it. It was the tallest building in downtown Atlanta for 13 years until it was surpassed by 191 Peachtree Tower, which in turn was surpassed by SunTrust Plaza (then One Peachtree Center). It still has more floors than any other building in Atlanta, as well as the state of Georgia.
Western International Hotels was rebranded as Westin Hotels in 1981, and the hotel was soon after renamed The Westin Peachtree Plaza. The hotel was heavily featured in the 1981 film Sharky's Machine starring Burt Reynolds. Stuntman Dar Robinson, doubling for Henry Silva at the end of the film, dropped 220 feet (67 m) from what appeared to be the Westin Peachtree Plaza, setting a record for the highest freefall (unrestrained) jump from a building in a film. In actuality, however, the stunt scene was filmed at the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel, using its shorter but similar cylindrical-shaped Radius Tower.[ citation needed ]
The building is cast in reflective glass in a cylindrical shape that reflects much of the downtown skyline (though each of the around 5600 windows are flat and not convex). Another small cylinder runs the full height of the building on one side, and accommodates two scenic elevators. The uppermost floors hold the Sun Dial Restaurant and Bar, a revolving restaurant that offers panoramic views of the city and its environs. The top floor of the restaurant completes a full revolution every 30 minutes, and the bottom every 60 minutes.
When the building first opened in 1976, the seven-story tall lobby atrium rose out of a half-acre, fountain-filled indoor lake [8] known as the "lagoon.” The lobby bar was surrounded by large, oval "cocktail islands" which appeared to float on the lake [9] and the entire area was decorated with tapestries, sculptures, cages with live birds and over 100 trees. [10] According to a contemporary postcard, architect Portman designed this area "as a modern interpretation of a Venetian Plaza". [11] In a newspaper advertisement, the hotel called the lobby "more like a park" and claimed it was "a total departure from any other you've ever seen." [12]
Not everyone was impressed, however. In a humorous 1982 column dismissing the extravagance of modern hotel lobbies, George F. Will complained that "Atlanta's Peachtree Plaza has a lobby that Lewis and Clark could not have found their way across". He compared the "pond-like body of water" to "a Walden in everything but charm in which you can drown yourself, which you might wish to do". [13]
Eventually[ when? ], the lake was drained and lobby redesigned as a more standard hotel gathering place with carpet, chairs and sofas.
The hotel was also notable for its Peachtree Ballroom, which was the largest in Atlanta when it opened, seating 3,500 people. [14] It has since been surpassed by the Georgia International Convention Center, which lays claim to having the largest ballroom in the state of Georgia. [15]
Several local broadcasters have transmitted from an antenna mast atop the building, beginning when it became Atlanta's tallest, but declining since others have been built around it.[ citation needed ]
The original antenna once carried the signal of WUPA TV 69 from the time it first went on-air as WVEU, but that station moved because the Westin tower lacked space for an antenna to send the station's digital television signal. Two LPTV stations currently transmit from the top: analog WTBS-LP 26, and digital-only WTHC-LD 42.1. [16] As of 2009 [update] , WTBS-LP is moving to the Bank of America Plaza, from the same antenna as co-owned WANN-LP/WANN-CD, and possibly future digital WTBS-LD 30.
The main FM antenna (the four large elements seen at the top of the mast in both outdoor pictures on this page) recently belonged to WZGC FM 92.9 ("92.9 The Game"), while a smaller antenna still carries backup signals for that station and previously for WVEE FM 103.3 ("V-103"), both owned by CBS Radio. WWWQ FM 100.5 ("Q100", then “Rock 100.5”, now WNNX FM (“99X”) first used the same antenna when it moved to Atlanta, before it upgraded and relocated within the city, but it has since switched back. WSTR FM 94.1 ("Star 94") also shared the main FM antenna with 92.9 when it was originally installed, with the power from both stations' transmitters being combined into a single antenna through a diplexer. Both WSTR and WZGC still list this as their allotment location. [17]
There is also an XM Satellite Radio repeater.[ citation needed ]
On March 14, 2008, the Westin, along with other neighboring skyscrapers, sustained moderate damage when a tornado tore through downtown Atlanta, with over 500 windows broken. It was the first tornado to have hit the downtown area. [18] The building reportedly swayed back and forth about two feet (more than half a meter) in either direction, as it was designed. [19]
By 2009, the Westin was the only building in Downtown Atlanta to have not replaced its broken windows, which instead were still covered with black-painted plywood on the outside, and drywall on the inside. This is because the ¼-inch (6mm) uninsulated glass was no longer made by PPG Industries, and even identical new windows would look mismatched because of weathering due to three decades of hot sunshine. Additionally, new building codes require insulated glass that can withstand winds up to 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) instead of 75 miles per hour (120 km/h), necessitating heavier and more expensive glass. Replacement of all 6,350 windows was expected to begin in June or July 2009 and continue from the top down until summer 2010 at a cost of over $20 million. [20] [21] [22] Like the original, the new windows are also mirrored, but feature a slight bronze tint. Each pane measures 52 in × 110 in (130 cm × 280 cm) and weighs 270 lb (120 kg) with four panes required for each room. More than 600 tons of glass were to be recycled. [19] [23]
Skanska completed the Westin Peachtree Plaza exterior window renovation in September 2010. [24] On November 9, 2010, renovation of the Sundial Restaurant at the top of the building was completed, repairing tornado damage done to it two years prior.
John Calvin Portman Jr. was an American neofuturistic architect and real estate developer widely known for popularizing hotels and office buildings with multi-storied interior atria. Portman also had a particularly large impact on the cityscape of his hometown of Atlanta, with the Peachtree Center complex serving as downtown's business and tourism anchor from the 1970s onward. The Peachtree Center area includes Portman-designed Hyatt, Westin, and Marriott hotels. Portman's plans typically deal with primitives in the forms of symmetrical squares and circles.
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.
Truist Plaza is a 265 m (869 ft) 60 story skyscraper in downtown Atlanta. It was designed by John C. Portman Jr. of John Portman & Associates and built from 1989 to 1992. In the mid-1990s, Portman sold half of his interest in the building to SunTrust Banks, which then moved its headquarters to the building and prompted a name change from One Peachtree Center to SunTrust Plaza. In 2021 the building changed its name to Truist Plaza, following a merger between SunTrust Banks and BB&T. The building is also known as 303 Peachtree. The building has a roof height of 871 feet and stands a total of 902 feet tall, including its antenna. When completed, Truist Plaza stood as the world's 28th tallest building and 21st tallest building in the United States. Now it is not in the top 400 in the world, and it is currently the 55th tallest building in the United States and 2nd tallest building in Atlanta.
One Ninety One Peachtree Tower is a 235 m (771 ft) 50-story skyscraper in Atlanta, Georgia. Designed by Johnson/Burgee Architects and Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc, the building was completed in 1990 and is the fourth tallest in the city, winning the BOMA Building of the Year Awards the next year, repeating in 1998 and 2003.
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.
Southeast Financial Center is a two-acre development in Miami, Florida, United States. It consists of a 765 feet (233 m) tall office skyscraper and its 15-story parking garage. It was previously known as the Southeast Financial Center (1984–1992), the First Union Financial Center (1992–2003) and the Wachovia Financial Center (2003–2011). In 2011, it retook its old name of Southeast Financial Center as Wachovia merged with Wells Fargo and moved to the nearby Wells Fargo Center.
The Renaissance Center, commonly known as the RenCen, is a complex of seven connected skyscrapers in downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. The Renaissance Center complex is on the Detroit International Riverfront and is owned and used by General Motors as its world headquarters. The central tower has been the tallest building in Michigan since its completion in 1977.
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. 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.
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three 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.
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.
Wyndham Springfield City Centre is the tallest skyscraper in Springfield, Illinois. It was the tallest Hilton Hotel in the state of Illinois as well.
The Equitable Life Assurance Building is a 32-story, 453 foot tall office building in Atlanta, Georgia. It is located at 100 Peachtree Street in the Fairlie-Poplar neighborhood in downtown Atlanta. A typical example of an International-style skyscraper, the building was designed by Chicago-based architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and was constructed in 1968 on the site of the former Piedmont Hotel. The building's "EQUITABLE" signage was an easily recognizable piece of the downtown Atlanta skyline, while the tower's black finish stood in sharp contrast to the surrounding buildings.
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.
The Turner Broadcasting tower was a 314.3-meter (1,031 ft) free-standing lattice tower in Atlanta, Georgia. It was located next to the Downtown Connector between Spring, West Peachtree, 10th and 12th Streets in Midtown. The tower had a triangular cross-section and was built on the site of a previous four-sided broadcast tower built for WAGA-TV 5 and to serve WJRJ-TV which was founded by Rice Broadcasting Inc. which was owned by a local Atlanta entrepreneur, Jack M. Rice, Jr. It is the tallest freestanding structure to ever be voluntarily removed in the United States and third tallest in the world.
The Hotel District is a neighborhood in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The district's name is derived from it being the home to many hotels, one of them being the famous Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. The Hotel District is generally considered to be bounded by the Downtown Connector to the east, Five Points to the south, Centennial Olympic Park to the west, and Midtown to the north. The district's primary thoroughfare is Peachtree Street, which contains most of the restaurants, hotels, and office buildings. The intersection of Andrew Young International Boulevard and Peachtree Street forms the heart of the district.
The Tower (formerly Block 82 Tower and Bank One Tower) is a 35-story building located in downtown Fort Worth, Texas bound by Taylor Street, Throckmorton Street, West 4th Street, and West 5th Street. At 488-feet, it is the fourth tallest building in Fort Worth. When it was completed in 1974, it was the tallest building in Fort Worth until the completion of the Burnett Plaza in 1983. On March 28, 2000, this tower was severely damaged by an F3 tornado; consensus was nearly reached to demolish the tower, but it was instead converted into the tallest residential building in the city.
Founded in the 1830s as a railroad terminus, Atlanta experienced rapid growth in its early years to become a major economic center of Georgia, with several hotels built to accommodate for this growth. Following its destruction during the Civil War, Atlanta experienced a resurgence and another hotel boom commenced in the late 1800s through the early 1900s. In the later half of the 20th century, hotel skyscrapers began to appear on the skyline, including what was at the time the tallest hotel in the United States. Later, a trend emerged of converting old office buildings into boutique hotels.
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