The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is seeking nominations for its 2024 Preservation Awards. The awards honor projects and people in the state who have made “significant contributions to the field of historic preservation.” The awards have various categories recognizing rehabilitation, sustainable rehabilitation, restoration, preservation, stewardship and “preservation service.” The 2023 award-winners included five Atlanta […]
Author Archives: John Ruch
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Galloway School confirms it will demolish historic building; preservationists urge a rethink
The Galloway School in Buckhead has confirmed its campus renovation plan will involve demolishing the historic, iconic Gresham Building while saving some pieces for incorporation into a new structure. Preservationists are urging the school to reconsider. “In order to remain responsible fiscal stewards of our school, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to […]
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In Southwest Atlanta, they’re praying for the preservation of a historic religious camp ground
Nearly two centuries ago, Methodists established a religious camp in the woods of what is now Southwest Atlanta as part of a historic Christian revival movement that established the Bible Belt and shaped Georgia’s future. Today, an effort is underway to preserve Mt. Gilead Camp Ground, or at least its roughly 140-year-old “arbor,” a roofed, […]
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Marker honoring Westside community reformer is another step to spotlighting Atlanta’s underrepresented history
The new movement to spotlight Atlanta’s underrepresented history took another step forward on Oct. 21. A marker to Lugenia Burns Hope (1871-1947), a community organizer and social reformer whose national and local work for African Americans prefigured the Civil Rights Movement, was unveiled in Washington Park. The marker is part of a nationwide program called National Votes […]
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Buckhead’s Galloway School proposes campus renovation that could alter or remove historic building
Buckhead’s The Galloway School is proposing a campus renovation that could spell changes to — maybe even the end of — its historic, trademark Gresham Building. The private school has been based in the 112-year-old former Fulton County Almshouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, since its founding in 1969. Preliminary documents […]
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Midtown’s Peachtree Manor marks 100 years as a ‘timeless architectural jewel’
Residents of Midtown’s Peachtree Manor condominiums are marking the tower’s 100th birthday as what they call a “timeless architectural jewel of Atlanta.” Opened in 1923 as a luxury apartment building at Peachtree and 6th Street, the Manor is now part of the Cornerstone Village condo and commercial complex. The brick-and-limestone Georgian Revival tower is on […]
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Pioneering LGBTQ+ history report lays the groundwork for preserving Atlanta spaces and places
A pioneering report on the city’s LGBTQ+ history is complete, laying the groundwork for further research and future preservation efforts. The “Atlanta LGBTQ+ Historic Context Statement” covers the period of 1895 to 2000. It was created by consultant New South Associates on behalf of the City and the nonprofit Historic Atlanta, which advocates for underrepresented […]
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In Lakewood Heights, new Atlanta Public Schools land-sale process raises concerns and support
In many ways, Lakewood Heights is where Atlanta Public Schools’ (APS) new surplus-property disposition process began. It’s also likely to be the first test case in determining whether that process will build trust and plan from the community level upward. Lakewood Heights has struggled with disinvestment, crime and commercial vacancies in the decades since a […]
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State police killing of ‘Cop City’ protester was ‘objectively reasonable,’ prosecutor finds
The state police killing in January of protester Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Teran — a flashpoint of the “Cop City” protests — was “objectively reasonable” due to its shootout circumstance, and no criminal charges will be brought against the troopers, a prosecutor has ruled. “The use of lethal (deadly) force by the Georgia State Patrol was […]
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Trio targeted in ‘Cop City’ RICO charges have a history of exposing police ‘misdeeds’
Like a bad airplane-reading thriller, the controversial RICO indictment against “Defend the Atlanta Forest” protesters spins its yarn about anti-police conspirators around a core trio of characters from a local bail fund, who are presented as shadowy behind-the-scenes figures caught in the spotlight of justice. It’s a tale that leaves out its own biggest plot twist. The […]
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1400 Murphy Ave. developer strikes deal with community to push for multiuse path, roadway extension
After a year of conflict over pedestrian safety concerns, the developer of a Southwest Atlanta warehouse project is now teamed up with two neighborhood associations in a compromise that calls for a new multi-use path and an eventual extension of Murphy Avenue. The deal — confirmed by the company and both groups — also includes […]
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Major human rights, press freedom groups condemn RICO charges against ‘Cop City’ activists
A diverse array of major human rights and press freedom groups are among 90 organizations calling on Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to drop controversial racketeering charges against “Cop City” protesters. Among signatories to a letter announced Sept. 28 are Amnesty International USA, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Freedom […]
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Federal agency is under pressure to restart pollution-monitoring device shuttered for ‘Cop City’ protest concerns
A federal agency is under pressure to restart a water pollution monitoring device it has kept shuttered for over seven months due to disputed safety concerns about the Atlanta public safety training center protests. Internal emails show USGS based the shutdown on speculative concern about “paid” protesters and declined a police officer of escorts. Prior […]
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Developer says it will abandon trademark office applications for ‘Uptowne’ and ‘Midtowne’ branding
Atlanta developer Dewberry Capital Corporation says it will abandon its applications for several marks using the terms “Uptowne” and “Midtowne” despite their pending publication for formal comments. Dewberry Capital has long planned redevelopment of several properties in its home neighborhood of Midtown under a branding as “Uptown.” A Dewberry Capital official and an attorney who […]
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Atlanta Public Schools plans affordable housing and more for surplus properties, names two pilot projects
Atlanta Public Schools (APS) may team with the City’s brand-new affordable housing organization on community-led, history-preserving remakes of several surplus properties – starting with the former Lakewood Heights and Peeples Street school sites. The Atlanta Board of Education Sept. 19 gave a thumbs-up to the innovative disposal strategy, which could involve partnership with the new […]
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In Central State Hospital demolition decision, ‘in-depth’ historic preservation study was a single phone call
The state agency planning to demolish historic buildings at Milledgeville’s Central State Hospital said an “in-depth” exploration of preservation alternatives it claimed to have conducted consisted of a single, undocumented phone call with an unnamed expert. For weeks, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) did not respond to SaportaReport questions about the supposed analysis and […]
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Attorneys say City cannot create its own training center referendum, City Council source says
City attorneys say the Atlanta City Council cannot create its own ballot question about the public safety training center, according to a source at the council. “Law Department says they don’t have the authority to put it on the ballot,” said the source, adding the detailed opinion is still being reviewed inside the council. An […]
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City Council member may seek to put training center on the ballot, break referendum stalemate
An Atlanta City Council member may introduce a resolution to put the public safety training center on the ballot, pending City attorneys’ advice — a move that could cut through a legal stalemate over the “Vote to Stop Cop City” effort. District 5 City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari is “considering introducing legislation on Monday” to put […]
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Judge denies request to force ‘Cop City’ referendum signature-counting, questions City’s ‘honesty’
A federal judge has denied an emergency request from the “Vote to Stop Cop City” effort to force the counting of signatures — while also criticizing the City as dishonest in its conflicting legal arguments. U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen’s Sept. 13 denial order said the referendum effort is in legal confusion primarily because […]
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‘Vote to Stop Cop City’ hits stalemate over petition deadline while protesters announce direct action
After submitting what it says is over 116,000 signatures, the “Vote to Stop Cop City” effort is locked in a legal stalemate over interpretation of a petition-submission deadline. Meanwhile, some Atlanta City Council members say they will push to get it on the ballot – and protesters say they will march on the public safety […]
