The Fox Theatre Institute has extended the application deadline for a grant program that is offering up to $500,000 in grants to restore historic theaters across Georgia.
According to reports this week, the Civic Center could avoid demolition. The previous status was grim, but the city is back in talks about preserving this building. The following excerpt is from Maria’s column this week:
“Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is exploring “reactivating” the 18-acre Civic Center site and possibly putting it back on the market.
“We will have an announcement about the future of the Civic Center by the end of this month,” Reed told Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 19. A proposal by Houston developer Weingarten Realty to redevelop the site as a $298 million mixed-used project collapsed last October.
Reed said he is exploring several options including a public-private joint venture with the Atlanta Housing Authority to build a significant affordable workforce housing development on the site.”
Take a look at some of the photos Chad Carlson, reader & preservation activist, sent in this weekend. He says “buildings like these are best appreciated as a form of sculpture.”
What do you think?
Amid general support for landmarking Kirkwood’s Pullman Yard, a city panel hearing the idea delayed a vote while they await historic details on at least one building.
The state’s plan to sell Pullman Yard without any requirements to preserve any of the 11 buildings or land has prompted the Kirkwood Neighborhood Association to begin an effort to have historic conditions applied to the property before it is sold.
This week neighbors from Kirkwood and preservation professionals gathered to protest the sale and possible destruction of the historic buildings. Special thanks to members of the Atlanta Preservation Alliance for these stunning images: Chad Carlson, Charles Lawrence & Derek Anderson.
A lawyer for the state issued a tersely worded letter to Atlanta regarding the city’s efforts to protect the historic buildings and site at the state-owned Pullman Yard. Atlanta was advised to drop its preservation effort, or expect to square off with the state and its backing from Georgia’s attorney general.
The coming of a new year heightens our sensitivity to the changes in our life and our city.
This year marked the last Peach Drop as we know it. Sadly, the rain and the cold dampened the final event held at Underground Atlanta before it is sold to WRS Realty in the near future.
The good news is that the historic structures in and around Underground will be preserved as new buildings are constructed as part of the new development.
But there are so many other landmarks in danger of being demolished during 2017 with Atlanta having a spotty record of preserving its most precious landmarks.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new photos by Kelly Jordan.
Emory University’s plans to partner with a developer to reopen the Briarcliff Mansion, once home to a Coca-Cola heir, as a hotel and event facility were approved Dec. 15 by Georgia’s State Properties Commission, according to a report by emory.edu
As Downtown Atlanta continues its gradual expansion westward, beyond the new Falcons stadium, an iconic skyscraper near the CNN Center is being renamed and is to undergo its first renovation in 18 years.
Atlanta is taking steps to protect the historic integrity of a property best known as Pullman Yard. It’s a collection of 11 commercial buildings located on the largest single tract of land in the rapidly redeveloping Kirkwood neighborhood, east of Little Five Points.
Atlanta is poised to extend its long-standing relation with the Grant Park Conservancy to continue grooming the city’s oldest park, which was created on 100 acres donated in 1883 by Atlanta pioneer Lemuel Pratt Grant.
From Rob: “Since completion in 1913, The Ponce has shared its place in Atlanta History with the Georgian Terrace and later the Fox Theater. The Ponce’s rooftop with its sentinel lions, balustrade, and ornamentation is amazing. The foyer of the Ponce with its wooded décor and beautiful Tiffany skylight beckons you in.
That all three of these buildings are located in what is called the Fox Triangle means you have to visit and enjoy the designs and motifs here of our early 20th Century Atlantans.”
One of the most fanciful buildings in Atlanta is facing possible demolition.
Back in 1963. Atlanta-based Trust Company Bank had property to build a branch along the expressway on land sandwiched by Monroe Drive.
It hired renowned Atlanta architect Henri Jova to design a bank branch for that location.
The architectural style of Atlanta’s Central Library isn’t to everyone’s taste. However, the possibility of losing another signature building appears to be galvanizing support to preserve it as a library or other public use.
The Fox Theatre released today an economic impact study that shows the financial returns of the effort begun 40 years ago to save the theater from demolition.
Paschal’s on MLK Drive by Chad Carlson
Paschal’s is located at the intersection of MLK and Paschal Blvd. Chad Carlson took this photo last week standing across the street. The tall building behind it was the adjoining hotel.
Chad writes: “People should be more aware of this, especially since they are proposing a complete revamp of MLK, from the stadium to I-285. What happened here resonates in places as far away as South Africa. Correatta Scott King had said that the significance to the Civil Rights movement of this buiding is akin to Fanueil Hall in Boston to the American Revolution.”
He also shared this recent article from the Washington Post about Paschal’s: Paschal’s, once a civil rights landmark, is in tatters.
Ryan Cagle, a resident of West End, alerted SaportaReport of the plans to remove the trees.
More information from Ryan Cagle:The removal of the trees is said to be required by APS to make way for a new athletic field at Brown Middle School. However, several neighborhood residents are attempting to untangle the layers of bureaucracy and put a stop to this unnecessary destruction. Here’s what we know:The arborist application for this project states that no private property trees will be damaged, however, trees clearly on private property (inside a parking lot) are marked for removal.To our knowledge, the developer has not yet paid for any tree removal.Several trees said to be 150+ years old are marked for removal despite being clearly alive and healthy.Construction begins July 1.This conversation is on-going and currently active on the West End Neighbors Facebook Group. Community residents knowledgeable about the permitting and planning process are in the act of researching more information and attempting to put a stop to this senseless de-beautification.
In a city that doesn’t hesitate to tear down old buildings, Georgia Tech is providing glimpses of the iconic structures that created Atlanta’s marquee Peachtree Street corridor.
Olympia Building Rehab by Wendy Darling
Wendy has been capturing photos showing progress on the rehab work underway at the Olympia Building, located right at Five Points in Downtown. By the end of 2015, this historic building will have a new use as a Walgreen’s.
