Peachtree Center named historic district, nominated for national register

September 25,2017

Source: Collin Kelley, Atlanta INTown Paper

The Peachtree Center Historic District has been added to the Georgia Register of Historic Places, and nominated to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The historic district includes 15 buildings designed by architect-developer John C. Portman Jr. including the iconic Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel and Westin Peachtree Plaza, along with the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, AmericasMart Atlanta complex, the Mall at Peachtree Center and seven office buildings. This nomination will be reviewed by the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior before listing on the National Register.

Peachtree Center incorporates John Portman’s signature design theory, the Coordinate Unit, to create a fourteen-block development oriented to the pedestrian and incorporating Portman’s signature design element, the atrium. The three major hotels, the Apparel Mart (AmericasMart Building 3), and the Mall at Peachtree Center all incorporate public atriums. Pedestrian bridges also unite all of the buildings within the Peachtree Center Historic District. A team led by Dean Baker of Big RIG: the Revitalization Infrastructure Group produced the nomination.

The Peachtree Center Historic District is the first outcome of the Modern Downtown Atlanta Initiative that includes the development of the Downtown Atlanta Contemporary Historic Resources Survey and the Modern Downtown Atlanta: 1945-1990 historic context. These research documents led to the Modern Downtown Atlanta publication, which documents the history of Downtown Atlanta as it was booming into the economic powerhouse it is today, in an approachable, well-illustrated booklet. Documentation of the history of the city’s built environment is a part of an innovative and groundbreaking approach to economic development that reinvigorates areas by facilitating the use of federal and state tax credits for rehabilitation of historic buildings.

Modern Downtown Atlanta is the first undertaking to comprehensively approach Atlanta’s modern era architecture. The effort is a partnership between Central Atlanta Progress, Atlanta Downtown Improvement District and the City of Atlanta. This work will allow buildings constructed in Downtown Atlanta during the post-World War II era to potentially access a 20 percent Federal tax credit and a 25 percent Georgia State tax credit for rehabilitation expenses of historic buildings.

“This effort provides beneficial and lucrative revitalization infrastructure for Downtown Atlanta, while sharing our history and helping save important places.” said Stephanie L. Cherry-Farmer, National Register and Survey Program Manager, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division.

Modern Downtown Atlanta was written by Patrick Sullivan and Dr. Karcheik Sims-Alvarado and designed by New South Associates, Inc. Financial support for the project was provided by a grant from the Georgia Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Natural Resources.