In it's day this was the financial center of Atlanta and the building looked it. Built in 1901 as the Empire Building. Hentz, Adler and Shutze renovated it in 1929 to the headquarters of Citizens and Southern National Bank.
I have a personal connection to all the Shutze buildings I'm blogging about. Perhaps this one most of all. Mrs. Architecture Tourist worked here as a teller while in grad school. Later she was kicked upstairs. We were young married folks. Both of us worked in a company headquarters, in beautiful historic buildings just three blocks from each other, when downtown Atlanta was at it's peak.
All the major banks were within a block but C&S seemed the city's favorite. It's president Mills B. Lane Jr. was an important Atlanta booster and remarkable personality.
This is the Broad and Walton corner, the most comfortable intersection in downtown Atlanta. How can such formal architecture produce human comfort? I don't know but that's why classic architecture will never go out of style.
It's elaborate on the outside. The banking floor itself is beyond words.
Today Bank of America runs the banking floor. The building is home to Georgia State's Robinson College of Business. Important things still happen here. But very few Atlantans have any occasion to visit here anymore.
Our lives have changed a bit since our newlywed days. But I still visit this block at least once a week to see a client whose office has this view.
Mrs. Tourist has fond memories as a teller there. I hope you'll have an opportunity to visit the banking floor yourself to see why.
No pro photography or pro architecture was committed in this post.
Thanks,
Terry
terry @ surf303.com
Posts
Terry, you need to do a coffee table book.
ReplyDeleteI like it. I wish Atlanta was full of this stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou are so knowledgeable! I loved the trip down memory lane
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this building. It might be my favorite under-appreciated building in the city. The banking floor itself is why I love it - it is so impressive. The marble floors in front of the tellers are worn down with indentions by one hundred years of people shuffling their feet while waiting for their checks to process.
ReplyDeleteI actually spend several days a week in the upstairs working for a prof. at GSU. The upstairs is much less impressive....
The Broad and Walton is definitely comforting!
ReplyDeleteI'mguess the office space is work a day. I think I went up to visit once. Views toward the Healey, Grant, and Muses Buildings must be good. I'm sure Mr. Lane's office must have been something. He was a noted collector of antique banks.
ReplyDeleteI moved from Augusta, Ga. in 1982. When I left I left an open saving account. I still have the account #. How can I access that account on line? My name is Blanchie Cooper (the account owner)>
ReplyDeleteI would call the bank
DeleteMy dad worked for C&S. In the 1950's he would sometimes take me with him when he worked on the weekend. I would play on the floor in that amazing lobby. Once in a while Mills B. Lane would come out of his office and visit with me. Great memories.
ReplyDelete