Atlanta’s Most Iconic Monument Architecture

By Author: National Monuments Foundation
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The skyline of Atlanta heritage conservation architecture is a mash-up of architectural styles. There is no single building that best represents our city, from John Portman's international-style towers to Marcel Breuer's brutalist Central Library.

In an effort to make sense of Atlanta's diverse architectural landscape, we've compiled a map highlighting some of the city's most iconic structures.

The structures on the list are eclectic in scale, vintage, and use, and they represent some of the best and most recognisable structures the Big Peach has to offer. And it's easy to spot two quintessentially Atlanta architectural themes on the list: the significance of John Portman in shaping the city we know today, and the role demolition (and, in rare cases, preservation) has played.

King & Queen Buildings
While not technically in Atlanta, these twin towers are unquestionably the most regal structures in the city. The Concourse Corporate Center Buildings V and IV, as they are officially known, are local landmarks. The buildings' distinctive metal caps light up to mark different events throughout the year ...
... as they stand sentinel over the Ga. Highway 400 and Interstate 285 interchange in Sandy Springs.

Sovereign
Sovereign's distinctive glass facade stands out in the neighborhood's skyline as Buckhead's tallest and most artfully curvaceous building. A second, similarly curved tower is being planned for next door.

Swan House at Atlanta History Center
The Swan House was built in 1928 for Edward Inman by noted classicist and local Philip Trammell Shutze. The house is now a museum as part of the Atlanta History Center, and it is just one of Shutze's many residential, religious, and institutional contributions to the city.

Buckhead Library
This avant-garde deconstructivist landmark was built in the 1980s in the heart of Buckhead Village by Atlanta-based Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects. While the surrounding landscape has changed dramatically, the building remains as distinct as ever.

High Museum of Art
Set back from Peachtree Street in northern Midtown, the High Museum complex's distinctive white buildings are sculptural elements in their own right. The museum's buildings, designed by renowned architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, are works of art in their own right.

1180 Peachtree St NW
The tower, nicknamed the "Batman Building" because of its wing-like glass faces that rise high above the building's roof, looms large over Midtown. Originally intended to be one of three highrises that comprised the "Atlanta Symphony Center," the adjacent site is now destined to become Opus Place.

The Fox Theatre
There are numerous reasons why this 1929 movie palace was dubbed "The Fabulous Fox." In the 1970s, a campaign to save the building from demolition sparked Atlanta's current preservation movement, which thankfully saved this architectural gem. Renovations to add the opulent Marquee Club are nearly finished today.

Bank of America Plaza
Bank of America Plaza, one of Atlanta's most instantly recognisable skyline features, has stood as the city's tallest building—and one of the tallest in the country—for more than a quarter century. This ATL icon is visible from all over the region, thanks to its iconic gold obelisk-shaped spire that glows at night.

Center for Civil and Human Rights
The Freelon Group-designed building at the northern edge of Centennial Olympic Park, one of the best monument architecture Atlanta to the entertainment and cultural district surrounding Pemberton Place, embodies the museum's ideas and lends dynamism to the exhibitions within.
The Center for Civil and Human Rights' exterior. The exterior is tan and white. The structure is built into a sloping hill.

SunTrust Plaza
SunTrust Plaza, one of John Portman's commercial towers at Peachtree Center, is distinctively geometric. The international-style tower, built in the 1990s, is topped with stacked glass cubes that rise high enough to make it Atlanta's second-tallest structure.

Hyatt Regency Atlanta
The hotel was the world's first example of the now-ubiquitous, atrium-centric hotel form, designed by John Portman and opened in 1967 as the Regency Hyatt House. The building, topped by the blue-domed Polaris, is now dwarfed by its surroundings, but it remains an icon of ingenuity for its time.

Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Whereas the Hyatt House was the first, the Marriott Marquis in 1985, designed by John Portman, may be the best. The hotel's distinctive shape, known around town as the "pregnant Marriott," makes the 52-story structure an icon in the downtown skyline.

The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta
The soaring presence of the reflective cylindrical tower and the amazing views offered from the Sundial restaurant atop the building, rather than the lobby, lands this third John Portman hotel on the list. The Westin, at 73 stories, was the tallest building in the city for more than a decade and briefly the tallest hotel in the world.

191 Peachtree St NW
The Philip Johnson-designed tower, topped by two towers, is one of the tallest buildings along Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. The 50-story structure still stands out, with a soaring 100-foot-tall atrium.

Georgia-Pacific Center
The pink marble tower, known for its distinctive stepped facade, stands prominently at a bend in Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. The tower, designed by the internationally renowned classical architecture firm SOM, began construction in 1979, following the mysterious fire that destroyed another landmark on the site, the Loew's Grand Theatre.

Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Central Branch
Following a preservation battle, the Central Library in the heart of downtown is finally slated for a renovation, though how sympathetic to the original Brutalist aesthetic the changes will be remains to be seen. The concrete building, designed by internationally renowned architect Marcel Breuer, is not universally admired, but it is undeniably eye-catching.

100 Peachtree
The SOM-designed tower, arguably Atlanta's most notable Modern structure, is a testament to midcentury design minimalism. While the building's signature "Equitable" sign is under threat from a new tenant and ownership, Atlantans will always remember it by its original name.

Flatiron Building
The 11-story structure, Atlanta's oldest standing skyscraper, was completed in 1897. The structure is officially known as the English-American Building, but it is more commonly known as the Flatiron Building due to its distinctive wedge shape. The building, which was recently renovated, predates New York City's more famous (and much taller) Flatiron Building by five years.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium
While it is a relative newcomer to Atlanta's architectural scene, having been chastised for cost overruns and initial operational hiccups, the new stadium on the western edge of downtown has made its mark on the skyline. And, as of next week, this instant landmark will be the city's only enclosed stadium.

Georgia State Capitol
The Georgia State Capitol, built in 1889, sits on a hill at the southern edge of downtown, overlooking The Connector. It is still one of the city's grandest structures, with its iconic "Gold Dome." However, the gold leaf on the building's top was not added until a renovation in 1958.

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