Rebuilding The City: City Of Atlanta

By Author: National Monuments Foundation
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As it stands today, Atlanta is a smorgasbord of various innumerable social, cultural, and political ghettos. Over the decades, the classical architecture of this space has been highly defined and re-defined to meet the needs of the aftermath of a war, supreme disasters, rail hub expansion, the Civil Rights Movement, and the launch of now-world-famous brands such as Coca Cola.

Georgia decided to build railways to the Midwestern states of the United States in 1836, and Atlanta was chosen as the line's terminus. Stores and settlements eventually grew and expanded, leading to the addition of three more railway lines in Atlanta, making it the "rail hub" for the entire Southern United States.

Atlanta's architecture is a mash-up of classical, modernist, post-modernist, and contemporary styles. In the same neighbourhood, one can see buildings from as early as the mid-nineteenth century coexisting with buildings from the postmodern era. The city is not afraid of the city's ever-changing architectural styles, their implications, and the echoes they leave behind. During the American Civil War, the city of Atlanta was burned ...
... to the ground under the command of William Sherman. The city, which was thought to have been populated with antebellum architecture, a neoclassical form of architecture from the nineteenth century, now had no traces of its existence.

Soon after the war, the residents did not give up hope and began rebuilding the city. In less than six years, in 1870, Atlanta had a population of 21,000 people, and the population grew by about 70% per year until 1920. Atlanta had a population of 200,000 by 1920, and 50 years later, in 1970, it was the 20th largest metropolitan city in the United States, with nearly 1.2 million residents. Atlanta is now the seventh largest city in the United States, with a population of over 5.6 million people.

In the 1870s, the city was rapidly rebuilt after the war, replacing what remained of the antebellum relic. Today, all that remains of that era are two modest farmhouses and one warehouse, neither of which is particularly visible in modern times. Before the war, Atlanta was not a place for plantations and fancy buildings, but it was now on its way to becoming a prosperous new city rebuilt from a frontier town. The residents subsisted on the railroad, liquor, and hard labour.

Restoring the thrown-up wooden structures for the economy was part of the city's reconstruction—hope for a future wealth boom. After the primary goal was established and the new normal began to take hold, the residents no longer wished to recall the hardships of the past. They simply desired to advance boldly, toward a modern and outstanding future.

Antebellum architecture
What remains of antebellum architecture today are four dilapidated houses that were thought to be outside of city limits in the nineteenth century. Tullie Smith House was built in 1840 by Robert and Elizabeth Smith and is thought to be a small plantation or farmhouse. It appears to be Atlanta's oldest known structure. It was soon relocated to the Atlanta History Center in an adjacent suburb. The Georgia Railroad Freight Depot, built in 1869, is the city's oldest known structure.

Post-bellum architecture is architecture built after the Civil War. Atlanta suffered a major setback after being reduced to cinders. A significant portion of the city's history, culture, and civilization was depleted and reduced to a trifle. Atlanta was a railroad city, and its architecture was never as distinct as that of southern cities like Savannah and Charleston, where architecture was governed by an aristocracy.

Throughout the American Renaissance, from 1879 to 1917, one could not only see Atlanta rise, but also many of its citizens' conceptions and impressions. With the construction of the Equitable Building in 1892, the idea of going higher and gaining more power took off in Atlanta. It was 8 stories tall (35.91 metres) and one of the tallest buildings known at the time.

The old Equitable Building was Atlanta's first skyscraper, designed and constructed by a Chicago-based firm, Burnham and Root, in the Beaux Art style that was popular at the time. The structure represented Atlanta's rising prosperity, with its ornate decoration and massive presence. When the Equitable Building was first opened in 1892, it was unable to find tenants; however, by 1893, its situation had improved when the Trust Company of Georgia stepped in.

The Equitable Building memorial architecture Atlanta was soon overshadowed by larger, sleeker, modernist structures such as the Sun Trust Building. The classical-inspired architectural design of the Equitable Building was deemed obsolete by critics, leading to its highly contentious demolition in 1971. The remains of The Equitable building were relocated outside the existing contemporary building, which provided little comfort to historic preservationists both then and now.
Another of Atlanta's numerous ideas that sprung up in the early twentieth century was hotel architecture, which led to the construction of one of Atlanta's most contentious buildings, the Piedmont Hotel. With the city's increasing industrialization, civic and industrial architecture flourished as well. People flocked to the city to experience the diverse and fast-paced city life, its resources, governance, and ever-changing architecture. Atlanta was at its pinnacle in terms of urban explorations as well as technological and structural innovations.

Growth of architecture from the Cold War era to the contemporary era
Even during the wars, Atlanta was quickly adapting to changing times. It defined its ever-changing skyline using the international modernist architectural and design style. The Westin Peachtree Plaza is one of Atlanta's many examples of modernist architecture. The massive skyscraper was built on the site of a Victorian-style home from the 1870s, followed by the Henry Grady Hotel and Roxy Theatre, both of which were demolished to make way for the Westin Peachtree Plaza.

With the introduction of postmodernism in Atlanta in the early 1980s, the Contemporary era was established. Atlanta was one of the first cities to embrace postmodernist architecture. This era saw the addition of long-lost classical elements of design and architecture, as well as a mingling of tech and traditional. Skyscrapers constructed between the 1980s and 1990s now dominate the skyline. These skyscrapers were not vertical blocks in the manner of postbellum skyscrapers. In fact, slender spires and ornamentations now dominate Atlanta's massive figures.

Atlanta is now both a home and a necropolis for many eras of culture, civilization, growth, design adaptations, and architectural fiestas. The city has had its ups and downs in a never-ending cycle. It remains an extraordinary city that strives to overcome its past and move forward, whether through rapid urbanisation or highly ornamented superstructures. In Atlanta, the historic preservation movement gained traction in the 1970s.

Because of a stronger historical preservation community and a greater public understanding of the importance of diverse architecture to Atlanta's vibrancy, perhaps more of today's cutting-edge buildings will be treasured decades from now.

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