UPDATE 3/17/2006 (New Photograph 6/25/2006 – Curtain wall demolition underway):
One of several video clips of the building implosion posted on YouTube:
Demolition to start in April 2006?
We understand that demolition is scheduled to begin in April and public access to the main level will end with the closing of the Wachovia branch bank (March 24th).
Please post your comments/observations regarding the building here.
In the February 8, 2006 Atlanta Journal Constitution:
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/0208bizcousins.html
Writer Walter Woods describes a plans for “two condo towers, retail on site near Fox Theatre.” Descriptions do not include enough detail to understand the design, other than a general description of a 30-story residential high-rise facing Ponce de Leon Avenue and a second tower facing Peachtree Street. The story does not indicate that rehabilitation or adaptive use of the building was considered prior to the decision to demolish.
Tenants at 615 Peachtree Street, a modern landmark, have been evicted in preparation for demolition by Cousins Properties. Unfortunately, occupancy and design of the proposed development for the site has not been finalized, according to a recent Atlanta Business Chronicle article.
From the December 16-22 Atlanta Business Chronicle:
“Peachtree block to get face-lift” details Cousins Properties Inc. plans to “soon demolish the building [12-story Wachovia building] and neighboring garage to make way for a mixed-use project.” The next paragraph describes plans: “Exactly what the mix of uses will be, however, has not been decided.”
From the Fall 2005, DOCOMOMO/US, Georgia Chapter Newsletter (Jon Buono):
Originally commissioned by First National Bank of Atlanta (later purchased by Wachovia), the building was designed by Smith & Smith Architects of Atlanta. Francis P. Smith, a student of the noted American architect Paul Cret (1876-1945), moved to Atlanta in 1909 to become the first chairman of Georgia Tech’s newly established architecture department. He worked in that capacity until 1922 when he returned to private practice.
The next year he formed a partnership with established Atlanta architect R. S. Pringle. The partnership lasted until 1934, during which time Pringle & Smith designed several important buildings in Atlanta, including the Rhodes-Haverty Building (1928) and the William-Oliver Building (1930). Pringle retired in the 1930s, but Smith continued to practice independently. Smith’s son, Henry H., followed his father’s footsteps to the University of Pennsylvania, and after ending his military service in the 1950s, joined his father in practice.
Prior to 615 Peachtree, Francis had served as an architect to First National on numerous projects. The city’s widening of North Avenue, and subsequent narrowing of First National’s property at the intersection of Peachtree prompted the new commission. The client decided to raze an existing branch bank on site and develop the property for commercial office space.
According to Henry H. Smith, the design proposed by he and his father attempted to maximize rental space on the narrow site resulting from the roadwork. Their concept also utilized a passive solar design. The slab-like building’s monumental east and west elevations are noticeably without windows. This design avoided the intense solar heat gain at those exposures, and instead provided glazing at only the south and north elevations. The majority of the office spaces were ideally configured for southern exposure.
Georgia Marble was chosen for the solid facades and other accents to complement First National Chairman Jim Robinson’s stock holdings in the industry. But apparently Robinson never demanded the choice.
The curtain-wall for the south elevation was a natural choice in satisfying the space demands of the office market. Henry traveled to Canada to tour new installations of the still experimental building system. During this trip he witnessed the use of decorative metal panels within curtain-wall designs. Following the determination of a weather-resistant finish, Henry specified red panels within the building’s facade design to contrast the uniform white marble panels on east and west elevations (the panels are currently painted grey). At the building’s base, non-domestic blue-grey granite was used in conjunction with an elaborate installation of decorative metal sun screens.
The ground floor banking hall was finished with travertine floors, accented with a red grout. The building also included a radiant heat and cooling system that was novel for the time.
Today, Henry Smith regards the building as the most significant in his career. It was the last major project designed with his father before his death in 1970.
Calls to Cousins Office concerning plans for redevelopment plans for redevelopment of the site were not answered.
In the February 8, 2006 Atlanta Journal Constitution:
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/0208bizcousins.html
Writer Walter Woods describes a plans for “two condo towers, retail on site near Fox Theatre.” Descriptions do not include enough detail to understand the design or indicate that rehabilitation of the building was considered prior to deciding to demolish the building.
34 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 3, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Jason
I have been waiting for this a long while. The building does nothing to evoke the historical element of this block. There is a lot of space here and many designs that could have been erected to accomplish this task but all we got was a steel and concrete block for a building. I hope that the builders and designers realize the beauty in the history of this corner and proceed accordingly.
April 9, 2006 at 7:28 am
Michael Saunders
Does anyone out there know what Cousins’s current plans for the site are? They have repeatedly changed their story regarding what they intend to put in place of the current structures.
April 17, 2006 at 7:56 am
tommy
I think demolition has begun, at least in terms of removing fixtures and all. The first floor is boarded up and the aluminum screen may or may not still be in place. I think it was a great building, at least until they painted out the red spandrels on the north and south sides. Cousins’ “mixed-use” project, whatever that turns out to be, may at least relieve us of that godawful concrete-block wall between 615 and the Ponce.
May 14, 2006 at 5:27 pm
CB
I can’t believe that this building is being torn down. It is one of the most honest interpretations of modern architecture left in Atlanta.
There are many ways the building could have been incorporated into a mixed use plan.
Obviously, the current owners have no sense of preservation. What we don’t need on Peachtree is another glass and steel condo building.
May 16, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Chris
The parking deck is closed but in terms of any demo regarding the building I haven’t see any as of yesterday.
I do wish the building would be saved. Especially since all that will be replacing it will be a setback condo tower and a private greenspace that fronts onto Peachtree. It certainly will not add to the street level experience on this portion of Peachtree but detract instead.
May 27, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Radical Georgia Moderate » 615 Peachtree Building
[…] This site has some history about the building. I appear to be in the minority relative to commenters on that site and all the news coverage I read in that I actually think it would have been neat to repurpose it instead of tearing it down. I was first acquainted with it when I accompanied Amber to her drug test for her current job, which was conducted in a suite inside. It’s unfortunate that it was already boarded up when I took these, because I wanted to get some photos of the lobby, which had these ornate 1950s designs that I don’t really know how to describe. […]
May 30, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Jack Arogeti
I worked in that building from 1976-1998; more than 22 years at McCann-Erickson, back when that name seemed as good as it got.
There are many McCanners, I know , that, like me, have some special memories over the likely more than 40 years McCann had an agency office there. And many wonderful Clients, freelancers, media sales people and more had great times there, too.
At one time, we had a blue chip, maybe the bluest chip, list of Atlanta Clients: Coca-Cola, Georgia-Pacific, Atlanta Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Bank South, Six Flags Over Georgia, Chick-fil-A, AFLAC, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Rhodes Furniture, and many more.
If anyone finds out actual dates and times of demolition, I sure would appreciate your emailing me so I can alert former McCanners. We all have a lot of memories, overwhelmingly good, there. Thank you.
June 26, 2006 at 10:15 am
Deborah Marcella Rehn, AIA
Clearly there is a lot of work yet to be done in raising awareness and understanding of the architectural significance of some of Atlanta’s most visible and conceptually expressive historic modern buildings. Like other elements of our tangilbe cultural history, modern architecture and it’s cousin, industrial design, show us where we came from, and the ideas they express tell an important part of the story of who we are. Without buildings such as 615 Peachtree, there would be no Metropolis or 1180 Peachtree with their modern visual language, their exuberant celebration of steel, glass and clean lines, or the latter’s incorporation of sustainable design. Henry Smith, with his influence by Paul Cret and leadership at Georgia Tech, is just one example of the broad shoulders upon which Atlanta architecture stands and should be honored, not forgotten and or allowed to be so easily erased from our collective memory.
June 29, 2006 at 3:53 pm
MMalik
It may not be pretty nor does it seem to fit in with the rest of the so-called historic block upon which it resides, but is that not the definition of a city? A metropolis which bears the signs of its occupants throughout the decades in the most physical manner so that even after the original builders and occupants are gone, citizens are able to look upon these mini-monuments. Buildings, though not eternal, are testaments to the people and times in which they are designed and constructed. To deride 615 simply because it’s not a Victorian, neoclassical, nor Georgian imitation of its neighbors is to ignore that all cities must grow and not stagnate through design.
It could use some more windows, a better color, and a more open street level, but to tear it down in favor of the glass monoliths which seem to recently be the building style of choice for ‘mix-use’ developers is to trade one stand-out for another. Why not keep the one that has historical significance and is unique rather than gain a cookie-cutter skyscraper?
July 16, 2006 at 2:17 am
Mark D. Little
It makes me sad to witness the slow demolition of this block, one of my favorites. The fact that the First National Building was completed the year in which I was born (1959) makes it all the more poignant. Shame on us, Atlanta, for not saving this “future” classic.
September 10, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Born Raised and Hating what personality my town has lost.
Shame Shame Shame Shame. For all you haters, try driving around Los angeles. Look at the Respect they show all Architecture. The Blending of Old and New is something Atlanta will never figure out. And Why should it, when the Dollar is mightier than any intellegent Planning. Why tear down something so well designed when there are plenty of empty Parking blocks surrounding all of downtown! Dear Atlanta, you can’t figure out how to connect your roads properly. You can’t connect your neighborhoods with a decent public Transit plan. You can’t connect your buildings through urban design.
When will you figure out how great the City’s design could have been. 50 years. 150?
THAT BUILDING WAS GREAT!!!!!!
September 11, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Chris
Implosion has unfortunately been scheduled by DH Griffin on Saturday, September 30th at 8AM.
September 25, 2006 at 8:20 pm
moderngeorgia
Here’s an easy link to the proposed plans:
http://community.livejournal.com/atlanta/1963526.html?thread=13693446#t13693446
Note the nice vacant lot where the 615 Peachtree Building stands today…
September 27, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Brent
Any ideas as to where one could view this implosion?
September 29, 2006 at 9:06 am
Carrie
I’ve posted a document from the City showing the safe zones and street closures (though not well I will admit, guess they should try using a better map), though they don’t really say where is a safe place to watch from there will likely be plenty of people in the area to show you where not to be.
September 29, 2006 at 9:07 am
Carrie
I’ve posted a document from the City showing the safe zones and street closures (though not well I will admit, guess they should try using a better map), though they don’t really say where is a safe place to watch from there will likely be plenty of people in the area to show you where not to be. Here’s the link to the PDF:
Click to access ptreedemo.pdf
September 29, 2006 at 9:30 am
Matt Leach
The implosion will be tomorrow morning, September 30 2006 at 8:00 am.
September 29, 2006 at 11:34 am
Mike
I guess I am pretty lucky!! I leve close by, site distance from the old building. I will have a front row seat from my balconey! GOOD BYE YOU UGLY EYESORE! Come on progress!!
September 29, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Rosa
I was there for the Omni implosion, but missed the Atlanta Stadium implosion. Too bad we are not imploding more ugly parking garages.
Regardless, will be there in the morning to see the old building go down…
September 30, 2006 at 9:55 am
lk
I just saw it go down and it was a spectacular sight! I kind of liked it as a cotrast to the other architectural styles in the skyline, and I hope the replacement towers don’t suck like so much of the stuff going up around town right now.
September 30, 2006 at 10:13 am
Jacob
I just saw it go down. It was an awesome sight. View it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDMf3feceH0
September 30, 2006 at 10:13 am
moderngeorgia
Link to AJC blurb:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2006/09/30/0930implode.html
Has anyone posted photographs to Flickr yet?
September 30, 2006 at 10:19 am
Brent
The building fell hard. I took some photos here:
http://dangerpop.com/2006/09/30/implosion-615-peachtree-street-building/
I will post a video of the whole thing Sunday night. If you are interested in seeing it just check out the site.
Thanks for the heads up on this DOCOMOMO
September 30, 2006 at 12:00 pm
chase
I posted a few to Flickr here: http://flickr.com/photos/chaserpaul/sets/72157594305873427/
September 30, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Marc
Was anyone else watching from the east side? (I think that’s where Jacob’s video was taken from). I saw something shoot out from the building after the first explosion and go flying toward Piedmont Park. Anyone happen to know what that was and where it ended up?
September 30, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Jeremy
What you believe you saw were pieces of a protective barrier that are wrapped around columns being exploded, which prevent pieces of concrete and debris from damaging nearby buildings and spectators. I posted a video on youtube where you can see some of these pieces flying away form the building. If you watch closely, you can see one fly over where I was standing. It landed behind the crowd and a guy took it as a souvenir. It still had the smell of something that had been exploded. It was a semi-rigid polymer of sorts. If I am wrong about this, please let me know.
Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7hkYt6BS5E
September 30, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Jeremy
oops, I meant “what I believe you saw”
September 30, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Pat
We heard it from where we live across from the Clermont Motor Lodge. Excellent booms. In their alarm, morning drunks (bless their sad hearts) yodeled a cacophanous reply outside our windows.
Thank for the pics and flicks, everyone.
I was there for the Fulton Co. Stadium implosion. Like idiots, we tried to hide out in a dumpster that was in the Stadium’s parking lot, but a cop spotted us as we were climbing in. We wound up riding our bikes through halted highway traffic to watch the implosion from a nearby overpass.
September 30, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Kevin
I work in the BellSouth building a block or so over, we watched it from 20 floors up. We were able to see the explosions from within the building as they were going off. The sound was muffled somewhat from the fact we were inside, but was impressive nonetheless. Outstanding entertainment for a nice Saturday morning. Our video camera decided to crap out on us, a lesson in always checking your equipment ahead of time.
October 5, 2006 at 8:53 am
Bloglanta » Blog Archive » The Wachovia Building Implosion
[…] While those who cry preservation-for-preservation’s-sake will miss the old building and condemn the new building for being new, they’ll never be able to explain why the historical significance of the old building (sentimentality) was great enough to trump the new development. What I’ll miss the least about that site will be the parking deck. […]
October 5, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Gerald West
Thank ya’ll for all the comments and interest in this building’s demolition.
I was fortunate enough Saturday morning to meet the Architect – Henry Smith- that worked with his father in the building’s design. Demolition is what I do every day, but what it’s like to see something demolished that I designed, I’ll never know that feeling. Mr. Smith’s face showed the emotion of pride and distaste for what was about to occur. My hat is off to Mr. Smith for coming out to see the end of this buildings life and a design he had a hand in. Wether you love the building or not, you have to accept the void created at the corner of Peachtree and North Ave. This is not the first time(or the last) the corner has been cleared. How many folks remember what was there in 1956?
The site will sprout some buildings that will serve the next generation and provide another demolition contractor an oppurtunity to perform his craft. We don’t hate the buildings we demolish – we just create the void for other buildings to come.
GTW
December 9, 2006 at 11:25 am
moderngeorgia
I understand the Cousin’s project has been put on hold this past week, after the building has been demolished, of course. Is this true?
December 11, 2006 at 1:23 pm
moderngeorgia
Indeed, the project has been delayed. From last week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle:
Condo projects hit delays
Atlanta Business Chronicle – December 8, 2006
by Lisa R. Schoolcraft and Jill Lerner
Staff Writers
Several high-profile condominium projects in metro Atlanta are being delayed or canceled because of a softening market and increasing construction costs.
Cousins Properties Inc. has delayed its Fox Plaza project — for which the developer in September imploded the Wachovia building at Peachtree Street and North Avenue — for at least four to six months, said Matt Gove, spokesman for Cousins (NYSE: CUZ). The project, a proposed mix of office, hotel and condo towers, was supposed to begin construction by the end of 2006.
Delays also are affecting The St. Regis in Buckhead, a mix of hotel rooms and condos, and The Astoria at The Aramore, a 71-unit condo project at 2233 Peachtree Road.
The St. Regis now is expected to be completed Nov. 16, 2008, rather than the first half of 2008. The Astoria plans to start construction Feb. 1 rather than by the end of 2006, said Jack Williams, business director of Kairos Development Corp.
A surge in condominium construction in the past few years in metro Atlanta, plus a slowdown in the broader housing market, has made some lenders hesitant about providing financing for new condominium construction. In addition, rising construction costs are complicating financing models.
“Going forward, it will be more difficult to do [condo] projects for a period of time,” said Williams. “Construction pricing is more volatile and [financing is] more difficult to obtain.”
At the middle of 2006, developers had proposed 13,603 new condo units for metro Atlanta, a 43.8 percent increase from a year earlier, said David Haddow, president of Haddow & Co., which tracks the Atlanta housing market.
At mid-year 2006, 5,818 condo units were under construction, compared with 3,945 during the same time in 2005, he said, for a 47.5 percent increase.
“And what has happened to demand?” he said. “It has slowed down, so that is a source of concern.”
That has led some developers to reassess their plans.
Novare Group Inc., one of the most prolific condo developers in Atlanta, announced earlier this year it was pushing back the start date of The Roxy in Buckhead.
Yet another high-profile project remains on schedule, for now. Trump Towers Atlanta is still expecting to start sometime between March and May, said Mark Randall, director of Wood Partners LLC, which is in a joint venture with Donald Trump and Dezer Properties Inc. to build the double tower project at 15th and West Peachtree streets in Midtown. The 47-story first phase will consist of 365 units, with prices from the high $400,000s to more than $1 million. It is expected to be completed by early 2009.
One developer has dropped the condo portion of his hotel/condo project altogether, banking instead on a stronger hotel market.
Hotel Palomar, originally a 230-room hotel with 38 $1 million condos atop it at 866 West Peachtree St., has ditched the condos for 70 more hotel rooms, said Beau King, president of Kim King Associates LLC, which is developing the $100 million project with San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group LLC and Atlanta’s Gulch Ventures LLC.
“There’s a huge demand for hotel rooms in Midtown and we wanted to maximize our hotel rooms,” he said.
King said he’d rather build hotels for $215 a night rather than condos for $650 per square foot. “There is tremendous competition for condos in the $1 million market right now,” he said.
Cousins’ Gove said The Premiere at Fox Plaza, a 30-story, 210-unit high-rise condo tower, is expected to be the first part of the project started.
But rising construction costs, a slowing condo market and increased interest from commercial users for one piece of Fox Plaza have stalled the condo, which will sit at Juniper Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue, he said.
Because of the added site interest, Cousins wants to file a new development plan with state agencies, delaying the project start at least four months.
Construction costs have risen about 10 percent to 15 percent overall during the past year, said Bill Bland, senior vice president with Choate Construction Co.
The increase in construction pricing is across the board, Bland said, but one of the main factors that can add costs to condo projects is the increasing risk in the form of class-action lawsuits filed by homeowner associations.
In order to minimize their risk, many of the trade contractors will not pursue multifamily “for sale” projects, he said. This in turn limits competition and drives up prices.
The St. Regis in Buckhead is one of the projects that have been affected by rising construction costs. The St. Regis, on West Paces Ferry, is planned to have 150 hotel rooms and 50 condos, 44 now under contract.
“We did have to pause to get our construction costs in line, but we were able to revise our schedule,” said Jay Jacob, development director of SR Hotel Development LLLP.
August 21, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Being Amber Rhea » Blog Archive » Implosion!
[…] GDBF and I went to our first-ever implosion this morning. The Wachovia Building on the corner of North Ave. and Peachtree St. was demolished this morning at 8:00 a.m. (well, more […]