Vacant 8 Story Hotel Building in Atlanta GA

Imperial Hotel, Atlanta Georgia

Date added: August 13, 2024

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The Imperial Hotel is one of a relatively limited number of early twentieth-century tall buildings in Atlanta. It was built in the middle of the first era of skyscraper construction in the city. (This era began in the late 1890's and ended in the early 1930's.) Like other Chicago style buildings in Atlanta, it features a tall, narrow profile, a tripartite exterior design consisting of a base, shaft and cornice, an internal skeletal frame supporting exterior veneer walls, and elevators. The Imperial is noted for its extensive bay windows, which are characteristic of the Chicago style but relatively rare in Atlanta. Its exterior veneer, with its decorative brickwork and terra cotta insets, is both typical and finely detailed.

With the exception of its altered ground floor, the Imperial Hotel is a good example of the modestly-priced early twentieth-century hotel in Atlanta. It is one of a very few such structures to have survived, and it contrasts with the more elaborate and expensive hotels such as the Georgian Terrace and the Biltmore. The Imperial's upper floors (second - eighth) have survived virtually intact and give an accurate representation of room size, arrangement and finish. Even though the lobby has been altered, it still maintains evidence of its original design. A fireplace with a central "IH" cartouche, the original tile floor under carpeting, crown molding around the exposed concrete ceiling beams, a fanlight above the entrance to the lounge area, and wainscotting are its most significant historic features.

The Imperial Hotel is believed to be the second or third concrete-framed tall building in Atlanta. According to the historian Carl Condit, reinforced concrete was first used as a framing material for tall buildings in the first decade of the twentieth century. Thus, the Imperial is not only innovative in terms of Atlanta architecture but also up-to-date in terms of national developments. The Imperial is a good example of an early twentieth century "fireproof" building. The hotel is built almost entirely of non-combustible materials including concrete, brick, terra cotta, stone, tile, and plaster on steel lath. Fireproof commercial buildings were first introduced to Atlanta during the early twentieth century.

The hotel is the work of the noted Atlanta architect, Edward E. Dougherty (1876-1943), a graduate of Cornell University School of Architecture and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Dougherty opened an office in Atlanta in 1910, making the Imperial Hotel one of his first commissions. During his years in Atlanta and later years in Nashville, Tennessee, he designed a number of important churches, hotels, and other buildings throughout the southeast. His early twentieth-century commercial architecture is noted for its innovative use of reinforced concrete as a framing material.

The Imperial is a good example of Atlanta's moderately priced early twentieth-century hotels that were built in response to Atlanta's rapid growth as a metropolitan center at this time. Businessmen, "drummers," conventioneers and tourists formed the mainstay of this type of hotel business. Numerous examples of hotels like the Imperial are known to have existed in Atlanta during the early twentieth century, but the Imperial is one of a relatively small number to have survived and may be the only one to maintain its overall integrity.

As such, the Imperial provides a historically significant contrast to the city's grander and better-known hotels such as the Georgian Terrace and the Biltmore.

In addition, the Imperial Hotel is significant for the role it played in Atlanta's commercial development northward along the Peachtree corridor during the early twentieth century. With the advent of the twentieth century, widespread use of the trolley, and the introduction of the automobile, Atlanta's urban development began to take place in a linear pattern northward of the traditional central business district. Peachtree Street and its flanking streets provided the development spine for this urban growth. The Imperial Hotel and its neighbor, the Farlinger (an early apartment building constructed in 1898), were among the earliest major commercial buildings built along the Peachtree Street corridor north of downtown.

Building Description

The Imperial Hotel is an eight-story, early twentieth-century hotel building designed in a variation of the Chicago style. It is located on Peachtree Street at its intersection with Ivy Street and Ralph McGill Boulevard, just north of downtown Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia.

The rectangular, flat-roofed hotel has a reinforced concrete frame and is veneered with red brick inset with terra cotta. Its front facade has a tall, narrow silhouette, subdivided into a tripartite arrangement made up of a projecting first floor, a plainly detailed shaft and a more ornate cap. The projecting first-floor brick structure, which provides a nondescript entrance to the hotel, was built in 1953 to replace the original open brick arcade with Tudor arches. (If the restoration of the hotel proceeds as planned, the 1953 structure will be removed and the arcade reconstructed as it originally appeared.) The shaft, with its six-over-one double-hung sash windows grouped in pairs, is detailed with: spandrels highlighted: with decorative brickwork and geometric-shaped terra cotta insets. Between the pairs of windows, vertical pier-like sections rise uninterrupted from the second to the seventh floor where a string course marks the start of the cap. Wrought iron balconies are located at the windows of the third and eighth floors. The eighth floor, with single larger windows set between decorative brick and terra cotta panels, is surmounted by a corbeled brick cornice and a parapet highlighted with terra cotta. The cornice and parapet continue around the entire south side and a portion of the north side. Both sides of the structure are articulated with seven rows of bay windows which extend as continuous projections from the second to the eighth floors, alternating with rows of small sash windows. These bays are constructed of sheet metal and most retain their original eight-over-one flanked by four-over-one wooden sash windows. A fire escape, smoke stack, and ventilator pipes are affixed to the rear of the building. In 1957, a narrow concrete block addition on steel posts was attached along the north side at the second-story level.

On the interior, the hotel has public areas on the first floor and in the basement, and hotel rooms above. Two Otis elevators with all their original equipment and a stairwell rise through the building. The first floor contains a lobby, a coffee shop (located for the most part in the 1953 front addition) and a lounge (the original dining room). Although extensively remodeled, significant original features remain in the lobby area. These include a Tudor-arched stone fireplace with a central "IH" cartouche, partially hidden behind the present reception desk; some marble wainscotting; the original tile floor under carpeting; crown molding around the exposed concrete ceiling beams; an "I" motif in some column capitals; a fanlight above the opening to the lounge area; and stone treads on the stairs leading to the second floor. The lounge area was extensively remodeled following a 1968 fire, but ceiling details remain here too, above a dropped ceiling. The basement was finished as a restaurant in 1953. On the upper floors, which remain virtually intact, rooms are organized off both sides of a "T-shaped central corridor. Detailing is simple and includes simple wood molding around doors and windows, baseboards, picture rails, and transoms above doors. Some of the rooms have built-in window seats in the bay areas. Many of the bathrooms, located between rooms, have their original fixtures and hexagonal tile floors.

The hotel is located on a small un-landscaped lot at the busy intersection of Peachtree Street, Ivy Street and Ralph McGill Boulevard, just north of downtown Atlanta. It stands amidst a collection of historic buildings that include Sacred Heart Church (1898), The Farlinger (1898) and First Methodist Episcopal Church (1903). Parking lots are located to its north side and rear.