I was talking with someone the other day about where in Atlanta we would take a group on an urban hike, and we decided a tour of Downtown Atlanta’s parking garages would be the best learning experience we could possibly facilitate.
The highlights of the tour would be:
1. Robert Wyland’s Whaling Wall parking garage at Underground Atlanta that contains the Western and Atlantic railroads’ zero milepost (the spot which basically invented Atlanta).
2. Kell Hall at Georgia State University, which was a parking garage in the 1930s and now houses many of the various science departments. There are not many stairs in the building, just ramps and ramps and ramps from one story to the next. Incidentally, Kell is extremely handicap accessible.
3. That parking garage on Marietta Street at Cone Street, across from the State Bar and AJC buildings. It looks like a giant dog kennel (seen above).
4. The “Greek temple” garage on Ellis Street.
There were more we discussed, especially some creepy ones, but now I can’t remember them all. Here’s a map of every single parking garage downtown, thanks to CAP, if you want to do a self-guided tour. I’ll spend all summer researching and we can wander around Decatur Street in sweltering August, the best time to be Downtown.
Tags: downtown, kell hall, parking garages, robert wyland, whaling wall
Georgia State University’s University Center building also was a parking deck, though it now abounds with stairs. It’s also why the sidewalk outside the bookstore sports a random ramp to nowhere.
The Zero Milepost is a great visit, and the state officers in that building are very accommodating to pilgrims.
Yes! I would totally go on an urban hike of parking garages. This is a great idea.
I want to add the parking deck called The Cage on Piedmont and Auditorium Place. It is called THE CAGE, after all. Also the one on Gilmer near Grady that has the awesome “P-A-R-K” sign.
And the Cage does sport a wonderful display of string and mannequin heads.
gee, christa. wherever did you get this idea? from “someone”?
I’ll wager you have never tried to navigate Kell Hall in a wheelchair. My wife has, and it’s only with outside help that she’s managed to get around in Kell at all.
Just going up one ramp, from the parking area under the quad (and the Panther Corners automat) up to the “ground floor”, is a testament to my own fitness. The ramps are exceptionally steep, and there’s no way to stop and catch your breath. You get up to the next landing quickly or you roll backward and across the building.
GSU is a nightmare for anyone in a wheelchair. Need to get up to the third floor of Sparks Hall but the lone elevator is broken? Too bad. Ordinarily this just means “email the instructor and explain, and then play catch-up”, but she IS the instructor. A broken elevator and no backup means no class and no way to tell the class what’s up.
No offense meant toward you; I enjoy your reporting. But Kell Hall is about as ADA-accessible as Mount Everest.
Great post (as always). I’d like to add to your list with the parking deck set on an exposed rock foundation at Spring Street and 18th Street (NE corner) in Midtown. I believe it was designed by Alexander and Rothschild, two of the principal partners who organized of the Modernist architectural firm known as FABRAP (Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild & Paschal) in 1958. I will provide you with a pic of the parking deck from the circa 1965 FABRAP portfolio when I get a chance. For more info about FABRAP, here’s Robert Craig’s piece from the New Georgia Encyclopedia:
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1073