South Downtown

Pryor Street, with the Fulton County Government Center building to the left.

Atlanta City Hall and the Georgia State Capitol

South Downtown is an urban sub-district of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States, north of I-20, east of Castleberry Hill, south of Five Points, and west of I-85. According to CAP/ADID, South Downtown is one of the oldest sections of Downtown Atlanta. This part of Downtown is primarily home to the city, county, state, and federal governmental offices, which prompted the city to adopt signage declaring the area "Government Walk." Underground Atlanta is the primary shopping and entertainment center near South Downtown but it, along with the railroad gulch ("The Gulch"), separates the district from Five Points and the Hotel District. Although much of South Downtown is dominated by surface parking lots, the district was passed over during the redevelopment boom of the 1960s and 70s that resulted in the demolition of much of Downtown's architecturally significant buildings. The result are myriad buildings from the 1950s and earlier that remain ripe for renovation.

Hotel Row

Mitchell St., early 20th c.

Mitchell St., early 20th c.

Hotel Row is a both National Register and locally listed historic district consisting of one block of early 20th century commercial buildings, 3-4 stories high, located on Mitchell Street west of Forsyth Street. The building were originally hotels built to serve the needs of passengers from Terminal Station, opened in 1905. The buildings are the most intact row of early 20th century commercial structures in the city in Atlanta's original business district. The decline of Hotel Row began in the 1920s due to the increased availability of automobile transportation and the construction of the Spring Street viaduct, which made getting to hotels in the northern part of the city easier. In the 1950s and 60s, the increase in air travel led ultimately to the demolition of Terminal Station in 1971.

The district is architecturally significant because the structures that make up the block retain most of their original historic architectural character. Several structures were developed by Samuel Inman and Walker Inman, two of Atlanta's most prominent businessmen, and the majority of the structures were designed by the leading architects of the period. They typify the early 20th century commercial structures once common in Atlanta but now rare because of extensive redevelopment. With Atlanta's massive gentrification, plans were underway to convert some of the buildings into lofts, however these plans ultimately stalled as a result of the Late-2000s recession.

Buildings in Hotel Row are:

Building	Year built	Address Mitchell St. (current)	Address Mitchell St. (pre-1926)	Architects	Notes
Concordia Hall	1892	201-209	35-43	Bruce & Morgan	Concordia Assn. would become the Standard Club
Gordon Hotel (form. Child's Hotel, Princeton Hotel)		211-215	45-49	Willis F. Denny	#215 Gordon Lofts
Commercial building	1908	217-221	51-53
Scoville Hotel (form. Marion Hotel)	1908	223-225	55-57	George W. Laine
The Factory Building	1908	227-231	59-63	George W. Laine	#227, Sylvan Factory Lofts; #231 houses Lunacy Black Market restaurant
Sylvan Hotel (orig. known as "Terminal Hotel Annex"; also housed the Williams Hotel ca. 1910)	1908 (permit issued)	233-235	65-67		#233 houses Sylvan Factory Partners

Railroad District

In 2007, the Downtown Atlanta Improvement District designated as the Railroad District 20 blocks of the downtown area south of Five Points between the Castleberry Hill neighborhood to the west and Peachtree Street to the east.

Government facilities

The exterior of the Fulton County Courthouse, located at 136 Pryor Street SW.

South Downtown is home to the governmental facilities of the City of Atlanta, Fulton County, and the State of Georgia. South Downtown is also home to federal government offices. This concentration of governmental facilities influenced the city's decision to market the area as "Government Walk." A list of the most well known government buildings in this district are:

• Atlanta City Hall
• Georgia State Capitol
• Fulton County Courthouse
• Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building
• Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center
• Richard B. Russell Federal Building

To the east of Central Avenue, aside from the Georgia State Capitol, many State of Georgia offices are located in this district, such as the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), Georgia Department of Agriculture, and the Georgia Supreme Court.

Transportation

MARTA provides public transportation to the district through the Garnett Transit Station, located on Peachtree Street.

Many commuters from the southern suburbs who work in Downtown travel on South Downtown's streets when heading to work. Many streets in this district are one-way, similar to the other districts that make up Downtown.

• Peachtree Street, south of the railroad gulch, has a multitude of stores along its stretch between Alabama Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. It is the primary two way north-south street in this district.
• Trinity Avenue and Memorial Drive are the only two-way streets in South Downtown that run east and west. Trinity Avenue is signed as Georgia State Route (SR) 154 until it ends at Memorial Drive near Capitol Avenue at the eastern end of the South Downtown, where Memorial Drive becomes Georgia SR 154.
• Central Avenue is a primary northbound street through the district. It is the main route for commuters into Downtown from the southern suburbs. The Fulton County Justice Center is located at 185 Central Avenue SW.
• Pryor Street is a primary southbound street through the district. It is one of the routes out of Downtown when commuters head back to the southern and western suburbs. The Fulton County Courthouse is located at 136 Pryor Street SW and the Fulton County Government Center is located at 141 Pryor Street SW.

External links

• Thomas Wheatley, "South Downtown must be fixed for Atlanta to thrive", Creative Loafing, November 3, 2011