Healey Building

Healey Building
  1. About the Healey Building in Atlanta
    1. Building Catalogations
  2. Architect and team
  3. Architectural style
  4. Spaces and uses
  5. Structure and materials

The Healey Building is a Neogothic skyscraper designed by Morgan & Dillon, and built between 1913 and 1914 in Atlanta, GA.

Its precise street address is 57 Forsyth Street NW, Atlanta, GA. You can also find it on the map here.

The Healey Building is a structure of significant importance both for the city of Atlanta and the United States as a nation. The building embodies the distinctive characteristic features of the time in which it was built and the Neogothic style. Because of that, the Healey Building was officially declared as a national landmark on December 23rd 1991, and was included in the National Register of Historic Places on November 2nd 1976.

At the time of its completion in 1914 the Healey Building incorporated solutions that were quite advanced at the time, these included a ground-level interior space filled with shops that became a major public space rather than simply an enclosed lobby.

The building has been restored 2 times over the years to ensure its conservation and adaptation to the pass of time. The main restoration works happened in 1987 and 2001.

Building's timeline

Construction begins
1913
111
Construction completed
1914
110
Added to the NRHP
1976
48
a
Restoration
1987
37
Declared NL
1991
33
b
Restoration
2001
23
years ago
2024
  1. 1987 - General renovation. The architect in charge was Stang and Newdow.
  2. 2001 - Conversion of upper stories into luxury residential units.

Architect and team

Morgan & Dillon was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design. But there was also one other architect involved, as far as we know. We are talking about Walter T. Downing.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Thomas G. Healey as the Main Developer.

Architectural Style

The Healey Building can be categorized as a Neogothic building.

The Neo-Gothic style, also known as Gothic Revival, emerged in the United States during the late 19th century, taking inspiration from the Gothic architecture found in Europe from centuries prior.

The Gothic Revival movement took elements characteristic of the Gothic buildings, such as pointed architect, ribbed vaults and flying buttresses, and applied them to newer buildings, even those belonging to typologies that did not exist during the original Gothic period, such as skyscrapers.

Neg-Gothic buildings usually feature pinnacles, gargoyles and other decorative elements that emphasize the verticality of the structure, and include stonework that features the craftsmanship of skilled artisans of the time.

The Healey Building was completed in 1914. These were the late days of the Neogothic movement, which had been around for almost 200 years at the time.

Art-deco would soon take over US architecture, and therefore, even though Morgan & Dillon didn't venture into what was cutting edge in terms of style at the time, and took instead a more conservative approach to the design of the Healey Building, it is possible that the design already started showing some traits that would later become characteristic of the art-deco movement.

Spaces & Uses

It has a total of 17 floors, 16 above ground and 1 basements.

When it opened its doors to the public in 1914, the Healey Building was primarily used as Commercial space. That however, is no longer the case, and today it mainly provides Residential space, with other complementary uses such as commercial space.

Materials & Structure

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features warm gray stone adorned with terracotta details and pillars that rise continuously from the base to the cornice, accentuating the building's verticality. The two-story tall entrances is defined by pointed arches, tracery, and columns. The revolving access door is framed in bronze, just like the skylight above it.

Other materials found at the Healey Building include, bronze, used on lobby's mailbox and elevators doors, dark granite, seen on floors of the lobby's rotonda, dark granite, used on the dome and walls sorrounding the inner rotonda, and glass, found on the corontation of the dome.

Sources

  • web.archive.org
  • npgallery.nps.gov