W.W. Orr Building

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

The W.W. Orr Building is an Art-deco skyscraper designed by Pringle and Smith, and built in 1930 in Atlanta, GA.

W.W. Orr Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The W.W. Orr Building is also known, or has been known as, W.W.Orr Medical Building, or W.W.Orr Doctor's Building.

Its precise street address is 478 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA. You can also find it on the map here.

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 1946 and 1964.

Building's timeline

Construction completed
1930
94
a
Restoration
1946
78
b
Restoration
1964
60
years ago
2024
  1. 1946 - Additions.
  2. 1964 - Additions.

Architect and team

Pringle and Smith was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

Architectural Style

The W.W. Orr Building can be categorized as an Art-deco building.

The Art Deco movement flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, with many historians marking the outbreak of World War II as its final decline. Even though a couple of decades might not seem as much, the Art Deco movement had a great impact on architecture, and it's widely represented in many American cities due to the development boom that happened during that time.

Art Deco marked the abandonment of traditional historicism and the embracement of modern living and the age of the machine. In architecture, that meant leaving behind the ornaments of Beux-Arts and Neo-Gothic buildings and instead favoring simplicity and visual impact through geometric shapes, clean lines, and symmetrical designs. Ornaments were still an important part of the design, but they became bold and lavish, and were often inspired by ancient cultures or industrial imagery, instead of nature.

The W.W. Orr Building was completed in 1930, right when the Art Deco movement was at its peak, so it kind of went with the trend at that time.

Spaces & Uses

It has a total of 11 floors.

Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1930, the W.W. Orr Building has mainly been used as Medical space.

Materials & Structure

The W.W. Orr Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features brick columns that run vertically from top to bottom of the builidng, accentuating it's verticallity, with spandrels decorated with corrugated patters between windows. The spandrels of the first floor are particularly interesting, as they feature relief panels taht illsutrate the building's use. The main entrance is framed with dark polished granite.

Other materials found at the W.W. Orr Building include, bronze, found in main entrance door frames, and black metal, used for decorative motifs in elevator doors.