Located in front of the City Hall on Mitchell Street, this sign identifies the location with gold letters on a marble backing. Surrounded by trees and a manicured lawn, the location of this sign speaks to the image of prosperity Atlanta is committed to building in order to continue its expansion and attract profitable industries.
Made of what appears to be metal and concrete, these Fairlie-Poplar signs are scattered about the district and feature what I can only assume to be characteristics or attractions of the area. Although I looked around for corresponding businesses or buildings, I didn’t find anything that matched the signs. I inferred that the tea set represented dining and restaurants, the jester entertainment, and the violins music, all of which can be found in some form in the Fairlie-Poplar District.
Barbara Asher Square is located off Marietta Street and directly behind the Five Points Marta station and is at the edge of what I defined as the Fairlie-Poplar District. The area, which feeds into the main part of Fairlie-Poplar, was bustling, aided by the business of a couple of street kiosks and McDonald’s on the corner and those exiting the train station. The statue of Barbara Asher, a prominent Atlanta figure who is responsible for the zoning of Fairlie-Poplar, is located on a strip of the Marietta greenway.
The Marietta Street Island is a strip of greenspace that runs along, you guessed it, Marietta Street. It serves as a median between the two sides of the busy street. It’s a little bit surreal to stand in the middle of Atlanta traffic, in the middle of the road, no less. The Henry Grady statue, is near the intersection of Forsyth and Marietta and designates the junction “Henry Grady Square.” The statue, as stated by the plaque, has been there since late 1929.
This Google Street View provides a full shot of the area.
This antique sign, which faintly reads “pipe corner” is located at the corner of Walton and Forsyth Streets and is attached to the Forsyth-Walton building, where the Executive Shop is located, as well as a tattoo parlor. The image of above is of the same street corner (taken from a different angle) in 1952. From this picture, we can now see that the sign once said “Royal Cigar Co.” and above it “The Pipe Corner of the South.”
(Click the images to enlarge)
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s U.S. mail chute is located inside the City Hall next to the elevator bank. Clearly part of a larger system, its ends disappear into the the ceiling and the floor. This door to the chute didn’t open, but there must be one on a higher floor that does, since there was trash stuck in it. I thought this was noteworthy because this is the second chute I’ve seen in my BED observations. The first was in the atrium o the Healey Building, again directly next to the elevator bank.
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s Atlanta Gazette newspaper box sits outside the City Hall on Mitchell Street. Although there’s no date on it, the box appears to be fairly old and is a relic of a past Atlanta. It appears to have been vandalized and cleaned off, which indicates to me that it is of some relative value, but it wouldn’t open and there was no clues as to why is remains there.
Atlanta’s first major league baseball is one of only a few items on display in the City Hall atrium. The baseball commemorates the Braves’s first game in Atlanta after moving from Milwaukee. This artifact is clearly very important to the city, and it sits on a pedestal by one of the doors.
Fun fact: in a shocking turn of events, the Braves lost the game.
One of the few objects on display in the City Hall atrium is the first football. This object looks used. Dirty hand prints are visible on the surface, which makes it seem more authentic. It was presented to Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. in 1966, the same year the Braves came to Atlanta and sits opposite the baseball that commemorates their first game.
Fun fact: In another shocking turn of events, the Falcons lost the game.
This metal plaque was one of the first things I saw upon entering City Hall. Even before stepping in the atrium this tablet greets guests in the entryway. It depicts a soldier holding a tablet shield emblazoned with the words “patriotism” and “devotion” and, like most of the artifacts in the City Hall, commemorates a specific event. In this case, the explosion of the U.S. Maine.