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September 20, 2005
Prettiest Building In Chattanooga
In my opinion it is the Joel Solomon Federal Building on Georgia Avenue
The design, Chattanooga's purest example of Art Deco architecture, was a collaboration between local architect Reuben Harrison Hunt and the New York based architectural firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, best known as the designers of the Empire State Building. The building was designed in 1931 and constructed in 1932. It is emblematic of the 'starved classicism' that dominated public architecture in the depression era.
I love almost every aspect of it - the flat parapet roof, the recessed fenestration that gives the building a striking 'verticality,' the aluminum and steel grillwork, the gorgeous marble and terrazzo floors, the repetitive use of eagles in the design (a symbol used to represent the unity of our nation, and the recovery from the depression) - especially the way the architecture effectively communicates the struggle of the depression, while still keeping an optimistic, perhaps even utopian, view of our country's potential future. I like it.
What do you think is the coolest building in Chattanooga?
| By Joshua Daniels | 9:16 AM