Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Announces Top Ten Places in Peril
The Madison Theatre. Image via Reddit.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation has announced its list of the state’s top ten “places in peril.” Two of the historically significant sites are in Atlanta.
The two Atlanta locations are the Madison Theater located in DeKalb County and Rhodes Center South, in Fulton. The purpose of highlighting these sites is to raise awareness of the historical, archaeological and cultural significance of places threatened by demolition, neglect, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy, according to trust materials.
Madison Theatre in East Atlanta was opened in 1927 and designed by local architects Daniell and Beutell in the popular Moorish Revival style. In its prime, the theater ranked as one of the finest and most expensive neighborhood theaters in the south, according to trust materials. Since the 80s, small portions of the building have been used for commercial purposes while the theater itself has been used for storage. There is significant potential for rehabilitation, but currently there are no plans for doing so.
The Rhodes Center South was Atlanta’s first strip shopping center and one of the largest real estate developments in Atlanta during the Great Depression, the trust reports. Rhodes Center was originally made up of three one-story buildings that ran along Rhodes Hall and were faced with white Georgia marble. Only the South building, which was home to the Rhodes Theatre, remains. Despite a thriving market for commercial real estate in Midtown Atlanta, there are no plans for its rehabilitation.
Other sites on the list include:
Colquitt County Arts Center in Moultrie (Colquitt County); Glennwanis Hotel in Glennville (Tattnall County); Huston House at Butler Plantation in Darien (McIntosh County); Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Garden in Savannah (Chatham County); Needwood Baptist Church and School in Brunswick (Glynn County); Springfield Log Cabin School in Union Point (Taliaferro County); Stark Mill Community Building in Hogansville (Troup County); and The Cedars in Washington (Wilkes County).
“This is the Trust’s fourteenth annual Places in Peril list,” Mark McDonald, president and CEO of the trust said in a statement. “We hope the list will continue to bring preservation solutions to Georgia’s imperiled historic resources by highlighting ten representative sites.”