ATLANTApix: Westin Peachtree Plaza Site

Westin Peachtree Plaza

In my mind, the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel is the best-known of John Portman architectural projects in all of Atlanta. Not so well-known is the site's history.

Two years after Georgia's capital city was moved from Milledgeville, Georgia, to Atlanta, the state purchased in 1870 the Victorian home of John James located at Peachtree and Cain Streets where 17 Georgia Governors lived until it was demolished in 1923.

In 1925, the Henry Grady Hotel was constructed and stood until it was torn down to make way for today's Atlanta icon known as the 73-story Westin Peachtree Plaza.

ATLANTApix and ATLANTAvidz of the tourATLANTA blog features a daily photo or video relative to Atlanta. Come back tomorrow for a new one!

ATLANTApix: The Lions of Atlanta

Les Lions d'Atlanta (The Lions of Atlanta)

Many Atlanta residents know John Portman as the architect (literally) of our fair city. He's responsible for a great many of our downtown buildings, including the Westin Peachtree Plaza, the Hyatt Regency Hotel, and the Marriott Marquis (sometimes referred to as the "pregnant building"), the latter being located on Peachtree Center Avenue.

It took a lot of digging, but I finally uncovered who sculpted the four monumental abstract bronze lions perched in front of the Marriott Marquis. John Portman himself commissioned Olivier Strebelle, a globally renowned Brussells-born artist, to create the the two pairs of guardians of the Marquis, where they have stood watch since 1986.

"Les Lions d'Atlanta" (The Lions of Atlanta) is a landmark any Atlanta local or frequent visitor will recognize...and now you can tell them the name of the work and who its creator is.

While you're exploring downtown, looking at placards for other works of art (which I couldn't find for Les Lions d'Atlanta), you'll find that John Portman designed, created, or is otherwise responsible for quite a few of our beautiful works of art.

ATLANTApix and ATLANTAvidz of the tourATLANTA blog features a daily photo or video relative to Atlanta. Come back tomorrow for a new one!

ATLANTApix: Sharky's Machine

"Sharky's Machine" Record Stunt

Filmed in and around Atlanta, the 1981 blockbuster hit Sharky's Machine, starring Burt Reynolds, featured the highest free-fall stunt for a commercially-released film.

Based on a book by Atlanta native William Diehl, the scene takes place from the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel (photo, background) a 73-story glass cylinder. However, the "stunt double" building would be the nearly identical glass cylinder building, although considerably smaller, the Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel (photo, foreground).

The free-fall, immediatly following a dramatic smashing through an exterior window, is from 220 feet above Atlanta. Oddly, to me anyway, only the beginning of the free-fall is used in the movie, which was indeed dramatic, but I for one would love to see the stunt in its entirity.

ATLANTApix and ATLANTAvidz of the tourATLANTA blog features a daily photo or video relative to Atlanta. Come back tomorrow for a new one!