Atlanta, contrary to many people’s perceptions, is a HUGE city—over 4MM population in the metro area. Atlanta also contains many of the world’s tallest buildings, including the Bank of America (formerly Nations Bank) tower, which is the 7th tallest structure in North America. Among U.S. cities, only New York and Chicago have any buildings taller; Chicago is home to Sears Tower, John Hancock Building, and Amoco Building, while New York has the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.
Atlanta’s primary skyline is spread out in a north-south thread from downtown along Peachtree Street to Midtown. It picks up again in Buckhead, Perimeter and even in Cobb County. Personally, I think it’s a beautiful skyline, despite it’s lack of density. A lot of people claim that most of the buildings are unoriginal, too new, too corporate—but I think they define the character of the city perfectly: flashy, powerful, focused and sprawling. And not knowing a lot about architectural history, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if the buildings are based on the work of others or not. You know, the Stones are a great band, but you could argue that they were never original.
Here’s a Quicktime VR panorama(plugin required) view of Atlanta’s skyline at night as viewed from Midtown. In fact, this picture was taken from the balcony of the building in which I first saw and met my wife!
A view of Midtown and Downtown from Buckhead.
And here’s a view of downtown from the south, with the beautiful Archives Building in the foreground (the windowless concrete structure).
A recent addition to the skyline, the Pinnacle Building shows that Atlanta developers at least consider interesting buildings for projects.
Here’s a startling picture of downtown in 1976, which really demonstrates the dramatic growth which has transformed Atlanta. Note that the then-tallest building, the Westin Peachtree, is still the tallest hotel in the world.
Not pictured in these photos are the many large Perimeter buildings, such as the famous King and Queen, as well as the new BellSouth Metroplan buildings, which is an innovative plan through which BellSouth is consolidating it’s operations into three locations situated adjacent to MARTA stations.
I think the majority of the criticism of Atlanta’s skyline is really not about the buildings, but the culture. Mostly centers of business, these areas are largely devoid of any sort of humanity in the evenings, although that is slowly changing. And being spread out, urban Atlanta is not easily navigated or enjoyed by most people. Additionally, there is the double-edged sword of the scar through Atlanta’s center, Interstates 75 and 85, which are so vital for economic reasons, but divide the city into two halves, difficult to traverse, and culturally damaging.
One theory I would like to see put into practice is to embrace the divide as if it were a river—build bridges, promenades and make other efforts to minimize its “no man’s land” aura and integrate it into the character and image of the city.
It could be A LOT worse—Denver and most western cities suffer from the dullest, boxiest skylines on Earth.
FYI: The current tallest building in the world is the twin-towered Petronas building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, soon to be toppled from the throne by the Shanghai World Financial Center at a startling 1,509 feet.
Read more about skyskrapers here. (but be prepared for annoying pop-under ads)
R.I.P. World Trade Center (previously the 4th tallest building in the world).
10 responses so far ↓
1 Frank // Apr 10, 2002 at 4:22 pm
Scotty, I’d be curious to know how you’d rate the Portland, OR skyline, since you’ve been there. On my second visit there recently I realized I really love it. With the 8 or so bridges and beautiful waterfront area I found it very enjoyable going running around there.
2 Scotty The BOdy // May 10, 2002 at 12:23 pm
I’d rate Portland’s skyline as mediocre. While the downtown area is really nice, the buildings themselves show very little innovation and/or inspiration.That being said, the density, quality of life, general usability and enjoyability of the PDX skyline are nearly unsurpassed.The SW hills definitely don’t hurt the vista either!Skylines in themselves are not measures of the greatness of the city, and when I rate Atlanta’s, I’m strictly talking about the height, architecture and influence of the buildings in defining the character of the city from a distance—sort of like instant recognition from a shot during the Super Bowl or something. I think you get that with Portland if you incorporate the setting—bridges, river, hills, but if you were to just show the buildings, you wouldn’t get much that positively identified the city unless you were very familiar with it.
3 Byron from N.C. // Dec 24, 2003 at 10:19 pm
I think Alanta’s skyline is great! I am just wondering what you think about Charlotte’s skyline? Also, what do you think about the city of Charlotte as a whole?
4 R. Weston Wiggs // Feb 8, 2004 at 11:43 am
Atlanta is a great city, with a wonderful skyline thanks to certain zoning requirements which do not allow buildings over a certain height to have a flat top. I especially love Atlanta a night, when all the buildings are lit up and look like jewels floating in air. Atlanta is a great mix of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
5 jamaal // Feb 10, 2004 at 11:55 am
nothing compares to the beauty of D.C. skyline….no building taller that the washington monument, no billboards, just classic greek architecture and beautiful. it reminds u more of paris than say newyork and in this country thats so unique
6 Anonymous // Mar 11, 2004 at 8:57 pm
Hah, that one building’s the tallest in the country outside Chicago and New York. Found that hard to believe, myself.
7 shannon jackson // Mar 19, 2004 at 11:37 am
You may find it hard to believe, but it’s absolutely true. Atlanta’s Bank of America Tower, at almost 1,030 feet, is the tallest building in the US outside of New York and Chicago. A quick look at any website detailing the world’s tallest buildings will confirm that!
8 Ernie // Jun 18, 2004 at 10:40 am
I love Atlanta’s downtown skyline at night, especially driving north to south on the “downtown connector”. The lack of density seems to capture the small town feel which Atlanta proudly retains in spite of it’s 4 million people. I work in the BoA Plaza and it’s wonderul to look out and see both exciting tall buildings and lots of trees and houses.
9 Scottie // Jun 4, 2005 at 10:46 pm
I’m from Atlanta and I’ve seen many other US skylines countless of times. Compared to most major US cities, Atlanta is definitely my favorite, but even if it weren’t, it should still be in the top five.
10 t.roland // Aug 4, 2006 at 11:04 pm
i’ve been all over the u.s. and europe. atlanta’s does have one of the most beautiful skylines i’ve seen. i would rank in the top 3 in the u.s.a. and top ten in the world….
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