Crum and Forster building nears landmark status

The Atlanta Urban Design Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend landmarking the Crum and Forster building in Midtown.

But the fate of the 81-year-old structure is still in question because its owners, the Georgia Tech Foundation, have appealed the city’s earlier decision to deny it a demolition permit.

“As far as we’re concerned, the [demolition] application predates the landmarking process,” said Carl Westmoreland, a lawyer representing the foundation.

Westmoreland spoke at a hearing in City Council chambers that was attended by about 75 people, almost all of whom, in a show of hands, supported saving the building.

One of them, Jim Stark of Eatonton, worked there during the 1960s and ’70s when he was starting out with the Crum and Forster insurance company. He retired as CEO.

“I worked in a number of Crum and Forster buildings around the country,” he said, “and that was the best one. It’s beautiful. I hope Tech will save it.”

The property has touched off one of the most spirited preservation controversies in Atlanta in years. Many of the most outspoken opponents of demolishing it have ties to Tech.

The foundation, which raises money for Tech, bought the building at 771 Spring St. for $11 million in December and decided to tear it down for future expansion of Technology Square, the school’s mixed-use development in Midtown.

Erected in 1927, the three-story building has a graceful Renaissance facade of columns and arches. Although it was widely admired and mentioned in several lists of Atlanta landmarks, the structure was not among the 54 properties specifically protected under the city’s preservation ordinance.

The design commission’s recommendation, which must be endorsed by City Council and the mayor, would give the building far greater protection from development.

In the meantime, the foundation’s appeal of its rejected demolition application will come before a hearing of the Board of Zoning Adjustment on Nov. 21.

Earlier this summer, the foundation hired an architecture firm with strong preservation credentials to re-evaluate plans for the building. While a draft report has been finished, president John Carter said, “No decisions have been made at this point and are probably 30-60 days away.”