John Street, 81, helped build Atlanta’s skyline

John Street helped build Atlanta’s skyline as the first associate to join architect and developer John Portman’s firm.

John Portman & Associates’ credits include the Hyatt Regency, Marriott Marquis, Peachtree Center, SunTrust Plaza, the Merchandise and Apparel Marts and that 73-story round skyscraper, the Westin Peachtree Plaza, which opened in 1976 as the world’s tallest hotel and, at the time, Atlanta’s tallest building.

“John’s architectural skills are shown all over Atlanta,” said Norman Koplon, longtime director of Atlanta’s Bureau of Buildings. “He was a very, very important component of John Portman & Associates, which, in my opinion, helped build and create Atlanta in the middle to late ’60s and gave us the thrust to become a city recognized around the world.”

John Reuben Street Jr., 81, of Marietta, died Feb. 17 at home after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The body was cremated.

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. James Episcopal Church in Marietta.

Mr. Portman said Mr. Street became his first associate when he opened his office in 1953.

He said he valued Mr. Street’s “incredible” analytical ability and his wide knowledge of code requirements.

“He helped me build the company,” Mr. Portman said. “He was an extraordinary guy. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”

Mr. Koplon said safety codes didn’t yet exist to cover some of the innovative designs the architects submitted to the city, but Mr. Street worked with the city to fill the void.

“John Street was the kind of guy who could make anything work,” said Mickey Steinberg, who worked with Mr. Street at Portman & Associates for 27 years. “I don’t think we’d ever have gotten the Hyatt Regency atrium without John’s collaboration with the people who administer codes. … He did that in New York, in Los Angeles, in Chicago, in San Francisco, in Singapore, wherever we were.”

Mr. Street was born in Fort Payne, Ala. He earned his architectural degree at Auburn University, where he played guitar in a band called the Dixie Cats.

He was a poet, known for writing while on his commutes between Marietta and Atlanta. And he had a passion for books, collecting an estimated 15,000 of them over the years and giving most of them to colleges.

Mr. Street became the first secretary of the Cobb County Republican Party in 1961 and was just about as rigid a conservative as one can be, said Dr. Charlie Underwood, Mr. Street’s friend for 50 years.

The Marietta surgeon enjoyed debating and talking with Mr. Street so much that he ignored the sign he saw over his desk when he visited him at the office years ago. Mr. Street was drawing intently. The sign read: “You may steal my money, but don’t steal my time.”

In 1979, Mr. Street was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.

In 1993, he retired as chief architect and executive vice president of Portman & Associates.

Mr. Portman said he was always most impressed by Mr. Street’s humanity.

“He was such a straight, genuine man who had a heart as big as the Georgia Dome,” Mr. Portman said. “He was one of the finest human beings I’ve ever known.”

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Christine “Chrys” Malone Street; sons Matt Street of Roswell and Kirk Street of Marietta; and two grandchildren.