Tom Ventulett, architect who handcrafted many of Atlanta’s landmarks, dies
Thomas W. Ventulett III, a renowned architect who helped create the look and feel of many of Atlanta’s iconic gathering spaces, has died.
Ventulett, who was 90, co-founded one of Atlanta’s leading architecture firms and spent decades working on projects ranging from malls and museums to skyscrapers and arenas. His involvement with his alma mater Georgia Tech also reshaped the institute’s architecture program, training the next generation on how to marry artistry with functionality.
His eye for design brought landmarks to life including the Georgia World Congress Center, College Football Hall of Fame, Atlantic Station and the King and Queen towers in Sandy Springs. Many of his iconic buildings remain etched into Atlanta lore even if they’ve been redeveloped or demolished, such as the Georgia Dome, Omni Complex, Campanile building and Northlake Mall.
Thomas P. Ventulett, one of his sons, said architecture was etched into his father’s brain and the way he saw the world.
“Attention to detail was everything,” the younger Ventulett said of his father. “Everything had a specific design purpose and everything had to be thought out.”
Thomas W. Ventulett III, who often went by Tom, died Aug. 24 from natural causes, his family told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Originally from Albany, Ventulett grew up in a military household and retained that sense of organization throughout his life, his son said. Growing up, he and his siblings joked that they were convinced their father went to bed wearing a tie.
Ventulett moved to Atlanta to attend Georgia Tech, and it didn’t take long before he began to influence the shape of his new home. While working at the architecture firm Toombs, Amisano & Wells, Ventulett contributed to the original master plan for the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown.
In 1968, Ventulett cofounded Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, now known as TVS. The firm’s early work included the Georgia World Congress Center and Omni Complex, helping entrench gatherings and entertainment in Atlanta’s downtown core.
His daughter Suzanne Holder told the AJC in an email that she fondly remembers working on math homework next to her father, who was sketching the future of Atlanta.
“I can still picture the early sketches of the Omni on his desk,” she wrote. “So many sheets of tracing paper all over his desk.”
Billy Mitchell, the former CEO of development firm Carter, said a blank sheet of paper was all Ventulett needed to make an impact.
When Midtown’s Colony Square was owned by Prudential Insurance Co. and was evaluating redevelopment with Carter’s assistance, Ventulett was among the architects considered. Two others presented their vision, while Ventulett took a different approach.
“He said, ‘Tell me what you like about Colony Square and what you think needs to be done,’ Mitchell said. “So we all threw out ideas, and he’s drawing on this really big sheet of paper, answering the questions we asked as he drew.”
Humility was one of Ventulett’s defining characterizes, several people told the AJC. His family keeps an AJC editorial cartoon of TVS that says “It’s all fittin’ together,” which they said defined the way he approached his work and career.
“I would tell him, ‘You’re the most unknown guy that’s done a lot of stuff in town!’” Thomas P. Ventulett, his son, remembers telling his father while trying to add up all the projects he worked on across the globe. “But he said he liked it that way.”
By his count, it was at least 75 million square feet.
“His care for Atlanta ran deep, and that care shaped some of the places where this city has gathered ever since,” TVS said in a social media post commemorating Ventulett.
Many of those structures remain Atlanta icons, while others didn’t outlive him. But what will persevere is his legacy at Georgia Tech, which through endowments created the Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design.
Julie Ju-Youn Kim, professor and chair at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, said Ventulett’s focus on education highlights how his work placed people in center frame.
“It’s people who imagine the architecture, who make it, who inhabit it,” she said. “And then all of us who learn from it.”
“That was just integral to his core DNA,” she added.
Thomas W. Ventulett III is survived by his children, Jonathan Ventulett, Holder and Thomas P. Ventulett, along with six grandchildren. His wife of 61 years, Elizabeth “Beth” Ventulett died in 2019 at the age of 83.
A public funeral service will be held 1 p.m. Oct. 3 at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church — fittingly, a chapel and church grounds he helped design.