The former Sears, Roebuck and Co. building, now Ponce City Market, located on Ponce de Leon Avenue in midtown Atlanta, has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The building was rehabilitated using federal and state tax incentives for rehabilitation, which are administered by the National Park Service and the Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources. It was listed in the National Register for its significance in architecture and commerce.
The building’s commercial design, with elements of the Italian Renaissance Revival style on the central tower, followed a formula that Sears, Roebuck and Co. had developed in the first decade of the 20th century.
The Atlanta building showcases early 20th century building techniques, including: reinforced concrete in the floors, mushroom columns, and brick curtain walls throughout. The building and shipping room were completed in 1926. Additions to the building were completed in 1932, 1948, and 1971. The building retains its multi-light metal windows, concrete columns, concrete floors, wood floors, stairs, and elevators. The complex has recently undergone rehabilitation and the former open retail and warehouse spaces have been converted to new retail, office, restaurant, and apartment spaces known as Ponce City Market.
The Atlanta building was one of two distribution centers in the Southeast constructed by Sears in the mid-1920s. Sears’ mail-order business was expanding at a rapid pace during that time as the growing trend of urbanization in the country was understood by management to be an opportunity to grow their retail business. The building, a combined retail and distribution center, was a ground-breaking commercial business model designed to appeal to city dwellers. It was one of the largest retail buildings in Atlanta at the time of its construction.
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