High, Higher, Hillyer

PROJECT NAME: The Hillyer Building
Our Plan: Build up Atlanta’s History

At one time, the Hillyer Building was the city’s tallest, originally standing eight stories high. A feat of engineering? Kind of. Because it was too tall and too narrow for its time, the top five floors were eventually removed.

The evolution of Atlanta’s first skyscraper.

A drawing of the Hillyer Bank and Trust Building on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, showing a tall, narrow, multi-story historic building with several windows, surrounded by other older buildings and street-level stores with vintage cars parked along the street.

Through preservation efforts and the will of the community, the Hillyer Building — a Neel Reid “baby skyscraper” — was recognized in 1977 with landmark status.

View of city buildings with a historic yellow brick building in the foreground, modern skyscraper in the background, and street scene including streetlight, trees, and sidewalk.

Gene Kansas, on behalf of the Atlanta History Center, sold the building to design firm Breen-Smith (who learned about it on a website they built for Kansas; see “serendipity”) in 2010. The building became home to the firm, keeping lofty aspirations alive and well.

It was an honor to work with the Atlanta History Center in selling the Hillyer Building. Not only are they a first-class organization to represent, it also represented an opportunity for us to help translate property into profit, funds ultimately supporting the AHC mission — “to help preserve Atlanta’s history.” A “small” deal for us? Yes. A big deal for collective history, absolutely.

A city street with tall buildings, a bus on the road, and a street sign indicating a pedestrian crossing and yield.

Read More about Atlanta’s First Skyscraper

Atlanta Intown Paper — A Look Back at Atlanta History

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