The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation released the 20th edition of its 10 Places in Peril list, and one of the entries sits in the shadow of downtown Atlanta's skyscrapers, a block east of Hurt Park.
The building at 148 Edgewood Ave. was constructed in 1926 as a Georgia Railway and Power Company substation and, in the Trust's words, played a crucial role in powering downtown Atlanta. It is a contributing structure in the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Register District, which the organization also considers threatened.
The threat is a parking lot
Georgia State University purchased the building in 1966 and has recently proposed demolishing it to clear space for surface parking. A demolition permit has been signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, according to the Places in Peril listing.
Downtown residents and Atlanta preservationists organized against the plan last fall, circulating a petition that has since collected more than 1,000 signatures.
The jurisdictional problem
The petition names the reason ordinary preservation tools do not apply here. Although the building contributes to a National Register historic district, GSU and the state's Board of Regents hold sovereign immunity over the City of Atlanta's zoning ordinances, the protections that would otherwise stand between a 99-year-old landmark and a wrecking crew.
That makes this a different kind of fight than the usual downtown demolition dispute. There is no local hearing to lose or win. The decision sits with a state institution, and public pressure is most of the leverage available.
What the list is for
For 20 years the Places in Peril shortlist has spotlighted cultural, historic and archaeological resources across Georgia threatened by neglect, demolition, bad public policy or inappropriate development. It carries no legal force; its function is visibility.
Two of this year's 10 entries are in metro Atlanta. The other is a museum dedicated to transportation history in Gwinnett County.
For a stretch of Edgewood Avenue that has spent the last several years gaining murals, bars and renovated storefronts, losing a 1926 industrial landmark to asphalt would run directly against the current.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published February 2025.
