Flintridge Building facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Flintridge Building
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The Tennessee Coal & Iron Company Flint Ridge Building
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 Location in Alabama
Location in the United States
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| Location | 6200 E. J. Oliver Blvd., Fairfield, Alabama |
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| Area | 20 acres (8.1 ha) |
| Built | 1951 |
| Architect | Jack B. Smith (Holabird, Root & Burgee) |
| Architectural style | Modern Movement |
| NRHP reference No. | 04000560 |
| Added to NRHP | June 2, 2004 |
The Flintridge Building is a historic office building located in Fairfield, Alabama. This city is part of the larger Birmingham area. From 1951 to 1964, this building served as the main office for the southern part of a very large company called United States Steel. About 1,500 people worked inside its walls! In 2004, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's recognized as an important historical site.
The building is built on a hill, or "ridge," on E.J. Oliver Boulevard. It's close to Miles College. From the front of the building, you can see the Fairfield Works, which is a large industrial area. The building has special glass-enclosed rooms that stick out, a bit like press boxes at a sports stadium. These rooms offer great views of the ironworks below.
Building History
Early Days and Design
The Flintridge Building was first built in 1951. It was designed to be the new main office for the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company (TCI). TCI was a company fully owned by U.S. Steel. The building was designed by an architect named Jack B. Smith. He worked for a famous architecture firm called Holabird, Root & Burgee from Chicago. Once the building was finished, TCI moved its offices there. Before this, their offices were in the Brown Marx Building in downtown Birmingham.
Changes Over Time
In 1964, U.S. Steel decided to move most of its main leaders and staff. They moved them to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This change affected how the Flintridge Building was used.
Later, U.S. Steel offered the building to the city government of Fairfield. The building is very large, with five floors and about 314,000 square feet of space. They offered it for a very low price, but the city did not take the offer. A former mayor, Larry Langford, once suggested a big idea. He thought the building could become a city office building. He even imagined a monorail going around it! However, this idea never happened.
Besides renting out office space to local businesses, U.S. Steel also opened a special training center there in 2006. This center helps people learn how to maintain equipment. In 2011, the city council thought about buying the building again. This time, they considered using it for the local school system.
