Telephone Factory Lofts facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Western Electric Company Building
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 Location in Atlanta
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| Location | 820 Ralph McGill Blvd., Poncey-Highland, Atlanta, Georgia |
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| Built | 1938 |
| Architectural style | Modern Movement: Moderne; Art Deco |
| NRHP reference No. | 00001329 |
| Added to NRHP | November 8, 2000 |
The Telephone Factory Lofts is a special building in Atlanta, Georgia. It's located in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood, right next to the popular BeltLine trail. This building used to be a factory, but now it has homes and businesses inside.
It's officially known as the Western Electric Company Building. This name is important because the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a historic site that is protected and recognized for its importance.
Contents
Building Design and Layout
The main entrance to the Telephone Factory Lofts is through a tall tower. This tower is about 75-foot (23 m) high. It has a cool, old-fashioned design called Art Deco style.
The building has two main parts:
- A four-story building: This was once the main factory area. It also had offices and a cafeteria for the workers.
- A single-story building: This part used to be a warehouse. It was where items were shipped out and received.
Today, the building has 66 different homes, called loft units. These homes are very different in size. Some are about 750 square feet (70 m2), while others are as big as 10,000 square feet (930 m2).
History of the Building
From Factory to Homes
The building was first built in 1938. It was a factory for a company called Western Electric. This factory made and fixed telephones. It also worked on big switchboard systems. These systems were used by the Bell System to connect phone calls. The phones and systems were rented to customers.
Becoming Loft Apartments
In 1995, some developers named Rhodes and David Perdue had an idea. They wanted to turn the old factory into homes. They got help from the Atlanta Development Authority (ADA). This is a group that helps with building projects in the city.
The ADA had one rule for giving money. They wanted some of the homes to be affordable. This meant that one-fifth (20%) of the units had to be for people who didn't earn a lot of money. For example, someone earning $25,000 a year or less could live there.
The new loft homes opened in 1996. For 15 years, until 2011, these special units were offered at low prices. Artists, writers, and designers could live and work there. After 2011, the prices changed. People living there had to pay the regular market price if they wanted to stay.
It's good to know that there was another Western Electric building in Atlanta. That one was built in 1921 and was in Downtown Atlanta. It was torn down, so it's not the same building as the Telephone Factory Lofts.
