W. W. Orr Building

The W. W. Orr Building (also known as W. W. Orr Medical Building and W. W. Orr Doctors' Building) is an 11-story landmark building at 478 Peachtree Street NE in SoNo, Atlanta.

W. W. Orr Building
Location in Atlanta Show map of Atlanta Location in Georgia Show map of Georgia Location in United States Show map of the United States
Alternative names	W. W. Orr Medical Building W. W. Orr Doctors' Building
General information
Architectural style	Art Deco
Address	478 Peachtree Street NE Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Completed	1930
Technical details
Floor count	11
Invalid designation
Designated	October 23, 1989
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Francis Palmer Smith
Architecture firm	Pringle and Smith

History

The Art Deco style building was designed by architect Francis Palmer Smith of the firm of Pringle and Smith.^[1] While the firm had designed many Beaux-Arts buildings in Atlanta, the Orr Building was one of the first two buildings designed by Pringle and Smith in the Art Deco style (alongside the William–Oliver Building, finished the same year). The building's namesake, W. W. (Wayman W.) Orr, was the president of the Atlanta Retail Merchants' Association for several years in the 1910s.^[1] It is currently part of the Emory University Hospital Midtown complex. The building is decorated with serpents and staffs, alluding to its function as a medical building (as which it still functions).^[2]

When opened in 1930, it was notable for its location so far from the city center and marked the beginning of the northern section of Peachtree Street as an automobile-oriented boulevard. It was the city's second building built specifically for medical offices, after the Medical Arts Building.^[2][3] The site had been occupied in the 1890s by a residence, that of J. Bulow Campbell, and thereafter by another building.^[4]

In 1989, the city of Atlanta designated the building a landmark building.

References

1. "Lipstine Gives Dinner in Complement to Orr", Atlanta Constitution, January 13, 1918
2. Craig, Robert M. (1995). Atlanta Architecture: Art Deco to Modern Classic, 1929-1959. Pelican Publishing Company. p. 32. ISBN 9781455600441 – via Google Books.
3. Craig, Robert Michael (2012). The Architecture of Francis Palmer Smith, Atlanta's Scholar-architect. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820328980 – via Google Books.
4. Williford, William Bailey (1962). Peachtree Street, Atlanta. University of Georgia Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780820334776 – via Google Books.

33.7677°N 84.3856°W / 33.7677; -84.3856