Winecoff Hotel

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Ellis Hotel in 2007
Ellis Hotel in 2007

The Winecoff Hotel is a former hotel located at 176 Peachtree Street NW, in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Designed by William Lee Stoddard, the 15-story building opened in 1913.[1] It is located next to the former Macy's (at 180 Peachtree Street), which was built as the flagship Davison's, and just south from the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel (easily identifiable by its cylindrical glass design).

Contents

[edit] Fire

Historical marker
Historical marker

The Winecoff is best known for a fire that occurred there on December 7, 1946, in which 119 people died. It remains the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history, and prompted many changes in building codes. Arnold Hardy, a 26-year-old graduate student at Georgia Tech, became the first amateur to win a Pulitzer Prize in photography for his snapshot of a woman (later identified as survivor Daisy McCumber) in mid-air after jumping from the 11th floor of the hotel during the fire.[2]

[edit] Reopenings

In April 1951, the hotel reopened as the Peachtree on Peachtree Hotel, and was now equipped with both fire alarms and fire escapes. In 1967, it was donated to the Georgia Baptist Convention for housing the elderly, and then repeatedly sold to a series of potential developers.

After over two decades of vacancy, ground broke on a $23 million renovation project in April 2006. The project restored the building into a boutique luxury hotel, called the Ellis Hotel after the street that runs along the north side of the building. It was reopened on October 1, 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peachtree Burning
  2. ^ "Pulitzer Photo" by Sam Heys

[edit] External links

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