Heaviest Corner on Earth

Heaviest Corner on Earth
Nearest city Birmingham, Alabama
Coordinates 33°30′52″N 86°48′21″W / 33.51444°N 86.80583°W / 33.51444; -86.80583Coordinates: 33°30′52″N 86°48′21″W / 33.51444°N 86.80583°W / 33.51444; -86.80583
Built 1906
Architect William C. Weston
Architectural style Chicago, The Commercial Style
NRHP Reference # 85001502[1]
Added to NRHP July 11, 1985
Woodward Building
Location 1927 1st Ave., N, Birmingham, Alabama
Built 1902
Architect Multiple
Architectural style Chicago
NRHP Reference # 83002977[1]
Added to NRHP June 30, 1983

The Heaviest Corner on Earth is a promotional name given to the corner of 20th Street and 1st Avenue North in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, in the early 20th century. The name reflected the nearly simultaneous appearance of four of the tallest buildings in the South, the 10-story Woodward Building (1902), 16-story Brown Marx Building (1906), 16-story Empire Building (1909), and the 21-story American Trust and Savings Bank Building (1912).

The announcement of the last building was made in the Jemison Magazine in a January 1911 article titled "Birmingham to Have the Heaviest Corner in the South". Over the years, that claim was inflated to the improbable "Heaviest Corner on Earth", which remains a popular name for the grouping.[2]

A marker, erected on May 23, 1985 by the Birmingham Historical Society, with cooperation from Operation New Birmingham, stands on the sidewalk outside the Empire Building describing the group. The buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Woodward Building was listed on June 30, 1983; the building on the southeastern corner of the intersection, now named the "First National-John A. Hand Building," on September 29, 1983; and the remaining buildings, on July 11, 1985.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Staff (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Mertins, Ellen; Pam King; Alice Bowsher (April 19, 1984). "The Heaviest Corner on Earth" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014. See also: "Accompanying photos" (PDF). Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.

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