Piedmont Hotel

Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, who planned to build a new office building on the site. The hotel was demolished that year and in 1968, the Equitable Building

M. Hoke Smith.^[4] At this time, the area was still residential, though there were two other hotels that had been built in the area: the Hotel Aragon in 1892 and the Majestic Hotel in 1898.^[5] Atlanta's main center for development had been located south of this area, at Five Points, although by the early 20th century, this area had grown congested and new developments began to spread northwards along Peachtree Street.^[6] Hotel construction followed this trend, as new hotels built in the early 1900s such as the Georgian Terrace Hotel and the Biltmore Hotel were located further from the city's Union Station than hotels that had been built in the 1800s.^[7]

chambermaids consisted entirely of white Americans, unlike in other hotels which often employed African Americans in those positions.^[11] According to historian Franklin Garrett, the hotel was often referred to by locals as "our New York City hotel".^[11] In 1906, Atlanta's first storefront theater, a nickelodeon called the Peachtree Theatorium, opened in the hotel's lobby.^[1] The following year, a guide book called the Piedmont the largest hotel in the city.^[12]

structural frame was stripped and rebuilt.^[20] As a result of the renovation, much of the building's ground floor frontage was converted to commercial use, with several shops added to the building's lobby.^[21][20] The total cost for the renovation was $750,000.^[21] In 1932, Georgia politician Charles R. Crisp based his headquarters at the hotel during his unsuccessful bid in the that year's Senate elections.^[22]

The Atlanta Constitution published an editorial about the hotel, commending it for its high quality and saying in part about its demolition, "It is with regret that we see an old friend, the Piedmont, depart".^[23][24] The building was demolished that year,^[25] and by 1968, the Equitable Building, a 34-floor skyscraper that had cost $20 million to erect,^[26] was completed.^[27]

frescoes.^[29] Connected to the lobby was the hotel's offices, parlor rooms, and several shops.^[29] Additionally, a dining room was affixed to the lobby, with a space for the hotel's orchestra nearby.^[29] The hotel rooms were located on the second floor and above and could be reached from the lobby by either stairs or an elevator.^[29] Private dining rooms and the hotel's kitchen were also located on the second floor.^[29]