The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta is a skyscraper hotel on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia adjacent to the Peachtree Center complex and former Davison/Macy main store with 1073 rooms. At 220.37 m (723.0 ft) and 73 floors, the total building area is 1,196,240 square feet and 57 m (187 ft), the tower is the fourth tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere, and the 23rd highest throughout -Buildings hotels in the world.
Video Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
History
The first building on this site was the first officially opened Georgian Mansion in Atlanta, a state-bought Victorian mansion in 1870 in the southwest corner of Peachtree Street and Cain Street (then International Boulevard, now Andrew Young International Boulevard). After the housing of 17 Georgian governors (each limited to one term) until 1921, it was destroyed in 1923 for the Henry Grady Hotel, named for the Atlanta Constitution journalist/great journalist and philanthropist Henry W. Grady. That and the Roxy Theater in turn are destroyed for the current building.
Designed by developer/architect John Portman, the building gained groundmark status within the city as the tallest building in Atlanta from its completion, from 1976 to 1987 when it was followed by One Atlantic Center. The building was opened as the tallest hotel in the world; in 1977, however, it was surpassed by its architectural twin, the Portman-designed central hotel tower of the Renaissance Center in Detroit. Peachtree Plaza Hotel opened as the tallest building in the southeastern United States, surpassing One Shell Square in New Orleans. It lost the title in 1983, when the Southeast Financial Center in Miami surpassed it. It was the tallest building in downtown Atlanta for 13 years until it was surpassed by the 191 Peachtree Tower, which in turn was surpassed by SunTrust Plaza (then One Peachtree Center).
The hotel is highly featured in the 1981 movie Sharky's Machine starring Burt Reynolds. Stuntman Dar Robinson doubled for Henry Silva at the end of the film, down 220 feet (67 m) from what appears to be the Westin Peachtree Plaza, setting the record for the highest (unbridled) freefall jump from a building in a movie. But in reality, this action scene was filmed in the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel, using a shorter yet similar Radius Cylinder Tower.
Maps Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
Architecture details
The building is cast in reflective glass in a cylindrical shape that reflects much of the city center's skyline (although each of the 5600 windows is flat and not convex). Another small cylinder runs the full height of the building on one side, and accommodates two beautiful elevators. The top floor features the Sun Dial Restaurant and Bar, a revolving restaurant offering beautiful views of the city and its surroundings. The upstairs restaurant completes a full revolution every 30 minutes, and the bottom every 60 minutes.
When the building first opened in 1976, a seven-floor lobby atrium rose from a lake in a half meter filled with a fountain known as a "lagoon". The lobby bar is surrounded by a large oval "cocktail island" that appears to float on the lake and the entire area is adorned with rugs, statues, cages with live birds, and over 100 trees. According to contemporary postcards, the Portman architect designed this area "as a modern interpretation of the Venetian Plaza". In newspaper ads, the hotel calls the lobby "more like a park" and claims it's "a total departure from the others you've seen."
However, not everyone is impressed. In a funny 1982 column that overlooks the luxuries of a modern hotel lobby, George F. Will complains that "Atlanta's Peachtree Plaza has a lobby that can not be found by Lewis and Clark." He compares the "pool-like water pool" with "Walden in everything except the charms where you can drown, which you may want to do".
Finally, the lake was drained and the lobby redesigned as a more standard hotel meeting place with carpets, chairs and sofas.
The hotel is also famous for its Peachtree Ballroom, which is the largest in Atlanta when it opened, seating 3,500 people. It has since been surpassed by the Georgia International Convention Center, which claims to have the largest ballroom in the state of Georgia.
Broadcasting
Several local broadcasters have been sent from antenna poles above the building, starting when it became the highest Atlanta, but declining as others have built around it.
The original antenna once carried the WUPA TV signal 69 from the first time on-air broadcast as WVEU, but the station was moved because the Westin tower lacked space for the antenna to transmit digital television station signals. Two LPTV stations currently ship from above: WTBS-LP 26 analogues, and only digital WTHC-LD 42.1. In 2009, WTBS-LP moved to Bank of America Plaza, from the same antenna as the shared WANN-LP/WANN-CD, and possibly the future digital WTBS-LD 30.
The main FM antenna (the four large elements visible at the top of the mast on both outside images on this page) recently belongs to WZGC FM 92.9 ("Dave FM"), while smaller antennas still carry the reserve signal for that station and earlier. for WVEE FM 103.3 ("V-103"), both owned by CBS Radio. WWWQ FM 100.5 ("Q100", now WNNX FM "Rock 100.5") first used the same antenna when it was moved to Atlanta, before it was upgraded and moved inside the city, but has since returned. WSTR FM 94.1 ("Star 94") also shares the main FM antenna with 92.9 when initially installed, with the power of both station transmitters being combined into one antenna via the diplexer. Both WSTR and WZGC still list this as their allotment location.
There are also XM Satellite Radio repeaters.
tornado 2008
On March 14, 2008, the Westin, along with other skyscrapers, suffered moderate damage when a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta, with over 500 broken windows. It was the first tornado to hit downtown. The building was reportedly rocked back and forth about two feet (over half a meter) in both directions, as designed.
In 2009, the Westin was the only building in downtown Atlanta that did not replace its damaged window, which was still covered with black plywood outside it, and the inner drywall. This is because uninvolved un inch glass (6mm) is no longer made by PPG Industries, and even identical new windows will look unsuitable due to weathering because of the three decades of hot sunlight. In addition, new building codes require an insulated glass that can withstand winds of up to 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) instead of 75 miles per hour (120 km/h), requiring heavier and more expensive glass. The replacement of all 6,350 windows is expected to start in June or July 2009 and continue from top to bottom until summer 2010 at a cost of more than $ 20 million. As the original, the new window is also mirrored, but it has a little bronze color. Each panel measures 52 inches in ÃÆ'â € "110 inside (130 cm cm 280 cm) and weight 270 pounds (120 kg) with four panes required for each room. More than 600 tons of glass should be recycled.
Skanska completed the renovation of Westin Peachtree Plaza's exterior window in September 2010. On November 9, 2010, the Sundial Restaurant renovation at the top of the building was completed, repairing the tornado damage done for it two years earlier.
Deaths
On March 22, 2016, a 61-year-old employee Carolyn Robinson died after being locked in a refrigerator. The hotel was fined $ 12,471 for exposing their employees to "pitfalls" and failing to ensure the exit remained "unobstructed/unrestricted".
On April 14, 2017, Charlie Holt, a five-year-old customer died of a head injury he suffered at the Sun Dial restaurant, reportedly after being trapped between walls and furniture. The restaurant operated for forty years unscathed from the rotating floor. The boy died an hour later at Grady Memorial Hospital.
The family left the restaurant together after paying their bills. Charlie Holt got up from his seat at the table without the parents watching him. When the parents saw him, he was trapped in walls and booths. The street was blocked and when the floor was turned, a booth caught the boy between the wall and the wall. The boy's parents tried to free him but their efforts did not work and he received a cut on his head.
See also
- List of skyscrapers
- List of tallest buildings in Atlanta
- List of tallest buildings in the United States
References
External links
- Official Westin Peachtree Plaza Web page
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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