Atlanta GA Looking Down The Ponce Spiral Staircase Architectural Art
by Reid Callaway
Title
Atlanta GA Looking Down The Ponce Spiral Staircase Architectural Art
Artist
Reid Callaway
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Atlanta GA Looking Down........By Reid Callaway
The Ponce Spiral Staircase Architectural Art
I took this wonderful architectural image leaned over the railing at the top to capture the wonderful Ponce staircase looking downward. I then laid on my back at the bottom of this magnificent staircase and took the upward view of the most beautiful staircase I have ever seen.
How the Adventure started...
I was photographing The Fabulous Fox Theater located just across the street from The Ponce and a random driver of a car that was stopped at the red light on Peachtree Street yelled out... "There's a really cool staircase in the building across the street." I thought that her ancouragement was strange but perhaps it was a God send. So, I went to see if I could get in. A resident let me in and this is the "that" staircase..... I had never heard of The Ponce and you probably haven't either. But read on....It's hard to believe the beauty I found that night inside.
History, So CooooL...
The Ponce, completed in August and opened in September of 1913, was designed by architect William Stoddart as Atlanta's first high-rise luxury apartment building. The neighborhood then was mostly mansions, but across Ponce de Leon Ave. from the new apartment building was Stoddart's earlier design, The Georgian Terrace hotel.
At its opening, the Ponce featured a lobby finished in "Caen stone and Formosa marble". On the ground floor were the private telephone exchange, a ladies' rest room, a cloak room and a cafeteria. On the second floor included the visitors' gallery, and the first of 16 large "housekeeping suites", or apartments, and four bachelor suites.
From the third to ninth floors, each floor comprised just two housekeeping suites, and four bachelor suites. The large apartments contained 9 or 10 rooms--with 3 or 4 bedrooms, respectively, a sleeping porch, dressing room, living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry and servants' room, and had 3 baths. The kitchens were separated from the living spaces to keep odors down, and the servants' rooms were served by a separate service elevator.
On each floor, and occupying the entire 10th and 11th stories were bachelor apartments of up to 3 rooms. These apartments could be rented with en suite bathrooms or without, according to a bachelors needs and means. The bachelor suites on all but the top two floors faced out the curved front of the building onto Ponce de Leon Square, the intersection of Ponce and Peachtree.
The roof of the Ponce was a terraced garden, intended to replace the "famous yard gardens of southern homes". It was expected to be, and indeed appears to have been a favorite gathering spot for Atlanta's "social elite".
The building was afforded the most modern conveniences. Each housekeeping suite kitchen had a mechanical refrigerator. The entire building was supplied with a central vacuum system. Central ventilation, installed in the basement, provided each apartment with fresh air drawn down from the roof. Each apartment had an associated storage space afforded it in the basement. Both an ice-making machine and laundry with steam drier were also available in the basement.
The cafe, which took the east side of the ground floor, was open to everyone, but gave preference to tenants of the building if they had paid a small premium for meal service--for just $35/month, a tenant could receive 3 meals per day. The Cafe was operated initially by Mrs Ella Wright Wilcox. The building superintendant, whose office was also on the ground floor lived in the Ponce, and was the former chief engineer of the Georgian Terrace Hotel across the street, Mr. R. L. Swett.
Initial rates were in keeping with the luxury status of the building. The large housekeeping apartments rented for as little as $200/month for the 9 room version. Bachelor apartments could be had for as little as $25/month, for most floors, but rose quickly to $105/month if the tenant chose to rent a suite with more than one bathroom.
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Comments, Likes and Favorites are appreciated... :-)
Uploaded
December 16th, 2013
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Comments (127)
Reid Callaway
Thank you Keri LaGrave for appreciating my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! Yes it was quite a fine! 10/31/2023
Reid Callaway
Thank you Mary Drexler for admiring my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 10/2/2023
Reid Callaway
Thank you Mike Dawson featuring my artwork in our group... 1000 to 1999 Views! 9/23/2022
Reid Callaway
Thank you Nader Rangidan for featuring my artwork in our group.... Fine Art America Professionals! 9/21/2022
Reid Callaway
Thank you to the buyer from Evans, GA for the purchase of my image, “Looking Down The Ponce Spiral Staircase” as a 16" x 16" Luster Photo Paper Print! May this image be a Blessing to you and a conversation starter for years to come! 9/8/2021
Reid Callaway
Thank youMichael for your kind words and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! Soli Deo Gloria! 9/7/2021
Reid Callaway
Thank you Jenny Revitz Soper for featuring my artwork in our group.... No Place Like Home! 8/24/2021
Jenny Revitz Soper
CONGRATULATIONS! This piece has been FEATURED on the homepage of the group No Place Like Home, 8/24/2021 Way to go! Please post it in the Group's Features discussion thread for posterity and/or any other thread that fits! l/f
Reid Callaway
Thank you Mary Ann for appreciating my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 1/3/2019
Reid Callaway
Thank you Amanda Jones for admiring my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 12/12/2018
Reid Callaway
Thank you Sharon Phillips for enjoying my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 12/2/2018
Reid Callaway
Thank you to the buyer from Chandler, TX for the purchase of my image, "The Ponce Stairs" way back in 2014. I forgot to say Thank You. Forgive me please! 11/12/2018
Reid Callaway
Thank you Kimberley Campbell for admiring my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 5/7/2018
Reid Callaway
Thank you Stephen for appreciating my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites!2/23/2018
Stephen Anderson
Beautiful shot Reid, great composition and colors, and shadows add another effect! Thank you for your comment on my image. L/F
Reid Callaway
Thank you Susan for admiring my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 10//27/2017
Reid Callaway
Thank you Melinda Mara for admiring my artwork and for making this image one of your personal Favorites! 12/28/2017