Georgia Railroad Freight Depot Will Outlive Whale Mural
Decatur Metro | October 3, 2010
Everyone knows that Sherman burned Atlanta. Fewer know that the Confederacy burned some of Atlanta first as they retreated out of the city on September 2, 1864 (which I recently learned at a Decatur Book Festival talk).
But perhaps even fewer know where to locate the oldest building in downtown Atlanta today.
Well, if you’ve never been out of your car downtown, you’ve probably never seen it. But if you’ve ever rambled around Underground Atlanta, you might be accidently come across it.
The Georgia Railroad Freight Depot – built in 1869 – sits just outside Underground, below an oddly placed mural of whales on the side of a Central Avenue parking deck, and serves today as banquet hall for the Georgia Legislature. Many Atlanta history buffs have pointed to the strange juxtaposition of the Depot and whales of downtown Atlanta as a great visual example of Atlanta’s strange and forgetful relationship with its own history.
Well now, according to the AJC, the 17 year-old whaling wall must be removed in order to repair the deteriorating parking deck. Soon the wall will promote Georgia State instead of celebrate Atlanta’s great whaling history.
So I guess a dramatic mural of a steam engine rolling into the station is out of the question, but perhaps GSU could reserve a small spot on the wall to indicate the key piece of Atlanta history located just below the surface of our modern infrastructure.
Photo courtesy of City Data
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While the whales may have no relation to Atlanta’s history ( and after burn, riot, rebuild-there’s not much of interest), the mural depicts North Atlantic right whales whose only known calving grounds are off the Georgia coast. They are Georgia’s official state mammal and are highly endangered.
…and for those of us who were around to see the mural being painted, it livened up that area quite a bit. Another whaling wall bites the dust. At least we’ll finally get some advertising in that area. I love advertisements that replace art. (kidding)
I get where you’re both coming from – and I appreciate the GA reference AMB…didn’t realize that – but defending parking deck art sure feels like settling to me. (Admittedly I might feel different had I been around when it was painted PMcG)
So for me, it’s the DECK towering over the Depot that makes me wince. And as such, the mural just exacerbates the juxtaposition between the two.
Good point. It’s sadly appropriate that the oldest building downtown would have a monolithic parking deck towering over it. These two buildings are a small slice of downtown that represent the late-20th century trend of turning downtown into a car-commuter destination — riddled with parking decks and surface lots — while overwriting it’s rich history.
For anyone interested in the history of downtown Atlanta’s architecture, I recommend the Atlanta Preservation Center’s tour of downtown. I took it last year and enjoyed it:
http://www.preserveatlanta.com/walkingtours.htm#Historic%20Downtown
The mural’s by a famous artist – he’s painted “Whaling Walls” all over the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyland). I know it lacks context where it is, but it’s always made me feel good that Atlanta shared at least one thing with cities that actually support public art. Losing it will only chip away another piece of the city’s cultural character.
Of course, it will be great to have another painting of peaches. Can’t have too many peaches. No, sir. *sigh*
Anyone remember the original “art” in (or near) that spot? It was a HUGE advert for Maxwell House coffee – “Good to the last drop”.
With the type of people going to Underground these days, at least it’s not an advertisement for over sized, white t-shirts!