Comments on: Georgia Railroad Freight Depot Will Outlive Whale Mural

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:22:24 +0000

With the type of people going to Underground these days, at least it’s not an advertisement for over sized, white t-shirts!

By: Darin

Darin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:37:47 +0000

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

By: GAJoe

GAJoe — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:25:14 +0000

Anyone remember the original “art” in (or near) that spot? It was a HUGE advert for Maxwell House coffee – “Good to the last drop”.

By: Ali

Ali — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:10:24 +0000

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*

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:55:41 +0000

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.