20th Street North

20th Street North in November 2002

20th Street North, also known as Birmingham Green, is a north-south street in the center of downtown Birmingham which functions as Birmingham's "main street".

20th Street begins at the northern end of 20th Street South at the Railroad Reservation. From there it first crosses Morris Avenue, and then continues for seven blocks to Park Place where it is terminated by Linn Park.

Birmingham Green was a project covering those seven blocks which was completed in 1973. The project involved removing utility lines below street level and enhancing the street with tree planters, flower beds, and wide sidewalks. Parking on 20th Street is restricted mainly to loading zones. The $5 million cost was paid for by local business owners, as well as local and federal governments.

The street in front of Birmingham City Hall on the west side of Linn Park is called Short 20th Street. It once continued past Municipal Auditorium and the Birmingham Museum of Art to the present site of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. After the I-20/59 bridge was built, this section was closed to traffic and eventually converted into a landscaped walk and fountain. There are other short sections of the street in North Birmingham, north of Oak Hill Cemetery and near Finley Boulevard.

Notable Locations (south to north)

• Railroad Reservation
• Morris Avenue intersection
  • 2: Two North Twentieth building (former Relay House, Linn's Park, and L & N Station)
  • 3: former Elyton Land Company
  • Woodward Building
  • John A. Hand Building (Superior Bank)
• 1st Avenue North intersection (Heaviest Corner on Earth)
  • Empire Building (former site of Bank Saloon)
  • Brown Marx Building (former site of First National Bank Building)
  • 113: Cafe Dupont
  • 117: former King Tut Deli
  • 121: New York Style Delicatessen
  • 123: Bromberg's
  • 124: Webb Building (Dude Saloon, Yogo's, Purple Onion)
• 2nd Avenue North intersection
  • Webb Building (former site of the Dude Saloon, Yogo's Frosty Frozen Yogurt, Purple Onion, and Pope Jewelers)
  • 200: Roden Block (Parisian)
  • 201: Frank Nelson Building (Birmingham School of Law, A & A Ash Jewelers)
  • 205: Roma's Italian Bistro
  • 218: Quizno's Subs, Classic Basket
  • 219: Bon Ton Hatters
• 3rd Avenue North intersection
  • 300: Blach's Building
  • 301: Watts Building, Renasant Bank branch
  • 313: Roly Poly Sandwiches
• 4th Avenue North intersection
  • 412: former Joy Young Restaurant
  • 417: Regions Plaza (former site of the Tutwiler Hotel)
  • 420: Wachovia Tower
• 5th Avenue North intersection
  • 500: Southern Club
  • 502: Birmingham Athletic Club
  • 505: Financial Center Building, (Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, Compass Bank branch
  • 529: Cathedral Church of the Advent
  • 530: AmSouth-Harbert Plaza
• 6th Avenue North intersection
  • Birmingham Board of Education
• Park Place intersection
• Linn Park

References

• Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce (1976) Century Plus: A Bicentennial Portrait of Birmingham, Alabama 1976 Birmingham: Oxmoor Press, p. 16.

External links

• Photographs of 20th Street North from the Magic City Flickr Group