Elyton Land Company building
The Elyton Land Company building was a three-story brick office building constructed in 1883 for the Elyton Land Company. It was located on the northeast corner of 20th Street and Morris Avenue. The ground floor and second floor housed offices while the upper floor was open as a meeting hall.
Construction of the building coincided with the Elyton Land Company's emergence into profitability after more than a decade of promoting the growth of Birmingham with ambitious manufacturing and municipal investment. The company's second president Henry Caldwell observed the emergence of Birmingham's potential as a "Magic City". The newly-opened office remained busy pricing and drafting sales receipts for properties that were often sold hours later by speculators at a sizable profit.
The Elyton Land Company building was demolished in 1952 and served as a parking lot for the John A. Hand Building until a new parking deck was built to support the renovation of the building as residences and offices for The Bank of Birmingham in 1997.
Tenants
- ground floor:
- 7: bank (1885), Gregory & Bryan insurance (1887), cigars (1891), Paine, Murphy & Co. stockbrokers (1899), The Pride of Alabama Saloon (1904-1905), G. M. Newton / Cassius Welch restaurants (1910), Hobson Cafe, P & K Cafe, La Dame Cleaners and Argyres Petras barber (1941)
- 9: gas fittings (1885), Elyton Land Company / Herman Schoel civil engineer (1891-1899), T. N. Balabonas restaurant / Hobson Cafe (1904-1905), Exchange Barber Shop (1922), Joe Wheeler Cafe (1926-1929), P & K Cafe (1941)
- upper floors:
- Georgia Pacific Railroad offices (1885)
- 7½: former location of Oakley House (1891), Metropolitan Hotel annex / Mrs A. E. Butler moneylender (1899), U.S. Recruiting Station / Emil Lesser / E. L. Higdon Rokerage Co. (1905), Exchange Hotel (1920-1929), Exchange Barber Shop (c. 1929), Travelers Protective Association Post B
- 9½: former location of Buckeye Shoe Co. (1899), I. Altman (1905), Exchange Cigar Store (1926), Harris Hat Shop (c. 1929), Cosmopolitan Hatters (1941)