Regions Center

The AmSouth Center (long known as the AmSouth-Sonat Tower) is a 390 foot tall, 30 story office tower located at 1960 5th Avenue North, at the northwest corner of 20th Street North. It serves as corporate headquarters for the AmSouth Bancorporation.

Completed in 1972, the modernist-style skyscraper was designed by Welton Becket & Associates of Houston with Charles H. McCauley Associates serving as the local associated firm. Built as a partnership between First National Bank and Southern Natural Gas, its original names was the First National-Southern Natural Building. First National changed its name to AmSouth Bancorporation in 1972 and the building was then given its most familiar name.

The reflective glass skin stretches between a generously-scaled black granite base story and a louvered steel penthouse enclosure. The building is set back from the corner with a raised terrace plaza. A one story banking lobby facing 20th Street closes off the north side of a sunken courtyard which serves the basement-level cafeteria.

Sonat moved its corporate headquarters from the tower to Houston in 1999. The official name of the building is currently the "AmSouth Center", though it will likely be changed after AmSouth completes its announced merger with Regions Bank.

Special lighting

Christmas

During the Christmas season colored gels are illuminated in each panel of the glass curtain wall, creating an enormous lit graphical display visible on the skyline from well outside the city. The tradition began in 1972 with the display featuring Christmas trees and NOEL being spelled out along the building facade. In 1975, NOEL was replaced with JOY. Later a stocking and wreath were added to the display giving each face a different design. Currently, the east side is a Christmas tree, the south a wreath, the west a candy cane, and the north a stocking.

1996 Olympic soccer

As part of the 1996 Olympic soccer festivities being held at Legion Field, the tower featured on its four sides the spelling of USA, the Olympic rings, the Olympic torch and the Olympic flame. The tower was first lit with these designs on Sunday, May 5, 1996, in tribute to the naming of the nations that competed in Birmingham as part of 1996 Olympic soccer. It was then re-lit on Saturday, June 29, 1996, when the Olympic torch passed through Birmingham as part of the 1996 Olympic Torch Run. It was then re-lit for the third and final time on Thursday, July 4, 1996, and would remain through Sunday, July 28, 1996, during the duration of soccer games carried out within the city.

American flag

The tower featured an illuminated American flag on two separate occasions in its history. It was first utilized in 1976 in honor of the nation's bicentennial celebrations. It again featured a flag in 1990 as troops arrived back from Operation Desert Storm.

Reference

• Bowsher, Alice Meriwether. (Winter 2006) "When Less Was More: Alabama's Classic Modern Architecture." Alabama Heritage. No. 79
• Pratt, Ted. (May 2, 1996) "AmSouth/Sonat Tower lights up for Olympics." Birmingham News.