3rd Avenue North: Difference between revisions

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* [[18th Street North]] intersection
* [[18th Street North]] intersection
** North side ([[Block 72]])
** North side ([[Block 72]])
*** 1800-1808: [[Lyric Building]]
*** 1800-1808: [[Lyric Building]] (built 1914)
**** 1800: [[Lyric Theatre]] lobby and building entrance
**** 1800: [[Lyric Theatre]] lobby and building entrance
**** 1804: [[First City Mortgage]], former site of candy shop, [[House of $8.50 Eyeglasses]]
**** 1802: former entrance to [[Lyric Barber Shop]] & [[Lyric Billiard Parlor]] (1929)
**** 1806: [[Place Design Studio]], former loan office
**** 1804: former location of candy shop (1929-1931), [[First City Mortgage]], [[Birmingham Art Association]]
**** 1808: [[Lyric Hot Dogs]], former location of [[Lollard's Cafe]] and [[Lollar's Cameras]]
**** 1806: former location of [[National Loan & Jewelry]] (1929-1964), [[House of Hats]] (1964), [[Place Design Studio]]
*** 1808 or 1810: [[Superior Furniture]], former location of [[Majestic Theatre]], [[Jesse French Piano & Organ Company]], [[Joiner Furniture]], and [[Jefferson Home Furniture]]
**** 1806A (or 1808): former location of  [[Lyric Hot Dogs]] (1957-2013)
*** 1812: former site of [[Roberts & Sons Printing and Bindery]], [[Epp's Jewelry]], a shoe shine parlor and lunch counter
**** 1808: former location of [[Lollar's Cameras]] (1929-1931)
*** 1814: former shooting gallery and [[R. C. Brown]] and [[Krown Kredit]] clothing stores.
**** 1808A: former location of [[Little Gem Cafe]] (1929-1931)
*** 1816-20: [[Graves Building]]
*** 1810 (or 1808-1810): [[Superior Furniture]], former location of [[Majestic Theatre]], [[Jesse French Piano & Organ Company]], [[Burke Brothers Furniture]] (1929), [[Joiner Furniture]] (1931), and [[Jefferson Home Furniture]] (1964)
**** 1816: former location of [[Dailey's Clothes]] and [[Vaughan-Weil Department Store]]
*** 1812 (or 1810): former site of [[French Dry Cleaners]], [[Levin's Gents Furnishings]] & [[Roberts & Sons]] stationery & supplies (1929), lunch counter (1931), [[Epp's Jewelry]] (1964)
**** 1818: former location of [[The Playhouse]], [[Duke Brothers Furniture]], [[Cable Piano Company]], [[Lawrence Furniture]], and [[Lichter Furniture]]
*** 1814-1820 (or 1816-1820): [[Graves Building]] (built 1912)
**** 1820: former location of [[Kilgore Furniture]], [[Charles Schwend]], gun dealer
**** 1814: former location of [[Seals Piano Company]] (1929), shooting gallery (1931), [[R. C. Brown]] clothing store, [[King Kredit]] clothing store (1964), [[Krown Kredit]] clothing store
**** 1816: former location of [[Clarke-Burton Piano Company]] (1929), [[Dailey's Clothes]] (1931), [[Vaughan-Weil Department Store]] (1964), [[Mr King Furniture]] (1977)
**** 1818: former location of [[Cable Piano Company]], [[Williams Music House]] (1929), [[Duke Brothers Furniture]] (1931), [[Lawrence Furniture]] (1945), [[Lichter Furniture]], [[The Playhouse]]
**** 1820: former location of [[Starr Piano Company]] (1929), [[Kilgore Furniture]] (1931), [[Charles Schwend]] gun dealer
*** 1822: former location of [[Marsh Bakers]]
*** 1822: former location of [[Marsh Bakers]]
*** 1824: former location of [[Olshine's]] ladies' clothes and [[Oxman Gifts]]
*** 1824: former location of [[The Vogue]] ladies wear (1929), [[Olshine's]] ladies' clothes, [[Oxman's Gifts]] (1964)
*** 1826: [[Whitmire Lofts]] (former location of [[Covell Studio]], [[Dan Cohen Shoe Store]], [[Thom McAn Shoe Store]] [[JayMark Jewelry]], & [[Snow's Wigs]])
*** 1826: [[Whitmire Lofts]], [[Revelator Coffee Co.]] (2014-), former location of [[Covell Studio]], [[Dan Cohen Shoe Co.]] (1929-1931), [[Thom McAn Shoe Store]], [[Schiff's Family Shore Store]] (1964), [[JayMark Jewelry]], [[Snow's Wigs]]
*** 1830: parking lot, former location of [[Wright Building]] ([[Birmingham Post Office]], [[Central High School]], steam laundry), later [[Gunn's Pharmacy]]
*** 1830: parking lot, former location of [[Wright Building]] (built 1883) housing [[Birmingham Post Office]], [[Central High School]], steam laundry, later [[Gunn's Pharmacy]], [[F. W. Woolworth & Co.]]
** South side ([[Block 87]])
** South side ([[Block 87]])
*** [[Alabama Walk of Fame]]
*** [[Alabama Walk of Fame]]
*** 1801-1811:  [[Goldstein building]]
*** 1801-1811:  [[Goldstein building]] (built 1927)
**** 1801: former drug store, headquarters of [[City Action Partnership]]
**** 1801: former location of [[Dewberry Drug Co.]] (1929), [[House of $8.50 Eyeglasses]] (1964), [[City Action Partnership]]
**** 1803: former millinery shop
**** 1803: former location of [[Mark's Hat Shop]] (1964)
**** 1805: former children's clothier
**** 1805-1809: former location of [[Roberta's]] women's clothier (1964)
**** 1807: former millinery shop
**** 1811: [[Hill Arts Center]], former location of [[Goldstein Furs]]
**** 1809: former furrier
*** 1813-1817: [[Alabama Theatre]] building (built 1927)
**** 1811: [[Hill Arts Center]]
*** 1813-1817: [[Alabama Theatre]] building
**** 1813: office space
**** 1813: office space
**** 1815: former storefront (now used only for displays)
**** 1815: former location of [[The Bonnet Box]] milliners (1964)
**** 1817: Alabama Theatre proper
**** 1817: Alabama Theatre lobby
*** 1819: former [[Loveman's Annex]], now part of [[McWane Science Center]]
*** 1819-1831: [[McWane Science Center]] (1998-)
*** 1821-1831: [[McWane Science Center]] (previously [[Loveman's]])
**** 1819: former location of [[Loveman's Annex]] (built 1917), now part of [[McWane Science Center]]
**** 1821-1831: former location of [[Loveman's|Loveman, Joseph & Loeb]] (built 1890, destroyed by fire 1934), [[Loveman's]] (built 1935)


* [[19th Street North]] intersection
* [[19th Street North]] intersection

Revision as of 23:12, 4 March 2015

3rd Avenue North, looking east from 18th Street in October 1972
3rd Avenue North, looking northeast from 21st Street, c. 1911

Third Avenue North is an east-west street running through downtown Birmingham. The westernmost section by that name ends at Center Street, although the road continues further west as 3rd Avenue West. The easternmost section ends at 88th Street, just west of Roebuck Municipal Golf Course.

Third Avenue is continuous from Center Street to Carraway Boulevard (formerly 26th Street North). At that point, it is interrupted by the 2nd Avenue North off-ramp of the Elton B. Stephens Expressway and railroad tracks. The road is one way eastbound from 9th to 26th Street North. There is a short segment of 3rd on the west side of 28th Street North. The next segment curves from 29th Street northward to line up with 31st Street North across Messer Airport Highway.

The avenue does not appear again eastward until Forest Hills Cemetery next to the I-20/I-59 interchange. At this point, Richard Arrington, Jr. Boulevard North (formerly 10th Avenue North), becomes 3rd Avenue. Third then continues northeast with some gaps, notably at Trotwood Park, I-59, and East Lake Park, to 88th Street.

The two-way portion of 3rd Avenue from Center Street to 9th Avenue is five lanes wide. The one-way portion is four lanes from 9th to 14th Street North and three lanes from 14th to between 24th and 25th Street. At this point, the left lane becomes an on-ramp for the Elton B. Stephens Expressway. Throughout the 1970s and most of the 1980s, this on-ramp was the northernmost point to get on the expressway as it did not connect to I-20/I-59 at that time. Third Avenue continues as two lanes under the expressway to Carraway Boulevard. The rest of the road segments east of here are two lanes as well.

History

The initial commercial expansion on 3rd Avenue took place on the south side of the street during the 1880s between 20th and 21st Streets. Third Avenue was also where the first two county courthouses in Birmingham were built (at 21st Street). The courthouse attracted other development to the intersection where it was located, such as the Title Guaranty Building.

Three stores on the north side of the 1800 block (Block 72), modernized in 1961, were damaged in a major fire on the evening of December 17, 1970.

The first section of 3rd Avenue North to be converted from two-way to one-way (eastbound) traffic was from 14th Street North to Red Mountain Expressway. The one-way section was expanded westward to 9th Street North in 1973 by the Alabama Department of Transportation's TOPICS (Traffic Operations Program to Increase Capacity and Safety) program.

Notable locations

For an alphabetical list of locations, see the 3rd Avenue North category.

Smithfield neighborhood

Fountain Heights

Central City

References

  • White, Marjorie Longenecker, ed. (1980) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide, second edition. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.
  • R.L. Polk & Co. (1919) "R.L. Polk & Co.'s Birmingham City Directory"

External links

3rd Avenue North on Google Maps

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