Lyric Building
The Lyric Building is a 6-story office building constructed in 1914. The Lyric Theatre occupied a major portion of the building, and it's lobby takes up the ground-floor corner entrance at 1800 3rd Avenue North on the corner of 18th Street.
The project was financed by real-estate developer Louis V. Clark, who purchased three adjoining lots and hired the Hendon Hetrack Construction Company to erect the concrete-framed structure.
The office building continued to operate after the theater closed in 1958. It was sold Birmingham Landmarks, saviors of the Alabama Theatre, for $10 in 1993. Early efforts to restore the theater, in tandem with redevelopment of the office building as an arts center, were not realized.
An extensive project to preserve and renovate the theater was completed in 2016. Some of the ground floor spaces were incorporated into the redesign to accommodate accessible restrooms and reception areas. Notably the longstanding Lyric Hot Dogs restaurant lost its lease in December 2013.
Tenants
- Ground floor:
- Birmingham Beauty Supply (1981-1991)
- Karmelkorn Shop (1946)
- Lyric Hot Dogs (1957-2013)
- Birmingham Art Association gallery (1998)
- Create Birmingham (2013)
- House of $8.50 Eyeglasses (1960s)
- Place Design Studio
- Bardon's Seven & Nine (1961)
- Foot So Port Shoes (1961)
- Health Spot shoe store (1956)
- Rooms
- 201-202: A. H. Kessler chiropractor, neurocalometer and x-ray service (1925)
- 313: Roberts Academy of Speech / Stacy Arline Roberts (1925-1956)
- 400-418: Lollar's Kodak Parlor (1910-1926)
- 514-516: A. J. Hope chiropractor (1923)
- 600-602: J. C. Glover chiropractor (1923)
- Acme Dental Laboratory (1967-1971)
- Air Way Branches (1952)
- Alabama Fire Insurance Service (1952-1967)
- Alabama Labor Council (1967)
- Alabama News Magazine Inc. (1952)
- Alabama State Federation of Labor (1952-1956)
- Dick Albritton dentist (1952) / Walter Allbritton dentist (1956)
- Allison Jewelry wholesaler (1967)
- Amalgamated Transit Union (1967-1971)
- Auto Insurance Agency (1961)
- Avalon Beauty Supply (1971)
- Barnes Realty Co. (1961-1971)
- Birmingham Dental Laboratory (1952-1961)
- Orrion Brooks, optometrist (1952-1967)
- Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (1956-1967)
- Brown Hill Corp. loans (1952-1956)
- Communications Workers of America (1956-1967)
- Company Employers Group (1961-1967)
- Consolidated Toy Distributors (1971-1976)
- Cotton States Life Insurance (1967-1971)
- Edith Davis, podiatrist (1952-1971)
- Dixie Insurance Agency (1961)
- Ebony Personnel Service (1967-1971)
- Charles Edwards chiropractor (1952-1956)
- Empire Loan & Finance Co. (1952-1956)
- Encyclopedia Americana (1952)
- Federal Life & Casualty Co. (1952-1956)
- Ferguson Alterations / Lorene Ferguson (1961-1967)
- Galloway Insurance Co. (1952)
- Greyvan Lines Inc. (1952)
- Home Reader Service Inc. (1961)
- International Association of Machinists (1961)
- Kennesaw Life & Accident Insurance (1961)
- Kime Carbon Co. (1952-1956)
- King Optical Company (1952-1956)
- Mitchell Inc. realty (1952)
- Mitchell Larimer Agency insurance (1961)
- Alonzo Lawley, chiropractor (1952-1971)
- Lincoln Income Life Insurance (1956-1961)
- Lyric Loan Co. (1952)
- Metropolitan Casualty Insurance Co. (1952-1956)
- Mutual Savings Life Insurance Co. (1952-1956)
- National Bankers Life Insurance Co. (1952)
- Wilbur Newberry optometrist (1956)
- Oneida Total Integrated Enterprises (1952-1967)
- Provident Indemnity Life Insurance Co. (1952)
- Southern Hearing Aid (1967)
- Southland National Insurance Co. (1952-1961)
- The Spectator newspaper (1920)
- Tucker Realty Co. (1956)
- Union Bankers Insurance Co. (1956)
- United Cement, Lime & Gypsum Workers International Union District Council No. 5 (1961-1971)
- United Transportation Union (1971)
- Vines Loan Co. (1952-1956)
- Joseph Waldner chiropractor (1952-1956)
- Yester Ceramic Laboratory Inc. (1961)