Empire Building

Photo from the southeast across 1st Avenue North.

The Empire Building is a 16-story, 247 foot tall classical revival style skyscraper built on the northwest corner of 20th Street and 1st Avenue North in 1909. The building was developed by the Empire Improvement Company, which was headed by Robert Jemison. The construction was financed in part by a mortgage loan from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the first such deal made by an insurer for development.

Though local architects William T. Warren and William Leslie Welton are usually credited with the design, it is more likely that J. E. R. Carpenter of the New York firm of Carpenter and Blair acted as the lead designer with Warren and Welton, young architects who arrived in Birmingham in 1907, as associates supervising the details of construction. The contractor was T. C. Thompson & Brothers, represented locally by superintendent Frederick Larkin.

The entire facade is executed in molded terra-cotta. The elaborate and colorful glazed terra-cotta cornice features a repeating shield motif of large white capital "E"s, representing the developer. The arched niches above the paired windows in the upper story feature sculpted busts of allegorical figures. Larkin (as Frederick the Great) and Welton (as Emperor William) appear among them. The 1st Avenue entrance is flanked by monumental pink granite Doric columns.

The construction period was documented in monthly photographs by the Birmingham View Company. The foundations had been set by January 15, 1909. The first column of the 16th floor was in place in mid-March. By May 15 the terra-cotta cladding was installed, and a month later visible construction was nearing an end.

The building was constructed on the site of the former Bank Saloon. When it was built, it was the tallest building in Alabama. Within four years that honor was passed to the American Trust and Savings Bank Building right across the street.

The four early Twentieth century skyscrapers at 20th Street and 1st Avenue were billed, at the time, as the "Heaviest Corner in the South." Over the years, that claim was inflated to the improbably "Heaviest Corner on Earth", which remains a popular name for the grouping.

In 1965 the building was purchased and renovated for the newly-formed City National Bank, who renamed it the City National Bank Building. It is now the downtown headquarters of Colonial Bank.

In 1982 the Empire Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

References

• Alexander, James Rodger. (1986) Terra Cotta Facades of Birmingham Architecture. Exhibition catalog. Birmingham: UAB Visual Arts Gallery.
• Jefferson County Historical Commission. (1998) Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama Images of America Series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0752413465
• Lewis, Pierce. (1996) Birmingham View: Through the Years in Photographs Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society. ISBN 0943994217
• Satterfield, Carolyn Green. (1976) Historic Sites of Jefferson County, Alabama. Prepared for the Jefferson County Historical Commission. Birmingham: Gray Printing Co.
• White, Marjorie Longenecker, ed. (1977) Downtown Birmiingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.

External links

• Empire Building on Emporis.com