Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel - History

History

The first building on the site was the first official Georgia Governor's Mansion in Atlanta, a Victorian-style home purchased by the state in 1870 at the southwest corner of Peachtree Street and Cain Street (later International Boulevard, now Andrew Young International Boulevard). After housing 17 governors of Georgia (each limited to a single term of office) until 1921, it was demolished in 1923 for the Henry Grady Hotel, named for Atlanta Constitution newspaper journalist/magnate and philanthropist Henry W. Grady. That and the Roxy Theatre were in turn demolished for the current building.

Designed by developer/architect John Portman, the building gained landmark status within the city as Atlanta's tallest building from its completion, in 1976, to 1987 when it was overtaken by One Atlantic Center. The building opened as the tallest hotel in the world; in 1977, however, it was surpassed by its architectural twin, the central hotel tower of the Portman-designed Renaissance Center in Detroit. The Peachtree Plaza Hotel opened as the tallest building in the southeastern United States, surpassing One Shell Square in New Orleans. It lost that title in 1983, when the Southeast Financial Center in Miami surpassed it. It was the tallest building in downtown Atlanta for 13 years until it was surpassed by 191 Peachtree Tower first, which in turn was surpassed by SunTrust Plaza (then One Peachtree Center).

The hotel was heavily featured in the 1981 film Sharky's Machine starring Burt Reynolds. Stuntman Dar Robinson, doubling for Henry Silva at the end of the film, dropped 220 feet (67 m) from what appeared to be the Westin Peachtree Plaza, setting a record for the highest freefall (unrestrained) jump from a building in a film. In actuality, however, the stunt scene was filmed at the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel, using its shorter but similar cylindrically-shaped Radius Tower.