Equitable Building

Was it hubris that drove Joel Hurt to build the Equitable Building? Here, at the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Pryor Street, once stood Atlanta’s first skyscraper. The year was 1892. The Equitable Building, an eight-story behemoth of steel and ambition, pierced the Atlanta skyline. Designed by the renowned architectural firm Burnham and Root, it was a testament to the city’s burgeoning growth. Ironically, it was the only documented Georgia building designed by the Atlanta-raised architect, John Wellborn Root, who tragically died the year before its completion. The Equitable Building, financed by the Equitable Life Assurance Society, was the brainchild of Joel Hurt. Hurt, a streetcar magnate and prominent developer, saw the building as a symbol of Atlanta’s progress. The Equitable Building initially struggled to fill its offices. However, it played a pivotal role in the story of another struggling Atlanta institution: the Commercial Traveler’s Savings Bank. This small bank, founded in 1891, was on the brink of collapse. Joel Hurt, a board member, saw an opportunity. He proposed transforming the bank into a large trust company, a niche yet to be filled in Atlanta. In 1893, the newly renamed Trust Company of Georgia moved into the Equitable Building. This move proved fortuitous. Under Hurt’s leadership, and later Ernest Woodruff’s, the Trust Company of Georgia flourished. It became a major financial force in the South, even backing the Coca-Cola company. The Equitable Building, once a symbol of ambition, now housed the ambition of others. But progress, like a relentless tide, eventually washes away the old to make way for the new. In 1971, the Equitable Building, once Atlanta’s tallest, was dwarfed by the modern skyline. It was demolished to make room for a plaza and a new, larger Trust Company of Georgia building. Though the original Equitable Building is gone, remnants of its structure can be found scattered throughout downtown Atlanta, a silent echo of the city’s architectural past.