Assignment 3: Adam

“The Strip” is an ever-changing and dynamic American landscape whose life cycle is closely tied to the geographic flow of money and affluence. In picture 1 is a converted bank building on Metropolitan Parkway at the intersection with St. Johns Avenue. The entire area, formerly a segment of the Dixie Highway and also part of US Route 41, has seen better days and businesses have vacated a significant proportion of the roadside buildings for better locations further from the city center. The area has also been impacted by the “White Flight” phenomenon of the 1970s. Here we see the adaptive use of an old bank building in the Colonial Revival-style to a chiropractor’s office whom can no longer utilize the large sign and has settled for the colorful lettering seen on the façade and accented with christmas lights. Banks have long incorporated an architecture which projects trustworthiness, and the incorporation of the Colonial Revival style also projects a friendly, domestic appearance. Today, the bars on the window make an important statement about the general area and blur the safety the building had originally intended to project. At left, you can see the drive-thru bank teller (a porte-cochere, of sorts) has been in-filled and incorporated into the building for interior space.

Picture 2 shows a thrift store in an old auto showroom further south on Metropolitan Parkway. This stretch of Metropolitan south of Langford Parkway used to be home to several automobile dealerships. This one in particular appears to be of the ca.1970 vintage. The large glass front, once designed to display the newest models, now display the best second-hand home goods to offer. Automobile dealerships followed wealth to the suburbs and, especially along Metropolitan Parkway, used car dealerships have found a home. The corridor, once a thriving roadway rich in cutting edge technology, marketing, and display has been left to decay. Used goods fill discarded buildings which have been fortunate enough to survive demolition.

Finally, in honor of the “Not Fooling Anyone” website, I am including a single picture of this reused KFC building at the intersection of Campbellton Rd and Venetian Drive in SW Atlanta. The building is squeezed onto the narrow corner lot and has, while retaining the distinct tower on the front, and even incorporating the red color, has spruced up the building with new doors and an outdoor patio. This intersection abuts Fort McPherson on the north. It is evident that at one time an active gate serviced the military base but has since been sealed off. Fort McPherson itself is in the process of being decommissioned. When the KFC was originally built, this intersection was likely chosen for its convenience to local traffic, fort traffic comprising of a proportion of the potential market. When exactly the gate closed may correlate to the closing of the KFC. An independent restaurant has found an opportunity to open a business and serve a more specific need of the neighborhoods as opposed to the wider market, and higher traffic required to keep a chain restaurant viable in a corporations estimation.