Early in Atlanta’s history if you needed to transact business with the town government you had to seek out officials in their offices in local hotels and grocery stores. In 1854 the first official city hall was constructed where the Georgia State Capitol stands today. When the state capital moved from Milledgville it actually did duty as the state capitol. That two-story brick structure was demolished in 1885.
The current City Hall came from the pen of Geoffrey Lloyd Preacher, a major figure in southeastern architectural history, in 1930. Preacher made his reputation with large-scale hotels but his creation of the elaborate Gothic-inspired Art Deco City Hall is probably his best known design. The building rises 14 stories with setbacks from the soaring, cathedral-like entrance. Preacher covered the reinforced concrete building with cream-colored terra cotta tiles.
In 1864 the home of Georgia attorney and jurist Richard Francis Lyon stood here when General William Sherman took it as his headquarters during the Union occupation of Atlanta. The house was one of the few that Federal troops did not destroy on the way to Savannah.
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