Winecoff Hotel

Houston Street at Park Place, looking to the north toward the Carnegie Building (the wedge-shaped building on the left) and the Winecoff Hotel (the building in the middle of the photo). The Winecoff is best known as the site of the United States' deadliest hotel fire. On December 7, 1946 a fire at the Winecoff resulted in the deaths of 119 of the 280 guests in the hotel, including the developer/owner of the hotel, William F. Winecoff and his wife. An article published by Firehouse.com contains more details if you are interested.

Here's a link to a video made by Rust Tanton. Rusty's great aunt Betty Jane Tarrant Lewitinn, a nurse at Grady Hospital, was a night shift supervisor the evening of the Winecoff fire. He produced a 6 minute video in which his aunt discusses the horrific and stressful evening.

Also worth noting is the presence (on the far right hand side of the picture) of the Loew's Grand movie theatre, famous for having been the site of the premiere of Gone With The Wind in 1939.

Date: No date listed

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GSU FILE: LBGPNS10-022a

TOP PHOTO COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPT, PULLEN LIBRARY, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY

John Wesley Dobbs Avenue (formerly Houston Street) at Park Place, just a few feet away from Peachtree Street. The Winecoff Building (176 Peachtree Street) was completed in 1913. After the deadly fire mentioned above it was vacant for several years. In 1951, it re-opened as the Peachtree on Peachtree Hotel and was eventually converted into a retirement home in the 1960's. Various restaurants and other small businesses filled the space on the ground floor in the 1980's and 1990's, but the upper remained vacant for decades, until the building re-opened as the Ellis Hotel in October 2007.

Note the presence of the fire escape in the 2004 photo. One of the reasons that so many people perished in the 1946 fire was that the building had no fire escape. To make matters worse, there was no sprinkler system in the building either and the Atlanta Fire Department was using fire fighting equipment that could reach only as high as 8 floors and the Winecoff is a 15 story building.

Date: 06/27/04