Roosevelt Hall conversion preserves Atlanta historic landmark, modernizes structure

The West End neighborhood of Atlanta is filled with places of historic significance to the Civil Rights Movement. It is home to Morehouse College, the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., and where college students in the 1960s organized sit-ins, boycotts, marches and voter-registration drives.

A historic property in the neighborhood was recently saved and put back into use for the district’s current denizens. Roosevelt Hall, the first public housing complex built for Black people, now contains offices, event space and a community center for the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a group of historically Black colleges and universities on Atlanta’s west side.

Architecture firm Moody Nolan preserved historic features of Roosevelt Hall and modernized certain parts of the structure.

“Historically sensitive windows were installed to better reflect the original profiles and design,” Garfield Peart, associate principal and Atlanta office director at Moody Nolan, told CoStar News.

“The original window above the main entrance was repaired and preserved,” Peart said. “The main entrance’s two-story recessed door and window assembly, featuring an Art Moderne panel above the door framed in stone, was also carefully repaired and restored.”

Moody Nolan also repaired damage to the building’s brickwork from metal shutters that had been attached to cornices on the exterior.

Roosevelt Hall is the sole surviving building from the University Homes public housing project. The complex opened in 1937, and Roosevelt Hall was originally occupied by shops, offices and a community events space. The building was later used as a police station and eventually abandoned after the remaining structures of University Homes were demolished in 2008.

The Atlanta Housing Authority, owner of Roosevelt Hall, hired Moody Nolan for the restoration because of its extensive portfolio of work for HBCUs. The Columbus, Ohio-based firm has done work for Morgan State University in Baltimore; Howard University in Washington, D.C.; Texas Southern University in Houston; and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Moody Nolan has also done work for the institutions of the Atlanta University Center district, including athletic facilities and residence halls for Morehouse College, an academic building for Clark Atlanta University and historic preservation for Morris Brown College.

Although it’s owned by the Atlanta Housing Authority, the converted building is intended to serve the surrounding area of colleges and associated institutions, incorporating a library, urban garden, technology center and rooftop deck.

Many HBCUs have campus buildings similar to Roosevelt Hall in that they have historic significance but are in need of restoration, Peart said. The colleges lack funding needed for routine maintenance, leading to property damage.

“Moody Nolan has made it our mission to fix these functionally obsolete buildings on HBCU campuses wherever we can,” Peart said.

“Through many of these structures you’re able to see a living roadmap of a time when African-Americans were entertainers, financiers, entrepreneurs and Civil Rights champions,” Peart said. “The best-case scenario is when you are able to save historical elements and celebrate that history while creating retrofits with the client’s desires in mind.”

Distinctive buildings each have their own story. Snapshots is an occasional feature showcasing one of them.