Page 6 - 2013 SDCA Project

hiStory
The structure that is the Lifecycle Building Center as
we know it today has seen many incarnations, many
inhabitants, and has bared witness to its ever-evolving
surroundings. Based on review of Atlanta City Directories,
topographic maps, aerial photographs, and Fulton County
Tax Assessor’s records, it has been determined that the
main manufacturing building was built on the property in
1914. The original building has been expanded multiple
times over the years, and the attached Butler Building was
constructed adjacent, southwest to the main manufacturing
building, in 1966.
While the surrounding land use today is primarily light industrial
and commercial, during the first half of the twentieth century
listings along neighboring Lee Street were primarily residential.
However, as transportation spurs evolved and were re-routed
around this building, this area grew to become a predominantly
industrial and commercial center. An excerpt from a “Forward
Atlanta” ad, ca. 1928, states “Atlanta is the ideal point for your
factory branch… Here you find economies in labor, power,
taxes, and many other basic items. And from here your men
and your shipments may be most efficiently routed over the
rich Southern territory.” Therefore, the structure we know as
the Lifecycle Building Center served as one of the contributing
factors to the growth of industrialed Atlanta.
6 RAGS 2013
Even though the main building was built in 1914, the first
time it appears with a named occupant is in a 1932 Sanborn
map. At this time, the Bailey-Burns manufacturing Company
is depicted on the property at 1116 murphy Avenue. (Note –
some documentation lists this as Bailey-Burruss manufacturing
Company.) This machine supply manufacturer was listed in the
1922 Atlanta City Directory on murphy Avenue, however street
numbering along murphy Avenue changed in 1926 or 1927 and
therefore it took until its reappearance on the map in 1932 to
confirm that they were the occupants of this building. The 1916
Atlanta City Directory did not have any listing for this property
at all, but that was likely a consequence of the street number
changes from the late 1920’s.
Bailey-Burns Manufacturing Company, the first-known
inhabitants of the building, manufactured and designed
elevating, conveying, and transmission machinery for oil mills,
fertilizer factories, cement plants, and milling plants. They also
manufactured machinery for cleaning, handling, and screening.
it’s products were sent across the South, the United States, and
to many foreign countries. Bailey-Burns helped to put Atlanta
on the map as a manufacturing center. On this map in 1932
the foundry that was previously depicted separately from the
main building and appears to have been incorporated in to the
manufacturing building.
The next available record in 1937 lists the Link Belt
Company as the occupant of this address. This company
inhabited the building through 1971 as listed in the Atlanta
City Directories. in a 1950 Sanborn map, a 75,000 gallon
water tank is first depicted southeast of this property along
with a small detached warehouse building labeled as “Pipe
Yard.”
While 1116 murphy Avenue remained occupied by the
Link Belt Company over many decades, the ownership
of the neighboring buildings was less stable. However,
while occupants may have changed, the type of industries
remained similar in that they were oil and paint companies.
in 1961 the Farmers market, located at 1050 murphy
Avenue, one of the only long-time neighbors, was replaced
with State runned offices. Nineteen-sixty-five would see
another change in that the building at 1134 Sylvan Road was
now listed as the American Truck Leasing Company. The
Butler Building, that is attached to the main manufacturing
building, was first seen in 1968 aerial photography. The early
1970s would see many of the surrounding buildings listed as
vacant in city directories.
The first change to the occupancy of 1116 Murphy Avenue
since 1937 would come in 1976. instead of just the