Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

The penthouse office atop the Lamar Building, designed by I.M. Pei, is lined with white marble hand-selected in Italy.
[AUGUSTA CHRONICLE FILE]
comprehensive redesign of Broad
Street that grew out of a six-yearold
master plan funded by a Greater
Augusta Chamber of Commerce
committee.
“I personally like the spirit here,”
Pei told the Augusta Chronicle in
May 1974. “There seems to be strong
civic leadership and a project of this
nature must have the support of the
business and civic leadership.”
Later that year, Pei unveiled his
vision in the form of a large-scale
model that was put on public display.
Residents turned out in droves
to see the miniaturized Broad
Street with below-grade parking
bays and raised planters to
partially shield vehicles and parking
meters from pedestrian view.
Medians between Sixth and 10th
streets were filled with fountains,
benches and trees – except for
the 600 block, where most of the
space was dedicated to an angular,
8,000-square-foot building Pei
called the “Chamber Pavilion.”
Reducing sections of the six-lane
street to four stemmed from Pei’s
desire to create spaces where downtown
shoppers, workers and visitors
could linger.
“I looked at all that parking lot in
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