Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

Lower Broad Street’s distinctive parking bays, such as this one facing the 700 block, were one of the design features recommended
in the early 1970s by noted architect I.M. Pei. [FILE/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
in 1978 as they were in 2010 when the
Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce
moved out. The two-story building is
now used as low-cost incubator space
for budding entrepreneurs and artists.
As for the project that launched all the
others – Holley’s Lamar Building penthouse
space – it, too, proved incompatible
over the long haul, with glass panes prone
to leakage in stormy weather and a greenhouse
effect in the summer that made the
space difficult to keep cool.
Dubbed “The Toaster” and “Holley’s
Folly” by many locals, the rooftop
space today is vacant, as is the entire
century-old building supporting it. A
South Carolina investor purchased the
National Register of Historic Placeslisted
skyscraper more than two years
ago at the fire-sale price of $820,000.
Although the success of Pei’s work
in downtown Augusta is debatable, the
impact of Pei’s career in the architectural
world is undeniable; he was famous before
he came to Augusta and his accolades only
increased in subsequent decades.
Pei won the American Institute of
Architects’ Gold Medal in 1979. He
was awarded architecture’s version of
the Nobel, the Pritzker Prize, in 1983.
President George H.W. Bush awarded
him the Medal of Freedom in 1992. He
received the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Cooper-Hewitt,
National Design Museum in 2003.
Ieoh Ming Pei died May 16, 2019, in
New York City. He was 102.
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