The Biltmore

Reading about the origins of the apartment building and some of the grand, early examples in Manhattan reminded me of the Biltmore Hotel and Apartments in Midtown. Though not a suburban apartment complex, the Biltmore epitomized the multi-unit buildings popular in the 1920s.

Built in 1924, the Biltmore includes two buildings--the hotel facing W. Peachtree and the apartments facing Fifth. Designed in neo-Georgian style by New York architects Schultze and Weaver, who were responsible for Biltmore hotels in Los Angeles and Havana, the project was financed by William Candler, son of Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler. Costing 6 million dollars, the hotel was described as "the city's point of contact with the world beyond its own borders." The grand opening featured a charter train bearing influential northern businessmen and a national radio broadcast. The latter took place in the on-site studios of WSB, the first radio station in the south. The WSB tower atop the building quickly became a landmark.

The automobile was integral to the development of both the hotel and apartments--cars were increasingly affordable and the middle- and upper-classes increasingly prosperous and mobile. The developers boasted of the 1000 some cars that cruised through the Biltmore grounds at the grand opening. 

The apartments, convenient to downtown, but separate from the commercial areas, were marketed for an upper-crust clientele. This coincides with the clientele of the hotel, which included opera stars, Hollywood stars, and politicians.