The Lamar Building is a 17-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

. It was scheduled to be completed in 1916, but the Augusta Fire of 1916 forced crews to demolish the building and restart. It was finally completed in 1918. A penthouse level was added in 1976, designed by I. M. Pei. In July 2011, the architectural critic James Howard Kunstler labeled it his "Eyesore of the Month", saying the addition is reminiscent of a

Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...

helmet. Pei's addition presaged the glass

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

he designed for

The Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in Paris. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Fire insurance maps indicate a height of 165' (50 m) to the top of the roof at the 16th floor, just beneath the penthouse addition. It has been the tallest building in Augusta ever since it was built. The Marion Building stands next to the Lamar Building and has been called its "sister building". The Lamar Building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979.

Restoration efforts

After sitting vacant for many years, the building was sold in June 2021 to Albany, Georgia-based developer Pace Burt. Burt, who has worked on multiple other historic renovation projects in the Southeast, has released plans for the building to be converted into a high-end, multi-family development with under 70 units.

References

External links

{{I. M. Pei, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Augusta, Georgia G. Lloyd Preacher buildings National Register of Historic Places in Augusta, Georgia Skyscrapers in Georgia (U.S. state) Skyscraper office buildings in Georgia (U.S. state)