The Telephone Factory Lofts is a mixed-use loft building along the

BeltLine The Atlanta BeltLine (also Beltline or Belt Line) is a open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect neig ...

trail in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

as the Western Electric Company Building.

Layout

The main entrance is via a -high

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

-style tower. There is a four-story main building, which once housed the factory floor, offices and cafeteria, as well as a single-story building, formerly a warehouse that housed the shipping and receiving areas of the factory."History and currency", Telephone Factory Lofts site
There are 66 loft units ranging from to .

History

Western Electric factory and repair center

The building was constructed in 1938 and was a

Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

Co. factory that manufactured and repaired telephones and switchboard systems that were owned by the Bell System and rented out to customers."Last call for affordable housing at the Telephone Factory Lofts: Poncey-Highland complex a reminder that cheap living in Atlanta isn't permanent", Thomas Wheatley, ''Creative Loafing'', April 7, 2011
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Conversion to lofts

In 1995, developers Rhodes and David Perdue decided to convert the building to lofts. They applied for bond financing from the Atlanta Development Authority (ADA), the city's development arm. As a condition of providing the financing, the ADA required, as part of an

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

program, that one-fifth of the units be made available for people earning 50% of the area median income, ($25,000 per year) or less. The lofts opened in 1996, and for fifteen years through 2011, units were offered as living and work space to artists, writers and designers at inexpensive prices under the program. In 2011, the units were transitioned to market rates. Upon conclusion of leases, occupants had to sign new contracts at the much higher market rates if they wished to stay. This Western Electric building should not be confused with the demolished 1921 Western Electric Company building which stood at 117-123 Walton Street NW in

Downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county, ...

."Western Electric Company building", Emporis.com
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References

{{Poncey-Highland Residential buildings in Atlanta Industrial landmarks in Atlanta Art Deco architecture in Georgia (U.S. state) Streamline Moderne architecture in the United States Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Telecommunications buildings on the National Register of Historic Places Manufacturing plants in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Atlanta