The Georgian Terrace Hotel, Atlanta: Its History Since 1911

Every fact on this page comes from a named source listed at the bottom: the hotel’s own website, the National Park Service, Historic Hotels of America and other published histories, checked October 3, 2026. Where sources disagree, we say so. We don’t quote room rates, which change.

Part of It’s Georgia’s sourced list of Georgia’s historic hotels: every hotel and inn in the state still taking guests in a historic building, with the year each one went up.

The Georgian Terrace at a glance

Atlanta’s “Paris hotel”

Construction began on July 21, 1910, and the hotel opened on October 2, 1911, at a cost of $500,000, according to the City of Atlanta’s landmark designation. W. L. Stoddart designed a ten-story building of butter-toned brick with limestone trim, a terra-cotta cornice and a round bay rising the full height of the corner (SAH Archipedia). The Gatins family developed it, and it became known as “Atlanta’s Paris hotel,” per Atlanta Magazine.

It opened with a grand ballroom, a Winter Garden, a Terrace Garden lounge, a barber shop and a rathskeller. Starting in 1913, Enrico Caruso and the Metropolitan Opera company stayed there on their Atlanta visits, and in 1918 a Georgia Tech student named Arthur Murray began teaching dance lessons in the ballroom.

When the Fox Theatre opened across Peachtree Street in 1927, the two buildings formed a gateway at Peachtree and Ponce de Leon, as the City of Atlanta describes it.

The Gone With the Wind connection

In 1935 Margaret Mitchell handed her Gone With the Wind manuscript to Macmillan editor Harold Latham at the hotel, according to Atlanta Magazine. During the film’s world premiere in December 1939, Hollywood stars including Clark Gable stayed at the Georgian Terrace, and it hosted a premiere gala. Walt Disney stayed in 1946 for the Fox Theatre premiere of Song of the South, the hotel says.

Historic Hotels of America lists F. Scott Fitzgerald, Helen Keller, Elvis Presley, Charles Lindbergh and Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Carter among its guests over the years.

Apartments, a rock club and a comeback

After World War II the building became a residential hotel. In 1970 the grand ballroom turned into Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom, a rock venue whose acts included Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. The hotel closed in 1981 (SAH Archipedia).

In 1991 the building was converted into luxury apartments, and a high-rise tower, a pool and a parking garage were added next to it. In 1997 investors turned it back into a hotel, keeping the larger apartment-style rooms with kitchens (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Renovations followed in 2000 and 2009, when an $11 million project finished near the centennial, and the hallways were refreshed in 2014, per Historic Hotels of America.

What it is today

The hotel has 326 rooms and suites, including 223 residential suites and 7 penthouse suites with kitchens, according to its FAQ. Dining includes Livingston Restaurant + Bar (the Fox Theatre’s official restaurant), Edgar’s Proof & Provision and the Buffalo Bayou Cafe. There is a rooftop pool deck, a fitness center open 5am to midnight, a Grand Ballroom and six meeting rooms, and the building is smoke-free.

Parking is on site, with 700 valet and self-park spaces and a 6-foot height limit; restaurant diners get up to 3 hours of free self-parking except during Fox Theatre events. The accessibility page lists accessible rooms with roll-in showers and grab bars, and ramp or elevator access to the lobby, restaurant and pool. The hotel says it is marking its 115th anniversary in October 2026.

Where the sources disagree

• National Register year: the National Park Service record shows the Fox Theatre Historic District listed in 1978; the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says 1986. We use the NPS record.
• The 1991 tower: Historic Hotels of America says 19 stories; the AJC says 20.
• Style: the City of Atlanta, the National Register text and Historic Hotels of America say Beaux-Arts; the AJC says French Renaissance.
• 1939 guests: the City of Atlanta names Vivien Leigh as well as Clark Gable; other accounts say she stayed elsewhere, so we name only Gable.

Plan the rest of the trip

• Things to do in Atlanta: attraction prices and MARTA tips.
• Free things to do in Atlanta with kids.
• Georgia’s historic hotels: six more in Atlanta, including the Ellis (1913, by the same architect) and the Candler (1904-06).

Questions people ask

When did the Georgian Terrace Hotel open?

On October 2, 1911, at Peachtree Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue. New York architect W. L. Stoddart designed it.

Is the Georgian Terrace on the National Register of Historic Places?

Yes, as a contributing building in the Fox Theatre Historic District, listed in 1978. It is also a City of Atlanta Landmark Building (1990) and a Historic Hotels of America member since 2001.

What is the Georgian Terrace’s connection to Gone With the Wind?

Margaret Mitchell handed her manuscript to Macmillan editor Harold Latham at the hotel in 1935, and stars including Clark Gable stayed there for the film’s Atlanta premiere in December 1939.

Has the Georgian Terrace always been a hotel?

No. It became a residential hotel after World War II, closed in 1981, was turned into apartments with a new tower in 1991, and reopened as a hotel in 1997.

About Hank Whitlock

Hank Whitlock is the pen name of the It's Georgia editor. Every guide is built around the questions a busy family actually asks before a trip: how long is the drive, what does parking cost, can the stroller make it, are dogs allowed. Details are checked against official park, city, and venue sources, and each guide shows the date it was last updated.