Commercial

The well-regarded Healthsouth Rehab Hospital, 70-beds strong, an arm of the once giant nationwide hospital chain based in Birmingham. It proudly stands out on the Narrow Lane Road, looking so crisp and tony, that no one would ever suspect that it is a remnant of the Richard Scrushy accounting scandal […]

Healthsouth Rehab Hospital

 in Commercial  tagged healthsouth / hospital / rehab
Was completed 2008ish, as one of the 7 large office buildings, 7 huge parking decks, child care center, an activity center, two public parks, two hotels, convention facilities, fully equipped theater, and considerable street work, all of which the RSA has funded in downtown Montgomery over the past 45 years. […]

RSA Headquarters Building

 in Commercial / RSA  tagged headquarters / rsa
The unit moved there around the turn of the Century, after a 35-year stint on Ripley Street, opposite Saint Margaret’s Hospital (today that site is part of the State motor pool). The Red Cross was founded in 1881, gained prominence during WW I when it went along as part of […]

American Red Cross Offices

 in Commercial  tagged red cross
In 1954 there were only three banks in Montgomery, and all three sat side by side on Commerce Street downtown. That year two of the three, First National and Union, began a race to build the first branch bank. PT&N Architects saddled up with First, and SS&A Architects was hired […]

Regions Cloverdale Branch

 in Commercial  tagged cloverdale / regions
At 900 Bell Street (now Maxwell Boulevard). The Army is a Protestant Church based, international movement started in London in 1865. Its Montgomery headquarters moved out onto Bell Street in the early 1970s, and some years later replaced its original building at that site with this (almost too elegant) structure. […]

Salvation Army Headquarters

 in Commercial  tagged army / headquarters / salvation
Officially at 1255 Madison Avenue, but as you can see, it’s actually tucked into the back left corner of the Paterson Field parking lot. Two forsaken entities side by side, the TV studio on the left, the edge of the baseball stadium on the right. Alabama Public Television was established […]

WAIQ TV Studios

 in Commercial  tagged APT / studios / WAIQ
Poor, forsaken, Paterson Field Baseball Stadium . . . on Madison Avenue, directly across from Cramton Bowl. It was built in 1949; its 7,000 capacity made it an impressive facility back then. In its heyday it was home field for the reincarnated Montgomery Rebels, a Class AA minor league affiliate […]

Paterson Field

 in Commercial  tagged baseball / field / paterson
built this structure at 1021 Madison Avenue (directly opposite the Bibb Graves Armory) in the early 1950s, complete with the awful insertion of glass block. But despite that faux pas, it has this slight Federal Style feel, and appears somewhat staid to be a Shriner redoubt. I do understand that […]

Alcazar Shrine

 in Commercial / Government  tagged alcazar / shrine
I must pay homage to the D W Moody Hardware Store. Moody hardware stores have been important fixtures in Montgomery as long as I have lived here. Soon after he returned home from WW II, Dempsey Moody opened this store, and despite numerous setbacks, he refused to surrender. DW did […]

D W Moody Hardware Store

 in Commercial  tagged hardware / moody
One of our many schizo bank buildings, this one having been built in the early 1970s as the main offices of Montgomery’s Exchange Bank, highly and proudly visible from the brand new I-85. That entity morphed into Southtrust Bank and was one of our favorite clients. Later still, the poor […]

Exchange Bank

 in Commercial  tagged bank / exchange
Now offices make a wonderful reuse of the historic building. This was the old Ice House, which, in its heyday, filled such an important place in the fabric of our community. The structure housed the Segall-Nathan Ice Manufacturing Co, founded at this location during the 1920s, and it was a […]

Old Ice House

 in Commercial  tagged house / ice / segall-nathan
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Here stands the enduring hulk of the Highland Theater, the one-time pride and joy of Montgomery’s Highland Avenue “streetcar community”. This neighborhood picture show was opened just after WW II, and managed to stay open for little more than 20 years. In 1950 it was one of 13 single screen […]

Highland Theater

 in Commercial  tagged highland / shelton / theater
at 400 South Union Street, built in 1990 by Bubba Bailey, and for years the bastion of gambling mogul Milton McGregor. It is the only major, non-govt construction that contributed to the startling rebirth of what was a quiet rundown residential street, from which all the residents could walk to […]

Bailey Building

 in Commercial  tagged bailey / mcgregor
Part of the Montgomery State Farmers Market on Federal Drive at Coliseum Boulevard. It has provided breakfast and lunch for produce vendors and their customers for a quarter century. This building was the one most visible from the intersection, and it stood as the image of the complex. Notice in the […]

State Market Cafe

 in Commercial  tagged cafe / farmers / market / state