{"nrhp_refnum":"79000744","name":"Lamar Building","other_names":["Southern Finance Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"753 Broad St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Augusta","county":"Richmond County","state":"GA","lat":33.475349892000054,"lon":-81.96496041799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A sixteen-floor steel-frame, brick-and-concrete office skyscraper at 753 Broad Street in downtown Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia, built 1913-1918 and known as the Lamar Building and the Southern Finance Building.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is one of Augusta's first modern office buildings and a survivor of the 1916 fire that burned thirty-two blocks of downtown. It is linked to local architect G. Lloyd Preacher and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Rucker Lamar, for whom it was named. Its 1975 penthouse by I.M. Pei and Partners also marks a later chapter in the city's business history.","narrative":"Rising sixteen floors above Broad Street in downtown Augusta, this steel-frame office tower was begun in 1913 for the Empire Life Insurance Company of Atlanta. Architects W.L. Stoddard of New York and G. Lloyd Preacher of Augusta designed it, with a granite-columned base, a fourteen-story shaft with setbacks, and a terra cotta cornice with Baroque ornament. The insurance company's bankruptcy and the 1916 Augusta fire, which burned the unfinished building and thirty-two blocks of the city, delayed completion until 1918. Local businessmen then finished it and named it for Joseph Rucker Lamar, an Augusta lawyer who served on the U.S. Supreme Court. It became the Southern Finance Building in 1925. The building is regarded as one of Augusta's earliest modern, fireproof office buildings and the taller of its two such skyscrapers. In 1975 a glass, concrete and marble penthouse designed by I.M. Pei and Partners replaced the original roof.","period_of_significance":"1913-1918; 1975","architect_builder":"W.L. Stoddard of New York; G. Lloyd Preacher of Augusta; I.M. Pei (1975 penthouse); Whitney Company of New York, general contractors","architectural_style":"Early-twentieth-century skyscraper with Baroque detailing, based on the Chicago School base, shaft and cornice formula","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and the building is occupied; the original red-tile roof was replaced in 1975 by a contemporary penthouse.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.813782-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/79000744.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000744/1bb2d2f1e9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000744/1bb2d2f1e9-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Augustagaskyline.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Augustagaskyline.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04000515","name":"Augusta Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/augusta-downtown-historic-district-04000515/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209379","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6480832"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/richmond-county/lamar-building-79000744/"}