Broad Street Historic District

Broad Street is the historic commercial spine of downtown Augusta, Georgia, and this district covers the street from Fifth to Thirteenth streets, with short side extensions along Eighth, Sixth and Ellis streets. Its buildings are mostly one to several stories, built of brick, stone or masonry veneer. They front directly onto the sidewalks and share party walls and a common building line. Together they show many types and styles of commercial architecture from the 1820s through the 1930s, with most dating from around the turn of the century. Two early-twentieth-century skyscrapers stand within it. Notable examples include a row of antebellum and Victorian buildings on the south side of the 500 block, including a three-unit late-Federal townhouse row recorded in a Historic American Buildings Survey, the Second Empire Augusta Hotel, and the Georgian Revival First Bank building. Broad Street itself is wide, divided by parking medians and linear parks, and a modern Chamber of Commerce building stands in the 600 block. A few modern buildings intrude on the older streetscape.