Ponce City Market: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Atlanta’s Largest Building

History, industry, and architecture come alive in this book documenting the six-year transformation of one of the Southeast's largest buildings into a mixed-use civic anchor in 2016. The cavernous Sears, Roebuck and Company distribution and retail center, erected in 1925, was last used by the city's public works departments and stored countless items inside its 2.1 million square feet of space. An architect/photographer captured the viscera of the abandoned building, recording its various forms of construction and reconstruction, and finally its sparkling presence along the rail line that now serves as an urban corridor for bicyclists and joggers. The book includes an illustrated essay by historian Jerry Hancock—an expert on Sears's impact on the South—and a foreword by architectural historian Robert M. Craig. This book is a valuable resource for history and architecture buffs as well as municipalities contemplating the future of their own landmark industrial structures.

Blake Burton is an architect and photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia.  His background as an architect has provided him with a unique viewpoint from which to explore our relationship with the built environment.