The Background
Following a similar article in The Savannah Press, in May 1901, Wallace Putnam Reed wrote the following sketch of G.L. Norrman for his “Random Atlanta Gossip” column in The Macon Telegraph.
Reed recounted remarks attributed to a man from Birmingham, Alabama, about Norrman’s recent work, including the Bienville Hotel in Mobile, Alabama, and Candler Hall at the University of Georgia in Athens (pictured above).
One interesting aspect of the conversation is the speaker’s claim that “we are trying to induce Norrman to move to Birmingham”. Norrman considered moving to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1899,2 3 4 but ultimately remained in Atlanta.
Article Excerpt:
A Birmingham man who is a graduate of the University of Georgia called my attention, this morning, to the new dormitory, and mess hall of that institution, designed by Mr. G.L. Norrman, an Atlanta architect, who is somewhat famous throughout the South.
“These will be the handsomest buildings on the campus,” said the visitor from Birmingham, as he pointed to their pictures on the first page of the Constitution. “I don’t know anything of the kind in Europe or America, at the same cost, which is equal to these structures, measured by the standards of beauty and utility. By the way, we are trying to induce Norrman to move to Birmingham. The new Hotel Bienville in Mobile is his work, you know, and it has made him the most popular man in Atlanta. There is something in fine architecture that appeals to the heads and hearts of all classes. I would rather be a great architect than almost anything else.”
In the meantime Mr. Norrman who was standing within hearing walked off without waiting to be introduced to his admirer. Like most men of the genuine artistic temperament, he gets his satisfaction out of the work and cares less for compliments than any man I know.
If he cares for distinction he can easily make himself recognized as one of the foremost architects of this country. The late John Wellborn Root of Atlanta, enjoyed that distinction, but in some lines Mr. Norrman is regarded as his superior.5
References
- The Twenty-Ninth Annual Report from the Department of Education to the General Assembly of the State of Georgia. Atlanta: The Franklin Printing and Publishing Company, 1901 ↩︎
- “In Hotel Lobbies and Elsewhere”. The Age-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama), October 28, 1899, p. 4. ↩︎
- “In Hotel Lobbies and Elsewhere”. The Age-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama), December 16, 1899, p. 4. ↩︎
- Morgan, Thos. H. “Letter to Glenn Brown”. 1 January 1900. ↩︎
- Reed, Wallace Putnam. “Random Atlanta Gossip”. The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), May 3, 1901, p. 4. ↩︎