One of the Trust’s initial major efforts was to support the “Save the Fox” campaign.

The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, which was originally conceived as a home for Atlanta’s Shriners organization, was ultimately opened in 1929 as a movie and performance venue by William Fox, a movie mogul who had launched his empire by building theatres across the country. However, by the late 1960s, beautiful landmark movie palaces like the Fox were falling out of favor, replaced by suburban movieplexes built for efficiency and multiple-screen showings. As customers began migrating to the suburbs, the Fox fell into disrepair and was eventually closed.

In 1974, Atlantans were divided over a proposal to demolish the Fox Theatre. Though the magnificent attraction’s heyday was decades earlier, many members of the Trust vividly remembered theater and music performances there. To them, it seemed fitting that the Trust speak forcefully on behalf of Atlanta Landmark’s campaign to save the Fox. Ultimately, the threat was resolved when Southern Bell agreed to build the South’s largest office building at that time on an adjoining site.

Fortunately, the theater was soon after restored, and theater-goers today can still enjoy the Fox’s exotic Moorish interior, gilded minarets, balconies and starry-night ceiling.

More images: