The Flintridge Building (formerly the Flint Ridge Building) is a historic office building in

Fairfield, Alabama Fairfield is a city in western Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham metropolitan area and is located southeast of Pleasant Grove. The population was 11,117 at the 2010 census. History This city was founded i ...

, in metropolitan

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. From 1951 to 1964 it served as the headquarters of the southern division of

United States Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

and housed nearly 1,500 employees. In 2004 the building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Sited on a ridge on E.J. Oliver Boulevard near

Miles College Miles College is a private historically black college in Fairfield, Alabama. Founded in 1898, it is associated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME Church) and a member of the United Negro College Fund. History Miles College bega ...

, the building overlooks the

Fairfield Works Fairfield may refer to: Places Australia * Fairfield, New South Wales, a western suburb of Sydney. **Electoral district of Fairfield, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Fairfield, Queensland * Fairfield, Victoria ...

. The front facade of the building features projecting, glass-enclosed rooms resembling stadium pressboxes, which provide a view of the ironworks.

History

The building was developed in 1951 to serve as the new headquarters of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company (TCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Steel. It was designed by Jack B. Smith of the Chicago firm of

Holabird, Root & Burgee The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern ...

. Upon completion, TCI relocated its offices from the Brown Marx Building in downtown Birmingham to the Flint Ridge Building."Flintridge Building", ''Bhamwiki'', http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Flintridge_Building In 1964 U.S. Steel moved most of its executive staff to

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, changing the character of the building. U.S. Steel eventually offered the five-story, 314,000-square-foot building to the Fairfield city government for a nominal price, but the offer was not taken. Former mayor

Larry Langford Larry Paul Langford (March 18, 1946 – January 8, 2019) was an American politician who had a one-term tenure as the mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama. At the time of his death, Langford was hospitalized on compassionate release from servi ...

did propose that the building be converted to a municipal office building that would be encircled by a

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

, but nothing came of the idea. Besides leasing office space to local businesses, in 2006 U.S. Steel opened a maintenance training center in the Flintridge Building. In 2011 the city council considered acquiring the building for use by the local school system.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Alabama Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Alabama Office buildings completed in 1951 Office buildings in Alabama Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama

History

See also

References

External links