The Ashby Street Theatre was built in 1934 as a movie house in a historically Black neighborhood on Atlanta’s Westside. Decades of vacancy left it with a failing roof, structural damage, and a collapsed floor, and the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation designated it a “Place in Peril.” The restoration addresses those foundational issues first, then turns the building toward a new use as a flexible space for meetings, classes, presentations, and neighborhood events.
Technology played a distinctive role in early planning, helping the design team assess structural conditions, understand the building’s history, and visualize how the theatre operated in the 1930s. That same approach is helping navigate cost and material tradeoffs in real time as construction moves forward.
Once complete, the theatre will serve as a community anchor for the Ashby corridor, a destination that honors the Westside’s history of Black business and culture while supporting renewed activity along the street.