Skyscraper among 4 additions to national historic register

Four structures including a prominent Birmingham skyscraper have been added to the National Register of Historic Places from Alabama, according to the Alabama Historic Commission.

The 30-story, nearly 50-year-old AT&T City Center will join the list, which recognizes historic places that are worth saving. The building was known as the South Central Bell Building when it was finished in 1971 as corporate headquarters for South Central Bell and its five-state territory.

It is historically significant as a “symbol of Birmingham’s rebirth as an urban center in the New South” after the civil rights movement, the agency said.

New owners are currently redeveloping the tower, largely vacant since 2018, as a mixed-used building that will include residential, offices and other commercial spaces.

Other additions to the list include:

› Macon County High School in Notasulga, which was associated with landmark civil rights litigation that set a precedent for federal intervention in the desegregation of local schools.

› The Mobile Seamen’s Club Building, which was completed in 1949 as the shipping industry expanded in the city and is being renovated to become an apartment complex.

› Ashland Place Fire Station, which was constructed in Mobile in 1930 as one of the first fire stations in the city to be built for motorized firefighting vehicles rather than horse-drawn wagons.

Alabama has more than 1,250 properties listed in the National Register, which includes more than 95,000 locations nationwide.