Academy Lofts at Adair Park, the Before Photos

If you’ve been keeping up with this site then you know I love exploring old, sometimes historic buildings, before construction begins on new projects around the city of Atlanta. The George W. Adair School in the Adair Park neighborhood of the city is no exception. The plan at the moment is to turn the old school, founded in 1912, into an art-force housing community of sorts. It will be broken up into 35 affordable micro-units reserved for all creative enthusiasts including artists. In addition to the live/work spaces, Academy will feature 5,000 square feet of loft offices for small businesses and artist studios and a 1,300-square-foot coffee shop.The old school’s auditorium will be revamped into an art gallery and community events space.

But that’s still off in the somewhat distant future. For now, the demolition has been finished and the building stands in an eerie disarray. Flooring is missing, chalkboards still hang on walls, the roof is missing in some sections throwing shadows against walls and floors. It’s such a cool experience walking through the hallways waiting for the surprises around each corner.

Academy Lofts at Adair Park will transform this old school into loft apartments.

The side of the old school which will become Academy Lofts.

Torch statuary above the main entrance.

Exterior doors leading to the old auditorium and a window that has fallen out giving a view into the main building.

The interior of the building from the bottom floor which has been gutted and demoed.

On the wall outside of the main entrance is a stone plaque with Board of Education members at the time the school was built.

Chalk boards still cling to the walls of classrooms even though the floors have been removed.

Piles of debris that the demo team is sorting through sit outside in the rear of the building.

Bulletin and chalk boards can be seen as remnants of classrooms.

Sections of the roof are completely missing.

Shadows and light on the wall in a stairwell leading to the upper floors.

Old doors and an amazing ticket booth leading into the auditorium of the school.

A look through the gate of the ticket booth.

Shadows dance all over the floor inside the auditorium.

The basketball goal hangs in the auditorium between two boarded up windows.

Rain has flooded the basement level next to the old bathrooms beneath the auditorium.

Subway tiles in the bathrooms beneath the auditorium.

Vines of ivy have overtaken the back side of the building.

The school bell sits rusted amongst the ivy.

Part of the demo team hand savable bricks to stack in a wheelbarrow to be re-purposed.

A member of the demo team knocks old mortar away from savable bricks behind the building.

Flying high for knowledge as the saying goes.

A door eerily hangs in the air as plywood leads a path over beams in the floor.

A solitary teal door amongst the cracked paint walls and no floors.

Looking back towards the other direction with a better view of the dirt floor crawl space.