The Winecoff Hotel, today the Ellis Hotel, is located at 176 Peachtree Street

Peachtree Street

Peachtree Street is the main street of Atlanta. The city grew up around the street, and many of its historical and municipal buildings are or were located along it...

 NW, in downtown Atlanta

Downtown Atlanta

Downtown Atlanta is the first and largest of the three financial districts in the city of Atlanta. Downtown Atlanta is the location of many corporate or regional headquarters, city, county, state and federal government facilities, sporting facilities, and is the central tourist attraction of the city...

, Georgia, USA. Designed by William Lee Stoddart

William Lee Stoddart

William Lee Stoddart was an architect best known for urban hotels in the eastern United States. Even though he was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, the bulk of his commissions were in the South. He maintained offices in Atlanta and New York City....

, the 15-story building opened in 1913. It is located next to the former Macy's

Macy's

Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

 (at 180 Peachtree Street), which was built as the flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 Davison's

Davison's

Davison's of Atlanta was the major competition to Rich's, once itself an Atlanta shopping institution. The chain took the Macy's name in 1986.-Founding:...

, and just south from the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel (easily identifiable by its cylindrical glass design). It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on March 31, 2009.

Fire

The Winecoff is best known for a fire

Fire

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....

 that occurred there on December 7, 1946, in which 119 people died. It remains the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history, and prompted many changes in building code

Building code

A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...

s. Guests at the hotel that night included teenagers attending a Tri-Y and Tri-Hi-Y Youth Conference, Christmas shoppers, and people in town to see Song of the South

Song of the South

Song of the South is a 1946 American musical film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. The live actors provide a sentimental frame story, in which Uncle Remus relates the folk tales of the...

. Arnold Hardy

Arnold Hardy

Arnold Hardy was an American amateur photographer who won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.His 1947 award-winning photo of a woman plunging from a window of the burning Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia on December 7, 1946, became the defining image of the fire that killed 119 people...

, a 26-year-old graduate student at Georgia Tech

Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...

, became the first amateur

Amateur

An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

 to win a Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 in photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 for his snapshot of a woman in mid-air after jumping from the 11th floor of the hotel during the fire. The jumper, who survived, Daisy B. McCumber, was born October 9, 1905 and died in Florida on August 12, 1992 at the age of 86. From her jump she sustained a broken back, pelvis and both legs. Over a ten year period of time she underwent seven surgeries and lost a leg. Under these circumstances, she still worked until her retirement.

Tri-Y and Tri-Hi-Y victims

1. Earlyne Adams, 16, RE Lee senior
2. Clarence Bates, 14, Bainbridge HS sophomore
3. Sue Broome, 16, Bainbridge HS senior
4. Dallas Brown Jr., 16, Rome senior
5. Earl Gragg, 14, Bainbridge HS sophomore
6. Patsy Griffin, 14, Bainbridge HS sophomore
7. Julia Hall, 16, Albany HS senior
8. Christy Hinson, 17, RE Lee senior
9. Charles Keith, 16, Rome senior
10. Jerry Ann Jenkins, 15, Seminole County junior
11. Gwen McCoy, 17, Gainesville HS senior
12. Hedy Metcalf, 15, Baker Village HS junior
13. Aubrey Minnix, 15, Columbus HS junior
14. Sue Mitchum, 16, Gainesville HS senior
15. Suzanne Moore, 16, Gainesville HS senior
16. Robbie June Moye, 16, Seminole County senior
17. Mary Lou Murphy, 14, Bainbridge HS sophomore
18. Ruth Powell, 16, Bainbridge HS senior
19. Jeannette Riley, 16, Seminole County senior
20. Marianne Scherle, 16, Albany HS senior
21. Buzz Slatton, 16, Rome senior
22. Bobby Sollenberger, 16, Barnesville junior
23. Harriett Strickland, 16, Seminole County senior
24. Frances Thompson, 17, Gainesville HS senior
25. Virginia Torbert, 16, RE Lee senior
26. Dot Tyner, 16, Baker Village HS senior
27. Patsy Uphold, 16, RE Lee senior
28. Billy Walden, 16, Rome senior
29. Ann Walker, 16, Albany HS senior
30. Maxine Willis, 16, Bainbridge HS senior
31. Mrs. Mary Alice Davis, Bainbridge HS teacher
32. Mrs. Mary Smith Minor, RE Lee teacher and mother of little girl

University of Alabama Interns

1. Sarah Aldridge, 28, worked with USO during WW II and leader in intramurals program
2. Peggy Cobb, 21, member of newspaper staff
3. Jean Pruett, 21, former 5th grade teacher
4. Gloria Riemann, 20, member of Delta Gamma
5. Ethel Stewart, 20, engaged to be married in 1947
6. Elaine Sullivan, 20

Personalities

1. Florence Allen Baggett, 43, best-known auctioneer in the Southeast
2. Walter L. Baker, 41, Vice President of Asheville Truck and Equipment Co, father of two
3. Walter Beck, 47, owner of Beck Oil and Equipment Co
4. Eloise Buck, 40, vocational counselor at Katherine Gibbs School in NY, in Atlanta on speaking tour, alumnus of Kappa Alpha Theta
   Kappa Alpha Theta
   Kappa Alpha Theta , also known as Theta, is an international fraternity for women founded on January 27, 1870 at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury...
   
   
5. Florence Knox, 68, prominent citizen of Thomson GA
6. Billie Crawford Cox, 31, wife of Dr. Robert H. Cox
7. Dr. Robert H. Cox, 33, former staff doctor with TVA at Hiwasse and Fontana damn construction sites; chairman of hometown's polio fund drive
8. Martha Dekle, 69, President of Dekle Holding Co
9. Billy Dickerson, 3, son of the Dickersons
10. Mary Dickerson, 34, wife of William DeGraffenreid Dickerson
11. Mary Melinda Dickerson, 6, daughter of the Dickersons
12. William DeGraffenreid Dickerson, 38, director of unemployment compensation for Georgia labor department, alumnus of Delta Tau Delta and Alpha Sigma
13. Peter Knox, 78, husband of Florence and prominent citizen of Thomson GA, city council and school board member, retired from successful lumber business
14. Laura Bell Miranda, 36, beautician at Loew's Grand Theater
15. Margaret Wilson Nichols, 30, former runner-up Miss Atlanta, press agent and hostess
16. Jack Sheriff, 32, owner of Jack Sheriff's Theater Restaurant nightclub
17. Nell Zorn Sims, 33, president of Business and Professional Women's Club, active in church and community
18. Herbert Swanson, 38, Chicago editor of a trade paper
19. Ed Thomas, owner of Thomas Buick and Asheville Truck & Equipment Co, president-elect of Kiwanis club, Boy Scout leader
20. William Barr Todd, 39, South Carolina director of Civil Aeronautics Administration
21. Ernest Benedict Weatherly, 63, attorney, top cattleman of the South, former chairman of federally appointed committee on beef industry
22. Grace Smith Winecoff, 76, wife of hotel's builder, William
23. William Fleming Winecoff, 76, built the Winecoff, sold it during the Depression but continued to live there

Guests

1. Bill Berry
2. M Louise Brown, 46, widow
3. William Edgar Bryson, 28, Broker, WWII vet, and father
4. AJ Burns
5. Mildred Chandler Boschung, 23, newlywed (husband survived the fire)
6. Mrs. George D. Burch
7. W.M. Clarence
8. Freda Constangy, 26, wife of Joseph
9. Joseph Constangy, 28
10. Morris Constangy, 56, father of Joseph
11. John Phillip David, 26, WWII vet, preparing to enroll at Georgia Tech in 1947
12. Eric Ellicot, 46, sales
13. Robert Alvin Fluker, 41, Safety engineer for JA Jones Construction Co, was to go overseas to rebuild Okinawa air base
14. Barbara Beck Goodson, 1, daughter of Joseph & Mary Goodson
15. Gladys Grace Goodson, 29, wife of Joseph and mother of two
16. Joseph Arthur Goodson, 4, son of Joseph & Mary Goodson
17. Joseph Goodson, 35, geologist, father of two
18. Elmer Gonzett, 32, WWII vet
19. Frank B. Hale, Jr.
20. Lena Harris, 47, bank cashier
21. Harold G. Irvin, 23, WWII vet, about to start job as Eastern Airlines pilot
22. John Newton Irwin, 23, WWII vet
23. Ens. W.M. Jones
24. William Jones
25. Irene Justice, 27, law student
26. Grace Lain, 52, wife of Paul Lain
27. Paul Lain, 54, husband of Grace Lain
28. James R. Little, WWII vet, Georgia Tech '44, winner of 11 battle stars and a Presidential citation, worked for Firestone
29. Eloise Mason, 59, retired stenographer
30. Jacob M. Mauss
31. James Lewis McDonald
32. Sara Baggett Miller, 34, widow and mother of two
33. J.R. Moody
34. Dwight Morrison, 26, WWII vet and father-to-be
35. Margaret Parker
36. Tona Perry, 65
37. Ed Pettyjohn, salesman for Winchester Repeating Arms Co, father of two
38. Carl Christian Rasmussen, MD, 49, joined the Veterans Administration in May 1946
39. Richard Carl Rasmussen, 20, son of Carl Rasmussen
40. Wylie Rochelle, 46, alumnus of Emory University, father
41. Cleveland Sisk, 48, bus drive for Smoky Mountain Trailways and winner of safe driver award
42. Mary Smith, 36, sister to Bosclair and mother of three
43. Dotsy Smith, 12,
44. Fred Smith, 14
45. Mary Smith, 4
46. Emma Anne Smith, 14, overcame 80% deafness to attend public school (unrelated to Mary Smith and family)
47. Harry Sorrells, 46
48. Mary Stinespring, 58, active church worker, widow, mother of five
49. Bess Thruen, 51, wife of Charles Thruen
50. Charles Thruen, 51, retired Army vet, civilian clerk at Ft. Benning, husband of Bess Thruen
51. Irene Tollett, 44, Ph.D, high school librarian
52. Bosclair Williams, 40, mother of Clair
53. Clair Williams, 8, daughter of Bosclair
54. Ensign R.E. Williams
55. Robert Clay Williams
56. Irene Wilson

Victims Not Registered at the Hotel

1. Freddie Louise Pruitt, 21
2. Emelda Louise Reeves, 21, mother of 4 year old boy

Reopenings

In April 1951, the hotel reopened as the Peachtree Hotel on Peachtree, and was now equipped with both fire alarms and fire escape

Fire escape

A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible...

s. In 1967, it was donated to the Georgia Baptist Convention for housing the elderly, and then repeatedly sold to a series of potential developers.

After over two decades of vacancy, a $23 million renovation

Renovation

Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...

 project began in April 2006. The project restored the building into a boutique

Boutique

A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The word is French for "shop", via Latin from Greek ἀποθήκη , "storehouse"....

 luxury hotel, called the Ellis Hotel after the street

Street

A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...

that runs along the north side of the building. It was reopened on October 1, 2007.

External links

• Winecoff Hotel Fire Documentary official website A full length documentary about the Winecoff Hotel Fire of 1946
• Ellis Hotel official website
• Website for the book The Winecoff Fire: The Untold Story of America's Deadliest Hotel Fire
• RootsWeb.com site on the Winecoff fire
• Maps for this location: 33°45′30"N 84°23′16"W