The City of Atlanta says the demolition permit is “ready to issue,” but we haven’t given up fighting to save this irreplaceable piece of music history. Please keep sharing this petition!

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99 years ago today, architect and engineer Lodowick J. Hill, Jr. applied to “build [a] two story & basement brick business house” at what was then 24 Nassau Street. Construction was estimated to cost $12,000 and was completed in just three months.

The building’s first tenant was the Pyrene Manufacturing Co. But in June 1923, Okeh Records came to town and set up a “remote laboratory.” Thanks to Okeh’s newly-invented portable equipment, this was the first time musicians were able to record in the South!

29 songs were recorded. 15 were released – spanning blues, jazz, gospel, and country.

Before the Great Depression caused record sales to plummet, Okeh made thirteen return trips to Atlanta to record nearly 1,000 songs. Two bigger labels, Columbia and Victor, also came to Atlanta and recorded over 2,000 more songs, making Atlanta the recording capital of the South.