“Architecture and landscape design…can give a community clarity, coherence, and order, as well as beauty and delight, and can help define a community’s identity and values. We can celebrate places that nurture our living together.”
Author Alice Meriwether Bowsher, Community in Alabama
“Good design, smart planning, creative place-making are all pillars of progressive growth that occurs as part of creative problem solving, taking advantage of opportunities and having an elevated vision for the present and future.”
Al Head, retired Executive Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Alabama Native
Discovering the best Alabama has to offer takes time, effort and a bit of luck. Word-of-mouth or coming across a magazine article will provide information, but chances are you’ll never be aware of everything to see and do that’s great in the state. With DesignAlabama’s ConnectLivity, all the work is done. A 12-pack of destination itineraries with maps is available or one can select a coffee table book with all 12 itineraries plus information about each destination. Each itinerary has a different theme such as arts, architecture, crafts, Civil Rights and family fun, and each contains helpful tips. All you need to hit the road and experience Alabama to the fullest.
Photo Credit: Copperwing Design
There’s plenty to do and see along Mobile’s Eastern Shore Trail. Beginning at the U.S.S. Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and traveling south to Weeks Bay, the urban trail is a 32-mile, hiking and biking trail which runs through Spanish Fort, Daphne, Fairhope and Point Clear. It provides a combination of sidewalks and paved trail sections that offer sweeping views of Mobile Bay. Tour the U.S.S. Alabama, a World War II battleship, as well as a nearby hangar that displays historic aircraft. In Daphne, the half-mile Gator Alley Boardwalk offers sightings of alligators, turtles and seabirds. The section through downtown Fairhope is a special treat, as it’s one of Alabama’s premier destinations.
Photo Credit: Internet
Bankhead Tunnel is a road tunnel in Mobile that carries Government Street under the Mobile River from Blakeley Island to downtown Mobile. Constructed in 1938-1940, it features Art Deco-style entrances and a large “flood door” that can close to prevent water from Mobile Bay flooding the tunnel during storm surges. Built in sections, each section was sunk next to the previous section and joined underwater. The depth of clearance is 40 feet for the ship channel over the tunnel. Bankhead Tunnel was the location of a scene in the 1977 Steven Spielberg hit “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” with a character played by actor Richard Dreyfuss driving through the tunnel chasing UFOs.
Photo Credit: Alabama Department of Archives
With its ancient live oaks, cast iron fountain, bandstand and diverse historic buildings around its perimeter, Bienville Square in the heart of downtown Mobile is the quintessential Southern square and one that rivals any in Charleston and Savannah. The square dates back to 1824 and was named for French Governor of Louisiana Jean Baptiste de Bienville. Improvements to Bienville Square in the Mobile 2020 Comprehensive Plan include additional ground floor retail for the surrounding buildings, integrated pedestrian paths and more landscaping.
Photo Credit: Chris Granger
“Everyone in his own way is affected by his environment. The chords that are struck in people are not necessarily the ones which the architect anticipates. It seems to me the better the building, the more variety of chords that are struck.”
Paul Rudolph, Architect of the Tuskegee Chapel
A few miles east of Mobile is Malbis Memorial Church, a Greek Orthodox church that opened in 1965 in memory of Jason Malbis, founder of Malbis Plantation. Exquisite murals depicting the life of Christ, carved marble and vividly pigmented stained glass decorate the church. The Byzantine Revival structure is also noted for its mosaics made by Italian artist Sirio Tonelli, along with painted religious iconography. The church was designed by Frederick C. Woods of Mobile and is a copy of a church in Athens, Greece. Its marble is said to have come from the same quarries that provided stone for the Parthenon.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com
Southern Living magazine calls Magnolia Springs a small town with “almost too much charm to handle.” Even the street names are charming, such as Pecan Grove Street and Cotton Stocking Lane. Located in southern Baldwin County, live oak canopies shade the district’s streets that have several structures on the National Register, including Moore’s Grocery and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Among other early buildings are the Magnolia Springs Bed & Breakfast and the 1894 Community Hall. Mail arrives by boat. Magnolia Springs has the only river route for mail delivery in the United States.
Photo Credit: Internet
An example of Googie architecture – the whimsical, futuristic design movement that brought the Space Age aesthetic into everyday life – is the 1957 clubhouse at the Isle Dauphine Club on Dauphin Island. The mid-20th century building was designed by T. Howard Ellis, Arch Winter and Carl Burmeister and features a two-story tiered cylindrical form with a smaller stucco cylindrical tower. The walls are a floor-to-ceiling metal, and a glass gridded curtain wall allows for expansive views of the island and golf course while flooding the space with natural light. A terrace roof is also part of the design that provides additional space for viewing.
Photo Credit: Lewis Kennedy
Community-led revitalization is challenging work and Main Street Alabama makes it easier by offering towns the resources, technical services and educational offerings to help navigate downtown and commercial district management. Main Street Alabama was incorporated in 2010 and before that time the Alabama Historical Commission served as the state Main Street coordinating program, providing guidance, support, services and certification to communities. Main Street Alabama follows the nationwide Main Street model that has been successful in many states by using its proven method of leveraging local assets to create sustainable and comprehensive revitalization plans.
Photo credit: Main Street Alabama
Alabama is fortunate to have many organizations working to improve the quality of life in communities. Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) is one of these organizations. Founded in 2002, the nonprofit ACE partners with the private and public sectors as well as universities to help communities with a population of 2,000-18,000 achieve their goals in three phases. Phase 1 is assessment; Phase 2 involves leadership development and strategic planning; and Phase 3 implementation and comprehensive planning. After completion, communities get an ACE designation and are recognized by the Alabama League of Municipalities.
Photo credit: Alabama Communities of Excellence
Built in 1847, the historic Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club and Spa and its grounds on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay has undergone a $32 million renovation. Part of the renovation project is a new recreational lawn with games and a new courtyard with fire pits and improved landscaping. The hotel’s Azalea and Dogwood golf courses are also part of the renovation. The Grand Hotel has long held a prominent place in Alabama history. In 1864, a portion of the hotel became a Confederate hospital during the Civil War. About 300 Confederate soldiers are buried in a cemetery near the 18th tee of the Azalea course.
Photo credit: Goodwyn Mills & Cawood
“I love every nook and cranny of the building, and during the restoration I was here every single day in a hard hat with the contractors,” recalls the Alabama native. “I could envision what it could be. I didn’t want to break land and create something new. I wanted old bones.”
Heidi Elnora, fashion designer and Alabama Native
Mobile’s historic urban squares may not be as well known as Savannah’s, but they are equally beautiful with their majestic live oaks, graceful fountains and surrounding antebellum architecture. At the heart of Oakleigh Garden Historic District in Mobile is Washington Square, among the city’s most beloved parks and one that serves as a social and cultural hub. On the National Register of Historic Places, Oakleigh Garden Historic District is centered on Washington Square and contains 288 contributing buildings that range in age from the 1820s to the 1940s.
Photo credit: unknown
A cluster of early buildings on the campus of Mobile’s Spring Hill College comprise the historic Quadrangle. The main building in the Quadrangle was constructed in 1831 in the Greek-Revival style and burned in 1869. Within a year, a Neo-Renaissance style administration building was constructed on the site. Also part of the group of buildings is St. Joseph’s Chapel built in 1910 in the Gothic-Revival style. The perimeter of the Quadrangle, which is on the National Register, is enclosed by an open arched arcade that is topped by crenellation.
Photo credit: kudzu.shc.edu
Not been to Gulf State Park in a while or never have? You’re in for a treat. Completed in 2018, the $135 million Gulf State Park Enhancement Project by Architecture Works consists of five components – a new lodge, interpretive center, a learning campus consisting of nine small buildings, dune restoration and 15 miles of new trails that include pedestrian bridges. Initiated in 2014, the enhancement project is “design-centric” encompassing architecture, landscape architecture and graphic design, observes project design director Matt Leavell. The 6,150-acre Gulf State Park is certainly worth such an ambitious enhancement effort. No other park along the Gulf Coast has as many diverse ecosystems or as much preserved acreage.
Photo credit: Architecture Works
Communities across Alabama are thriving thanks to the ongoing efforts of DesignAlabama. Incorporated in 1987, the Montgomery-based nonprofit organization unites design professionals and citizens to create master plans for community development and downtown revitalization, along with supporting other organizations with similar goals. Programs include: Alabama Mayor’s Design Summit that brings together mayors to address their community design issues; DesignPlace in which professionals visit selected communities to offer assistance with design, planning and community identity; and Connectivity that provides itineraries for discovering Alabama’s people and places. Gina Clifford serves as executive director.
Photo credit: DesignAlabama
Something is always blooming at Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile – 400 varieties of camellias in the winter, azaleas in the spring, roses, hydrangeas and tropical plants in the summer and the renowned “cascading chrysanthemums” in the fall. Bellingrath was established in the early days of the Great Depression, when Walter Bellingrath and his wife Bessie opened their gardens to the public. Along with year-round explosions of colorful blooms, the 65-acre Bellingrath Gardens and Home offers tours of the Bellingrath estate that is now a museum. Visitors can also walk along the bayou boardwalk while enjoying the great variety of flowering plants that change every season.
Photo credit: Tad Denson
Alabama’s only cable-stayed bridge is the Cochrane–Africatown USA Bridge carrying US 90/US 98 Truck across the Mobile River from the mainland to Blakeley Island in Mobile. Opened in 1991, the bridge was named after the 60-year-old vertical-lift Cochrane Bridge it replaced and nearby historic community of Africatown. The bridge design by Volkert and Associates, Inc. earned the firm two awards in 1992 – the Outstanding Engineering Achievement in the U.S.A. Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Award of Excellence in Highway Design from the Federal Highway Administration.
Photo credit: Lewis Kennedy
Mobile’s Government St. Presbyterian Church is considered among the finest examples of Greek-Revival architecture in the United States and one of the oldest and least altered. Construction began in 1836 and in 1837 one of its architects, Charles Dakin, was married in the sanctuary. Designed by James Gallier and Charles Dakin, the exterior is brick with a stucco finish. The National Historic Landmark is one story over a raised basement with granite foundations and steps. The interior is credited to the Dakin brothers and has had few alterations. The sanctuary has two aisles and retains the original pews.
Photo credit: Lewis Kennedy
Condos and beachfront hotels aren’t all that face Alabama’s Gulf Coast. There’s Fort Morgan at the mouth of Mobile Bay in Gulf Shores. The fort was constructed from 1819 to 1934 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, mostly through the use of African-American slaves. Brick and mortar were the only local building materials, so other materials including finished granite, sandstone, iron work and cement had to be shipped by water from New York. The state acquired the fort in 1946 and today the Fort Morgan State Historic Site is open to the public and includes a museum focusing on the Civil War.
Photo credit: Lewis Kennedy