The Tower on Broad Street
Downtown Augusta is quiet now. Empty storefronts line Broad Street, and in the middle of it all, the city’s tallest building casts its shadow.
The Lamar Building rises 238 feet, 17 stories of steel and stone, topped by a glass penthouse that locals call the toaster. For more than a decade, it has stood mostly vacant, its windows reflecting not commerce but absence.
Fire and Ambition
When construction began in 1913, the building was meant to symbolize a new Augusta…