By Gretchen Keiser

The restoration of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception has been recognized by the Atlanta Urban Design Commission as one of the outstanding works of 1984 in Atlanta historic presentation.

The restoration is one of 10 projects selected for the commission’s annual “Award of Excellence,” which recognize major contributions to the city’s design and character through building and preservation work. Among other projects chosen for the 1984 awards were the new High Museum, whose design by architect Richard Meier has already won national recognition; the restoration of Briarcliff Plaza shopping center at Ponce de Leon and Briarcliff where the firm of Griffith & Associates, Inc. restored the city’s first shopping mall including Plaza Drugs and the Majestic Diner; and the restoration of five old homes in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District and conversion into apartments available to families at low rent.

The awards are chosen each year from nominations submitted by civic and neighborhood groups, architects, historians and others. However, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception restoration was a unanimous choice from the beginning, said Charles Munn, staff member of the commission. When the nomination process began, Munn said, the commission already agreed that the Shrine was probably “the outstanding (historical) preservation project done this “year” in Atlanta. The commission’s office looks out on the Shrine, where restoration work has been underway for over a year and a half since fire gutted the church in August, 1982. Before the fire, the Shrine was the oldest complete building in Atlanta and the restoration work and reconstruction proceeded from the point of preserving the exterior walls and portions which survived the fire. Architect Henry Howard Smith of Atlanta was chosen for the project by the archdiocese. The Shrine is to be rededicated May 25.

The awards were to be presented by Mayor Andrew Young at the High Museum on Thursday, May 3.