The Waterman-Smith Building (formerly known as the Waterman Building, the Southtrust Bank Building, the Wells-Fargo Building, and the Wachovia Building) is a high-rise in the U.S. city of Mobile, Alabama. It was built by the Waterman Steamship Corporation in 1947, and rises and 18 stories. The Waterman-Smith Building is the 7th-tallest building in Mobile, and is an example of early modern architecture.
Completed in 1947, it was the only high-rise to be constructed in the city from the 1929 completion of the Regions Bank Building to 1965, when the GM Building was completed. It was constructed on the site of the Bienville Hotel, a low-rise seven-story hotel. At the time of construction, the building was referred to as the turning point when the city entered the modern age, and cost 5million().TheWatermanSteamshipCorporation,afterbecomingthelargestprivatelyownedsteamshipfirmintheworld,waspurchasedbyMcLeanSecuritiesCorporationinMay1955.Thebuildingwasrenamed"TheRobertsBuilding"inhonorofformerWatermanchairmanE.A.Roberts,whoremainedinvolvedwithMcLeanfordecadesafterwards.TheRobertsBuildingsoldtoCommercialGuarantyBankingCompanyin1973.ThestructurehousedtheWatermanGlobe,adiameterspherecreatedbyRandMcNallythatdepictstheworldwiththepoliticalboundariesofthe1940s.Theglobewasalocalattractionbutwasremovedfromthebuildingin1973anddeconstructed.ItwaslaterrestoredandmovedtotheUniversityofSouthAlabama′sMitchellCenterin1999.In2017,thebuildingwassoldtoWaterman−SmithI,LLCfor2.35 million.
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