WINECOFF HOTEL - Atlanta, Georgia @ 3:00 AM on December 7, 1946
Posted by: 
Lat34North
N 33° 45.513 W 084° 23.272
16S E 741937 N 3738450
The Winecoff Hotel fire killed 119 of the 280 people who were staying in the hotel at the time of the fire, is still listed as the deadliest hotel fire in North America.
Waymark Code: WM297X
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 09/25/2007
Views: 134
The Winecoff Hotel is located on the corner of Peachtree Street and Ellis Street in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The Winecoff is fifteen stories tall and at the time it was Atlanta's tallest hotel. The Hotel was constructed of brick and advertised as a "fireproof". It had a central-spiral staircase and an elevator that was under the control of an operator.
Many of the guests in the hotel that night were teenagers from high schools and other organizations from all across Georgia in Atlanta to take part in a mock legislature as part of a Youth Assembly at the Capitol.
The fire was believed to have started on the third floor as a accident, but in 1995, the sons of two reporters who were covering the fire for an Atlanta newspaper, published a book titled “The Untold Story of America's Deadliest Hotel Fire” (by Sam Heys and Allen B. Goodwin) which suggest that the fire was actually arson.
For over two and a half hours, fire departments from all across northern Georgia fought the blaze. A number of people died in the fire, as well as many people who jumped to their deaths. At the time of the fire, the building lacked fire escapes, fire doors or automatic fire sprinklers.
Completed in 1913, the Winecoff was named for builder William Fleming Winecoff, who owned the hotel.
For more information:
winecoff.org (
visit link)
Firehouse.com (
visit link)
Pulitzer Photo by Arnold Hardy (
visit link)
Winecoff Tragedy (
visit link)