Ghost Buildings of Georgia Tech
By: Jennifer Herseim, Animation by: Scott Dinerman, STC 03 | Categories: Featured Stories
These buildings may no longer exist on campus, but their memories remain, haunting generations of Yellow Jackets like ghosts of good times past. Some of these spaces disappeared long ago, while others feel spine-tingling close, as if you might still catch a glimpse of an ephemeral structure as you scurry home from Midnight Breakfast. Beware of lingering too long on this page or you might raise some memories you’d rather not awaken—nightmares of missed finals or chilling thoughts of never “getting out.” Now that we’ve given you real goosebumps, read on if you dare.
The Old Shop Building 1888–1968
Did you know that Tech Tower had a twin? Built in 1888, the Shop Building, where students made wares that helped finance the school, burned down three times before disappearing—or finally being demolished—in 1968. Today, you might still feel the hot air from the old foundries that were housed in the shop building as you walk through Harrison Square in the space where the former building once stood.
Skiles Bridge 1959-2010
When the Skiles Classroom Building was first built, a pedestrian bridge connected the second-floor classrooms to the Library. It was an everyday part of campus and one of the best spots to catch the sunset after class. Underneath, students heading toward the former Student Center might spot stickers for clubs and other student organizations attached to the bridge’s supporting columns, and even, on occasion, a pizza slice stuck to the underside of the bridge by a mischievous passerby. Skiles Bridge was well-known to a group of disc golf players who would show up late at night to play a clandestine game through campus. Ben Siple, Cls 04, learned of the impro-vised course from friends who passed down their knowledge to the next generation of Jackets.
“Skiles Bridge was our tee-off. We would throw our first shot off the bridge and try to hit a patch of trees on the left side of the walkway toward the Student Center,” says Siple. From there, the golfers would aim for the Kessler Campanile, and so on, hitting predetermined marks throughout campus. “You always needed a lot of people watching when you threw off Skiles Bridge because you could easily lose a disc from there,” says Siple, who hopes the course lives on with current students, albeit modified for new campus spots.
When Georgia Tech’s President Ángel Cabrera, MS Psy 93, PhD Psy 95, was a student, Tech Green was the Hightower Textile Engineering Building. Biking through campus today versus then is a different experience, says Cabrera, who often commutes on bike from his home to his office in the Carnegie Building.
“Today, you ride through campus and think, ‘What a beautiful campus,’ but those weren’t the words that came to mind when you first saw campus in the early ’90s,” Cabrera says.
The Hightower Textile Engineering Building was finished in 1949 and housed the School of Textile Engineering—its own “ghost” of sorts—that is now part of the School of Materials Science and Engineering. The building, which often flooded when it rained, was demolished in 2002 during a period of campus beautification, which saw the creation of several green spaces, including Tech Green.
