Heaviest Corner on Earth

The Heaviest Corner on Earth is a historic intersection in Birmingham featuring four early 20th-century skyscrapers at 20th Street and 1st Avenue North. These steel-frame buildings create a unified architectural group with marble and limestone facades in the Chicago Commercial style.

The four buildings rose between 1902 and 1912, playing a key role in transforming Birmingham from a small town into Alabama's largest city. This rapid growth made the corner a symbol of the region's economic boom.

The four buildings display Chicago-style architecture with marble and limestone details that shape how people see this intersection as a symbol of the city's commercial power. The corner remains a gathering point where locals and visitors sense the importance of Birmingham's business history.

The corner sits in downtown Birmingham and is easy to reach on foot, with clear views of all four buildings from the intersection. Nearby parking and sidewalks make it comfortable to walk around and take in the architecture from different angles.

A 1911 magazine article called this corner the heaviest in the South, based on the sheer amount of steel and stone in its buildings. The name stuck and is still used by locals and in travel guides today.