Birmingham Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

• 
  Sloss Furnaces

  Sloss Furnaces, a National Historic Landmark in Alabama, made pig iron here from 1882 to 1971. Imagine this place as it was when it first ran: a pig iron–producing blast furnace that operated from 1882 to 1971.

• 
  UAB Hospital

  Rising above you is UAB Hospital, also known as University Hospital, a 1,207-bed tertiary hospital and academic health science center in Birmingham, Alabama. This is the flagship property of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the UAB Health System, part of the University of Alabama System.

• 
  Birmingham Museum of Art

  This is the Birmingham Museum of Art, the city-owned museum anchoring downtown Birmingham, Alabama's cultural district. Right here the institution cares for more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts that speak across continents — Asian, European, American, African, Pre-Columbian, and Native American collections all live under this roof.

• 
  University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine

  Ahead of you rises the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine. This is the medical school of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and it belongs to the UAB Health System — described in the record as one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States.

• 
  Alabama Theatre

  Paramount's Publix Theatres chain built the Alabama Theatre you see here in 1927 as its flagship movie palace for the southeastern United States. When it opened it seated 2,500 people, making it the largest house in the Birmingham theater district, which was once home to many large theaters and movie palaces that offered vaudeville, performing arts, nickelodeons and Hollywood films.

All 25 stops

• Birmingham Museum of Art (Cultural District)

  This is the Birmingham Museum of Art, the city-owned museum anchoring downtown Birmingham, Alabama's cultural district.

• Kelly Ingram Park (Birmingham Civil Rights District)

  Picture Kelly Ingram Park's four green acres as they were in 1963, a staging ground for young protesters.

• Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Civil Rights District)

  Here rises the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, museum and educational center.

• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument (Birmingham Civil Rights District)

  These five blocks hold the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, established in 2017.

• A.G. Gaston Motel (Birmingham)

  Picture room 30 above you, where A.G. Gaston built more than lodging for Black travelers in Alabama.

• Fourth Avenue Historic District (Fourth Avenue Historic District)

  These storefronts along Fourth Avenue mark Birmingham, Alabama's historic Black commercial heart.

• Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (Birmingham Civil Rights District)

  Notice the Carver Theatre, home since 1978 to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

• Carver Performing Arts Center (Fourth Avenue)

  This corner building opened in 1935 as the Carver Theatre.

• Alabama Theatre (Birmingham theater district)

  Paramount's Publix Theatres chain built the Alabama Theatre you see here in 1927 as its flagship movie palace for the southeastern United States.

• Boutwell Memorial Auditorium (Linn Park)

  Facing what was once Capitol Park, now Linn Park, you find a 4,300-seat arena raised in 1924 as Birmingham's Municipal Auditorium, near City Hall.

• Linn Park (Birmingham)

  Linn Park spreads seven acres of green through the centre of Birmingham, Alabama, with City Hall to the west and the courthouse to the east.

• McWane Science Center (downtown Birmingham)

  Behind the old Loveman's department store facade, downtown Birmingham hides the McWane Science Center, an aquarium and IMAX theater rolled into one.

• Railroad Park (Downtown Birmingham)

  Since the fall of 2010, Railroad Park has given Birmingham, Alabama, 19 acres of green along the tracks.

• Rotary Trail Park (Downtown Birmingham)

  Beneath your feet runs a half-mile ribbon of green, cut through downtown Birmingham in 2016.

• Heaviest Corner on Earth (Downtown Birmingham)

  Look up at the corner of 20th Street and 1st Avenue North, once promoted as the Heaviest Corner on Earth.

• City Federal Building (North Side)

  On Second Avenue North, twenty-seven stories rise above you, once known simply as the Comer Building.

• John Hand Building (Birmingham)

  Twenty floors of the John Hand Building climb above you here in downtown Birmingham, Alabama.

• Watts Building (Birmingham)

  The Watts Building has marked this Birmingham, Alabama block since 1927.

• Thomas Jefferson Hotel (Downtown Birmingham)

  Downtown Birmingham holds the Thomas Jefferson Tower at 1623 2nd Avenue North, a 19-story building completed in 1929 as the 350-room Thomas Jefferson Hotel.

• Redmont Hotel (Birmingham)

  At the corner of 5th Avenue North and 21st Street, 14 stories rise above you to a height of 160 feet.

• University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine (Birmingham)

  Ahead of you rises the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine.

• Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

  More than 250,000 people a year come to the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center, here on the campus of the University of Alabama at…

• UAB Hospital (Birmingham)

  Rising above you is UAB Hospital, also known as University Hospital, a 1,207-bed tertiary hospital and academic health science center in Birmingham, Alabama.

• Kirklin Clinic (Birmingham)

  Facing you now is the primary adult outpatient clinic serving both UAB Hospital's medical staff and the faculty of the University of Alabama at Birmingham…

• Sloss Furnaces (Birmingham)

  Sloss Furnaces, a National Historic Landmark in Alabama, made pig iron here from 1882 to 1971.

How it works