An icon of traditional Southern cuisine suffered serious damage early Wednesday morning when the roof collapsed at Mary Mac’s Tea Room during a heavy downpour in Midtown Atlanta.
Firefighters were called to the nearly 70-year-old restaurant at 224 Ponce de Leon Avenue just before 4 a.m. after getting reports about a downed power pole. Atlanta police later said those initial reports were incorrect and a utility pole never fell over, but Georgia Power temporarily disconnected electrical service as the incident was investigated.
No one was injured, and officials are still working to determine what caused the roof to collapse.
Housed in a building that dates to 1915, Mary Mac’s appeared to have suffered a major structural failure. The damage was likely exacerbated by heavy rain that fell throughout the early morning hours.
Chunks of brick, pieces of wood paneling and bits of insulation could still be seen spilling onto the sidewalk around 9 a.m., along with a steady stream of water pouring from the building. A framed newspaper clipping from the restaurant’s storied history lay atop a pile of rubble outside.
“The damage is worse than I thought,” said Karl Hiner, a neighbor taking his morning walk. “I figured maybe they’d be OK for business still, but I’m guessing that given it’s the front (of the restaurant), they’re gonna shut down.”
Mary Mac’s typically opens for lunch at 11 a.m., but the restaurant announced around 6 a.m. that it would be closed Wednesday and beyond.
“We are working to reopen as quickly as possible and are supporting our team members during this process,” a spokesperson for Mary Mac’s Tea Room said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We are dedicated to reopening and continuing Mary Mac’s legacy of southern food and hospitality for years to come.”
The spokesperson did not provide a projected reopening date.
Mary Mac’s is the last of more than a dozen so-called “tea rooms” that proliferated Atlanta following World War II. At the time, war widows who needed to support themselves often turned to the hospitality industry, but running a restaurant was frowned upon for ladies in polite society, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Many entrepreneurial women of the era used the more genteel “tea room” for what were traditional Southern meat-and-threes.
Originally called Mrs. Fuller’s Tea Room when it opened in 1945, the name changed after the restaurant was bought by Mary McKenzie in 1951. The traditional menu includes classics like Brunswick stew, fried chicken livers, cornbread dressing with gravy, cube steak with gravy, barbecue ribs and fried chicken.
In addition to lunch and dinner, Mary Mac’s has long served as a gathering place for special events such as rehearsal dinners and family reunions, earning it a special place in many Atlantans’ hearts. Its large staff boasts many employees who have been with the restaurant for decades, most of whom returned after a prolonged closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Credit: John Spink
Credit: John Spink
Though the name Mary Mac’s has remained, the restaurant has changed hands several times. In 2020, it was acquired by Fresh Hospitality, a restaurant group that also owns Taco Mac. One of the group’s partners, Harold Martin Jr., is a longtime fan of Mary Mac’s who told the AJC that the restaurant “should be owned by someone who fully understands its legacy and heritage and why it is unique to the Atlanta restaurant scene.”
David Mitchell, executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center, said the building’s specific use before 1945 is unclear. However, the historic structure is located in a pivotal commercial corridor that helped establish Midtown as one of Atlanta’s most vibrant neighborhoods.
The building, along with dozens of its neighbors along Peachtree, Juniper and 10th streets, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
Mitchell said Mary Mac’s epitomizes why it’s important to preserve and maintain historic buildings that have served their communities for decades.
“I am very hopeful and optimistic that this will be resolved quickly, and we can continue to enjoy some of the best food in Atlanta for decades to come,” he said.
The roof collapse is the latest incident in a string of unusual disasters that have befallen restaurants along this stretch of Ponce de Leon Avenue since the pandemic.
In 2021, the beloved Krispy Kreme location a few blocks east was destroyed after two fires, one set by an arsonist. It was rebuilt and reopened last year.
In June, a sinkhole opened in front of Torched Hop Brewing directly across the street from Mary Mac’s. The hole was large enough that it nearly swallowed a large SUV. Torched Hop co-owners Stephen and Chris Bivins said they’re hopeful these are “some one-off instances.”
”We’re kind of like, ‘What’s going on with Ponce right now?’” Stephen Bivins said. “It seems like a little bit of a curse or something going on.”
— Rosana Hughes, Brian O’Shea and Yvonne Zusel contributed to this article.
