The Morton Building, also known as the Morton Theater, is located at 195 West Washington Street (Tax Parcel No. 17-1-A5-D-006) on the northeast corner of its intersection with Hull Street.
 

A simplified Beaux Arts style composition complements this four-story brick building. The essentially symmetrical facade features a central false pediment depicting the name "Morton Building" and a main entrance to the upper level theatre and offices within a delicately proportioned, recessed, and elliptically-arched bay. The ground floor plan provides six commercial store bays of varying dimension and orientation and a truncated corner entrance with an exposed column, a once-common urban feature. A pressed-metal cornice in deep relief bands the front and first return bay on the western elevation, which displays a corbelled parapet, irregular fenestration patterns, and a variety of ground level storefront treatments. Brick pilasters embellish the corner of the building, and recessed courses on the first-floor level create a rusticated effect.

 Other decorative elements include brick segmental arches with marble keystones, an entablature elaborated with dentils, and the alternating use of red and yellow brick. The main auditorium occupies the second and third levels of the building, including a balcony that forms a full horseshoe with tiered risers. Pagoda-style boxes flank the proscenium on both auditorium and balcony levels. Although the original construction included electrification, the theatre also retains outlets for gas lighting. One of only four black vaudeville theaters still existing in the nation, the Morton Building possesses a high degree of integrity.

Located at the intersection of Washington and Hull streets, once known as "Hot Corner", this building provided one of the few sources of public entertainment as well as a gravitational center for Athens's black community. Monroe Bowers "Pink" Morton, a successful politician and businessman, was appointed Postmaster in Athens from 1897 to 1903, and in 1914 he published and edited the Progressive Era, a local black newspaper. In 1909-10 Morton purchased the corner lot where he constructed the building to serve a dual purpose. The most visible enterprise was the Morton Theater, which opened on the evening of May 18, 1910. In addition to hosting shows led by a bevy of jazz and blues greats, such as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, the Hall Johnson Chorale, and Duke Ellington, the building housed offices for black professionals as well. Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, jewelers, barbers, and insurance companies located within the building served the black community throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Drs. William and E. D. Harris were among these early professionals, and Dr. Donarell Green, subsequent owner of the Susan Building, first opened his practice in the Morton Building in 1946. Two known renovations of the theatre occurred in 1918 and during the 1930s. Early renovation efforts added the pressed metal ceiling and changed the interior color scheme. During the later renovation, a projection booth replaced the upper-level gallery to show motion pictures. The building remained in the Morton family until 1973, when Bond Properties, Inc., bought the property. In 1980 a Heritage Conservation and Recreation Services grant was awarded through the Historic Preservation Section of the Department of Natural Resources for the acquisition of the Morton Theatre property; matched by Community Development Block Grant funds allocated by Athens City Council, the grant enabled the purchase of the building, whose title was transferred to the newly formed non-profit Morton Theatre Corporation.

The Morton Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (October 22, 1979) and has been locally designated as a Historic Landmark (February 2, 1988).