They Tore It Down the Next Day

I'll be dog if they didn't tear it down the very next day. It was at 2348 Hosea Williams where Second Avenue crosses Hosea - a forlorn corner that's coming back.


I've been passing here for more than 15 years but something struck me on February 2nd. I drove two blocks past it and thought: "Better go back and take a picture."

Dekalb County property tax records say it was built in 1910. I'll take you around the house counterclockwise. My full size pictures are in Flickr if you want to see more detail: 2348 Hosea Williams Kirkwood Teardown probably 1900-1915 East Lake at 2nd Ave Dekalb tax records say 1910


It was so beat up inside.




























Here's where it is.





Parcel ID: 15 204 06 046, Deeded Acreage  0.5

Here's what the corner looked like on 2017-02-12

What if Restoration Hardware Sold Church Steeples? #steepleatl

Restoration Hardware doesn't it have them yet. If they did? See "One more thing" at the bottom. For now we'll settle on Fiberglass Unlimited and Piedmont Fiberglass for our steeples.

I've started a new Instagram hashtag #steepleATL which has me looking. Maybe you can help by hashtagging some Atlanta area steeples. There are plenty of them.

I presume suburbanism and gentrification will erase many of our little church buildings. I'll really miss little landmarks where they don't belong, particularly those amidst houses. I call them walk-to churches.


New Liberty & Praise C.O.G.I.C. is across the street from Bessie Branham Park in Kirkwood. You couldn't build them here today and who would anyway?


Sometimes a little steeple holds its own among the landmarks. Silverleaf Baptist Church sure does. It's on Fort Street at Martin Luther King just west of Oakland Cemetery.

So I'll try to take a picture when I see a steeple. You can help. It's worth getting on Instagram if you aren't already. Remember #steepleATL and geotag them if you can.

"Americans became imbued with the idea that a proper church should be vaguely classical and have a portico and steeple no matter how basic. Hence, to give a clear signal that this 1960s edifice is indeed a house of God, it is fronted with a portico (of skinny columns), and topped by a pre-fab steeple of equally skinny proportions" - THE GIBBS CHURCH: A PARADIGM FOR AMERICA - Calder Loth


Stanton Grove Baptist Church 2015 Memorial Dr SE Atlanta.

Here are a few more. The variations are amazing.



Little Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 5th Ave Decatur, GA


Ingrams Temple Church of God and Christ 1953 Hosea L Williams Dr NE Atlanta in Kirkwood.


Lakewood Church of Hope Atlanta GA 1766 Lakewood Ave in South Atlanta


Bowen United Methodist Church built 1951 211 Arthur Langford Atlanta


The wonderful joy of overscale, bravo. Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 648 Jordan Lane Decatur, Georgia kind of near Dekalb Farmers Market


The "old" Rock Baptist Church sanctuary Rex, Georgia isn't pointy.


Trinity Baptist Church Etowah Drive at Oostanaula Drive Atlanta couple of blocks off Dresden. Torn down to make two houses. They are nice but now the neighborhood is just houses.


Greater Community Baptist Church 121 Flat Shoals Ave SE Atlanta  is the landmark of downtown Kirkwood.


For sale: Morning Star Baptist Church 197 Gibson St SE Atlanta Reynoldstown


Skinny steeples work. Greater Christ Temple Holiness 914 Cherokee Ave SE Atlanta GA Grant Park.

 
It has everything and I love it: Greater Moses Chapel Baptist Church 890 Boulevard SE Atlanta GA Grant Park.

We've got a few hundred to go: Remember #steepleATL and geotag if you can.

One more thing: If Restoration Hardware sold steeples we'd see more of them on garages in sculpture gardens:


Behold The Commuter Gallery.

Winter Light on Kirkwood Centenarians

Kirkwood has a fine collection of 100 year old houses. Atlanta's crisp, low winter light is doing it's magic on them.

Kirkwood cruising is a great way for architecture tourists to enjoy winter.

There are a few clusters of beauties but they are scattered around. Any street may have one.

Kirkwood's  housing mix isn't exactly unplanned but it's marvelously mixed relative to today.

All of these are on one street.


Somebody loves this one, records say 1900.


I'd call this the a Queen Anne cottage, modest with proud gables and porch. Records say 1900.


It's in fine condition for being 112.


Can yellow ever be wrong?


This is 1910, a wraparound porch on a bungalow, how approachable, how elegant.


Tax records say 1890. It's getting fix-up.


You can still build them like this.

Merry Christmas.

This Building was Condemned

Today’s #letsblogoff topic is “What is Legacy.”
It took my breath away. I planed to blog something else. But yesterday Deacon Means invited me inside.

The Pentecostal Church of God on Howard Street in Kirkwood bought this condemned building in 1996. Members moonlighted for 6 years to bring it back, holding their first service here in 2002.


I've mentioned it before, a neoclassical beauty where you'd never expect it. The building is a happy leftover from the town of Kirkwood, a streetcar suburb now engulfed by Atlanta. From almost all-white community, to an almost all-black one, to the gentrifying mix it is now, it still seems like its own community with it's own town center.

I drive by on occasional Mondays wondering what's inside. Yesterday I parked my car and circled the building on foot, hoping to find someone, at least peek inside. Nobody.


As I drove away, Deacon Means waved to me from the sidewalk, not too sure of my intentions. But he invited me in, not for the last time I hope.

The 1920's must have been a great decade for churches. This is probably a new cornerstone. The Israel Missionary Baptist Church purchased the building in 1964 and worshiped here until 1979 when they moved to a bigger facility a few blocks away. Was is abandoned from '79 until '96?


I presume there were a handful of architectural firms that specialized in these churches, who could deliver classic details on budget. This one would shine on any main street in America.


I was not ready for the inside, not ready for the exhilaration. (My little camera washed out the stained glass which is in every window.)


It was about noon. No lights were on.




Here are the balcony level windows.


From the balcony, wow. The baptismal pool is behind the red curtains above the choir.


No problem seeing from the back row of the balcony.


I've never seen this before: The narthex doesn't extend the width of the sanctuary. There are two entrances, each leading to a small narthex with stairs to the balcony. Light streams in from north, east, and south.


I'm grateful to Deacon Means and the members of the Pentecostal Church of God who brought this beautiful place back to life and gave me a chance to see it. Thanks to Bill Lyons and Bobby Mays who inspire to me to look.


I'm going to need a bigger camera. I want to see this place filled with people.


Here are all the pictures of the Pentecostal Church of God on Howard Street in Kirkwood.