Touriedz: church

I'd been stalking the McGruder Street Church of God in Christ (1940) for about a decade. It's a little landmark. Here's the deal:

"Most landmarks and focal points in cities - of which we need more, not fewer - come from the contrast of use radically different from its surroundings, and therefore inherently special-looking, happily located to make some drama and contrast of the inherent difference ... noble buildings ... set within the matrix of the city, instead being sorted out and withdrawn into 'courts of honor'"- Page 228, �The Death and Life of Great American Cities� - Jane Jacobs, Vintage Books Edition 1991

Finally in 2011 I spotted someone entering. I slammed on the brakes and ran after them. This "slam on the brakes and run after them" is NOT always the best method for this sort of thing. But it worked this time.

IMG_5189 2013-09-15-McGruder-Street-Church-of-God-in-Christ west facing stained glass from outside

I learned that zoning and building codes prevented the owners from converting it into a place to live.

P1020786-2011-12-01-McGruder-Street-Church-of-God-rear-west-detail-wide

Parking was the prime issue. I'm paraphrasing: To make it a place to live they had to add off-street parking. There's just not room. (And that's not all.) So it sat empty and unused.

IMG_5191 2013-09-15-McGruder-Street-Church-of-God-in-Christ west facing stained glass phographed though the glass door

I won't bore you with the details because I don't understand them. Let's just say, what they couldn't do then they can do now.

But that's not what I'm here to blog about.

Last night I ran into Shana Robbins. Her family was connected to this place.

It reminded me that they built a new house across the street that featured views of the church.

20160612_140434 2016-06-12 McGruder Street Church Modern Atlanta Tour MA

Here's the view from the first floor.

20160611_145035 2016-06-11 McGruder Street Church Modern Atlanta Tour MA

Here's the view from the second floor. Bravo: designing to take advantage of two Old Fourth Ward landmarks.

I don't need to tell you: One of Atlanta's great streets is Piedmont Avenue but only between St. Paul's Presbyterian and Rock Springs Presbyterian.

Piedmont goes off the rails at Cheshire Bridge and never recovers.

St. Paul's Presbyterian (1916) in Midtown and Rock Springs Presbyterian (1923) in Piedmont Heights bookend the pretty part of Piedmont. Charles H. Hopson designed both, the only two churches extant on Piedmont. St. Paul's is our Gothic-revival buttress against some unloved midtown moderns that succeeded in making St. Paul's look sad. Rock Springs Presbyterian with its cemetery seems teleported from the English countryside. It's a favorite of mine inside and out.

A few blocks north of Rock Springs Piedmont hits Cheshire Bridge and descends into Peachtree Creek's valley, from here on: ack.

The little bank designed by Pringle and Smith marks the sad transition. It was probably just right in 1957. Can you remember when it was last a bank? It stayed in good shape until the real estate folks moved out.