The pews are already out. About six months ago, Trinity United Methodist Church closed its 1911 sanctuary at 265 Washington St. SW, and crews pulled up the flooring and removed the seating ahead of construction on The Sanctuary, the $41.3 million redevelopment of the church campus directly across from Atlanta City Hall.
The project, led by Wisconsin-based affordable housing developer Gorman & Company in partnership with the congregation, replaces the church's classroom wing with a residential tower of 83 mixed-income units and adds event space. Permit filings earlier this year laid out the design. What is new is how much of the old church is being carried forward.
Lead pastor Rev. Dr. Nora Colmenares told GPB's Jeff Hullinger that the decision grew out of a shrinking congregation and a building with years of deferred maintenance. With help from Wesley CDC, the church issued a request for proposals in 2023, signed with Gorman in 2024, and expects to close on the development by the end of this year.
The woodwork has a history worth the effort. Trinity has occupied three buildings since its first church went up in 1854, and many of the same pews and chancel wood moved with the congregation each time: from the wartime church on Mitchell Street, to a second sanctuary at Whitehall and Peters streets that stood from 1871 to 1911, to the current Gothic building designed by Atlanta architect Walter T. Downing, whose work also includes The Healey Building. Church tradition holds that the earliest pews came from Germany, though no written record confirms it.
Here is where the pieces are going. Roughly 15 to 20 pews were cut down into loveseats and given to past and present members. Gorman set aside another 20 to 25 to use in common areas of the new development. A nonprofit collective called The Splinter Group took most of the remaining pews and the wooden sanctuary floor to repurpose or sell at local festivals, with part of any proceeds going back to the church. Some pews had too much water damage to save.
Gorman plans to reuse wood in doors, frames, trim and the chancel area of the new space. The pulpit and part of the altar rail, both from the 1871 sanctuary, are in storage for the church's return. The stained glass windows, wooden ceiling beams and the facade pipes of the church's Austin organ will stay in the redesigned sanctuary, which a church volunteer said will also hold offices and services for people experiencing homelessness.
The corner is part of a broader transformation around City Hall. Trinity Central Flats is under construction nearby, bringing more than 200 apartments to the same few blocks.
Original reporting by Jeff Hullinger for GPB.
