First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, Presbyterian church in Midtown Atlanta, United States
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta is a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in Midtown, across 16th Street from the High Museum of Art. Its sanctuary, designed by Walter T. Downing, was completed in 1919 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. The building's stained glass windows include some by Tiffany.
The church was founded in 1848 as Atlanta's first Presbyterian congregation, marking the city's early religious growth. The congregation relocated to its current location in 1916, where they constructed the building that stands today.
The congregation was founded on January 8, 1848, with nineteen Presbyterians meeting in a log building called the male academy, and Dr. John S. Wilson served as founding pastor. Its Sunday morning worship was carried on local WSB radio, interrupted only on September 3, 1939, when Britain declared war on Germany. The church received its first black member since the days of slavery in 1973, and Dr. Tony Sundermeier became pastor in 2014.
The church stands on Peachtree Street across 16th Street from the High Museum of Art, in Midtown rather than downtown. The sanctuary, Sunday School building and gallery organ are reached from the Peachtree entrance; the 1919 Downing sanctuary and its Tiffany windows are the interior features to look for. Sunday morning worship has been carried on WSB radio since the 1920s.
The 1919 Pilcher organ was replaced in 1969 by a new M. P. Möller instrument that reused some of its stops. After restorations in 1992 and 2018, the organ now has 112 ranks and 6,397 pipes across 10 divisions, with the 2018 work by Klais of Bonn and A. E. Schlueter.
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