Saint Mark United Methodist Church is a

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The building was constructed between 1902 and 1903 by the congregation of Merritts Avenue Methodist Church after they outgrew their previous building. The architecture is notable for its use of

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state o ...

granite, triple entrance portal, and pot-metal

stained-glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s. The building is one of the few

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

granite churches in Atlanta. The building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, and is also designated as a historic building by the City of Atlanta.

History

The architect, Willis F. Denny also constructed two other granite Methodist churches that survive today. The congregation chose the location for Saint Mark Methodist Church to give them more room and to be in a less dangerous location than the "Tight Squeeze" area beyond the city limits. The twelve pictorial stained-glass works depicting scenes from the

life of Jesus Life of Jesus may refer to: * Life of Jesus in the New Testament * Historical Jesus * Chronology of Jesus * Life of Christ in art Books * ''Life of Jesus'' (Hegel) * ''Life of Jesus'' (Strauss) * Filmed * '' La Vie de Jésus'' (English: ''T ...

were installed gradually from 1909 to 1959. In the early 1990s the church was on the verge of closing but the congregation ended up swelling to more than 1700 members during the decade. A fifteen-year series of renovations to the main sanctuary was completed in 2008.

References

External links

Official website
{{Atlanta landmarks History of Atlanta Methodist churches in Atlanta Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) National Register of Historic Places in Atlanta City of Atlanta-designated historic sites 1903 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Churches completed in 1903