Decatur’s city commission approved changing the land use designation and zoning for two historic First United Methodist Church properties at 318 Sycamore Street and 317 East Ponce de Leon Avenue.
The vote came during a special called meeting Monday night, the properties involved including the 120-year-old granite chapel and the 16,000 square foot former home to the Decatur First Preschool. The two buildings are connected by a roofed breezeway featuring six arched openings layered in granite that rhymes with the chapel’s exterior.
The land use designation is changed from low density residential to commercial/high density residential, the zoning from single family residential to general commercial.
Decatur First United is selling the two structures to the Williams Teusink law firm currently operating out of the High House across the street from the old preschool building. One of the law firm’s partners, Kyle Williams, told the AJC Monday night that closing is tentatively set for mid-October.
The chapel, which seats approximately 500 to 600, is slated to become an educational and training facility, community playhouse, theater and possibly a small concert venue. The church, however, will continue to use it in perpetuity on Sundays and religious holidays.
Williams Teusink, which currently has seven attorneys and four staffers, will move into the preschool building. Kyle Williams said the firm figures to grow—thus the reason for moving--but will also sublease office space once taking ownership of the property.
On Monday the commission also approved a special exemption allowing for construction of a 17-space parking lot over the preschool playground fronting the chapel.
Decatur First, the city’s oldest preschool dating to the mid-1950s, has moved to the main campus, the East Ponce De Leon Avenue side of the property, and will continue operating while merging with the church’s Children’s Morning Out program. The old preschool building, originally a Sunday School facility, was constructed in 1948-49.
Architect Andrew Rutledge, whose firm Office of Design is heading up the adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the two buildings, spoke at length during the Zoom meeting. He said that once started, renovations should take 10 to 14 months. He also elaborated on the parking lot which received some opposition from representatives of the next-door Candler Court apartments.
“An unfortunate part of designing any space is parking,” Rutledge said. “But this is the only [location] on the entirety of the property where parking can take place without disturbing the historic significance of the buildings. In order to entertain people leasing the offices we felt we had to provide a minimum amount of parking.”
The chapel, made of granite quarried in Stone Mountain, was completed in 1899 on the site of the original wooden church erected in 1823-26. The granite chapel cost $6,626, and in less than two decades the congregation had outgrown it. Two additions, or transepts, the transverse sections front and rear and both wider than the original building, were built in 1916, with the altar and choir areas moved to their present location.
It took another half century to permanently to outgrow it, or until Jan. 1967, when the present sanctuary opened.
“This is great for the city,” Planning and Economic Development Director Angela Threadgill said during Monday’s meeting. “The city gets an increase in the number of office spaces and a much-needed event space. Plus, for the first time ever [those properties] will now be on the commercial tax roll.”
