Ruins, Rhetoric, and Renewal: Atlanta's St. Mark AME

Abstract: The historic St. Mark AME Church (b. 1920, abandoned 1976) is located at the figurative and literal center of Atlanta's English Avenue neighborhood. As a symbol of ongoing neighborhood transition, the building initially housed Western Heights Baptist Church's white congregation, then a Black one (1938). Once an affluent area, it later suffered the impacts of de jure segregation, redlining, urban renewal, and the opioid epidemic. Now, English Avenue is poised for a new wave of investments, gentrification, and displacement. Site owner and Beloved Community, Inc., founder Pastor Winston Taylor labored since the 1990s to rehabilitate and reestablish safety at the site. Since then, consistent grassroots engagement has grown in-kind work and volunteerism, recognizing preservation as a powerful tool for economic development and revitalization. Taylor partnered with the Atlanta Preservation Center and the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Architecture to research, document, and craft a pioneering Landmark Site nomination, and in 2023, the Stone Mountain granite shell of St. Mark became the city's first designated ruin, leveraging policy change established in the Land Use Framework Plan (2017) to preserve and strengthen the neighborhood. This case study highlights proactive development for ongoing incremental change and the transformative power of collaboration.