St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

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St. Bartholomew's is an Episcopal parish in Atlanta, Georgia, which is notable for its ministries, choral music, and architecture.ArchitectureThe main structures of St. Bartholomew's are all modernist (or International style) in design. Architectural buffs have granted the main church building some attention, one blogger calling it a "nice setting", and another calling attention to the "bluer" ceiling of its nave.History1950s and 1960sIn the early 1950s, many people were moving into DeKalb County, especially in the vicinity of W. D. Thomson School, the area now known as Toco Hill. St. Bartholomew's Church originated when a group of Episcopalians recognized the need for a church in this rapidly growing community. With the permission of the Bishop of Atlanta, the Rt. Rev. Randolph Claiborne, these Episcopalians met in December 1953, to start the process. On February 24, 1954, St. Bartholomew's officially became an "organized mission of the Protestant Episcopal Church," with the Rev. Harry Tisdale (then Rector of Holy Trinity in Decatur) as priest-in-charge. In March of that same year, the mission purchased property on LaVista Road and soon bought a former barracks building and moved it onto the property. This building served as church, parish house, Sunday School, kitchen, office and nursery. Later, it housed Nicholas House for homeless families.In January 1955, when the Rev. Austin Ford began his ministry, the mission's original six families had grown to fifty. On January 27, 1957, St. Bartholomew's achieved full recognition as a parish. With communicants exceeding 250, construction began on a new church building (now the Parish Hall). In 1960, the 700 communicants spun off another parish, St. Bede's. In 1967, Fr. Ford left to establish Emmaus House, a ministry in the inner city.