Cathedral of Christ the King (Atlanta)

The Cathedral of Christ the King is a Roman Catholic church in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It serves as the cathedral for the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

The parish of Christ the King had been established in 1936 by Bishop Gerald O'Hara of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah in response to population growth in the suburbs to the north of Atlanta. On behalf of the diocese, O'Hara purchased several acres of land along Peachtree Road in Buckhead that had previously been owned by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, using that group's former headquarters as a temporary church building and rectory. The following year, Atlanta was elevated to the status of co-cathedral city in the diocese, alongside Savannah, with Christ the King selected to be the co-cathedral. Work on a dedicated church building began in 1937 and continued into the next year, being dedicated in January 1939. In 1956, with the creation of the Diocese of Atlanta, Christ the King became the sole cathedral in its territory. In 1962, the diocese was elevated to the status of archdiocese, making Christ the King the seat of the region's archbishop.

The cathedral was designed in the French Gothic style by architect Henry D. Dagit Jr., though lacking in more intricate details typically associated with the style, such as flying buttresses. The primary materials used in its construction included Indiana limestone and granite and marble primarily quarried from in-state, and the interior was large enough to accommodate about 700 people. The church contains 65 stained-glass windows designed by Willet Studios of Philadelphia. As of 2012, the church had a membership of about 5,200 families. Christ the King School, an affiliated K–8 school, had a membership of over 500 students.

History

Founding and initial church building

File:Christ the King - Atlanta Interior 01.jpg

Interior facing the altar.

In January 1936, Gerald O'Hara became the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah.Template:Sfn Shortly after becoming bishop, he recognized the significance that the city of Atlanta held for the diocese,Template:Sfn and he soon expressed a desire to establish a parish directly to the north of the city.Template:Sfn During the 1930s, despite the effects of the ongoing Great Depression, the Atlanta metropolitan area continued to experience steady growth, and just north of the city limits, the district of Buckhead was developing from a largely rural area to a populous suburban one.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn As a result, in 1936,Template:Sfn O'Hara, on behalf of the diocese, purchased a property in Buckhead that a new church could be created on.Template:Sfn The property had previously been under the ownership of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.Template:Sfn A Greek Revival mansion on the property,Template:Sfn which they referred to as their "Imperial Palace", had served as their headquarters starting in 1921.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, by 1936, the property had been foreclosed on, and the diocese was able to purchase the property from the holder of the mortgage,Template:Sfn an insurance company.Template:Sfn The total cost to the diocese was $35,000 ().Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The new parish was officially established on June 15, 1936.Template:Sfn Known as Christ the King Church,Template:Sfn it was the fifth parish in the Atlanta area, following the parishes of Immaculate Conception, Sacred Heart, St. Anthony's, and Our Lady of Lourdes.Template:Sfn The mansion was converted for use as a rectory, while a temporary altar was constructed on the front porch.Template:Sfn The first mass was held two months after the parish's establishment, on August 15,Template:Sfn on the Feast of the Assumption.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The church's first pastor, Joseph Moylan, presided.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn While this initial mass utilized the front porch altar, a chapel was soon constructed in the first floor of the rectory that could hold up to 220 people.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the beginning, the parish had a membership of about 400 adults and 109 children.Template:Sfn Many of the early members of the church, such as businessman J. J. Haverty and his family, had previously been members of Sacred Heart, located in downtown Atlanta.Template:Sfn Later in the year, committees made up of parishioners were established to oversee the creation of a new church building and the establishment of a parochial school.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The total cost of these two projects was projected to be $300,000 ($ million in Template:Inflation/year), which was paid for primarily through fundraising, which included a $50,000 ($ million in Template:Inflation/year) donation from Haverty.Template:Sfn

As part of his focus on Atlanta, O'Hara petitioned the Holy See to change the Diocese of Savannah to the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta, with a co-cathedral to be located in Atlanta.Template:Sfn While an earlier effort led by Bishop Thomas Albert Andrew Becker to move the cathedral city entirely to Atlanta had failed, this co-cathedral proposition was accepted.Template:Sfn In 1937, the Holy See approved O'Hara's request, and Christ the King was chosen to serve as the co-cathedral,Template:Sfn on equal ranking with the existing Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As part of the agreement, the bishop would reside at various times throughout the year in both cities, and Holy Week ceremonies conducted by him would alternate every year between the two co-cathedrals.Template:Sfn

Construction of the co-cathedral

File:Christ the King - Atlanta windows 09.jpg

The stained glass windows in the gallery.

Having secured a majority of the money needed for the projects, the church selected the architectural firm of Henry D. Dagit and Sons to design the new building,Template:Sfn with Henry D. Dagit Jr. serving as the project's main architect.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The firm was based in Philadelphia, where Bishop O'Hara had prior to his relocation to Savannah, and had designed over 100 churches in the area, including the St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church.Template:Sfn Moylan made several suggestions to the architects regarding the design of the building, and based on this, the firm decided that the church would be similar to the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at Rosemont College, which the firm had constructed several years prior.Template:Sfn For the Atlanta project, they used many of the same materials and hired the same craftspeople who had worked on the chapel.Template:Sfn

The construction of the building was undertaken by Griffin Construction Company, one of the oldest construction firms in the state, whose work in the city had also included The Temple.Template:Sfn The building's stained glass was made by Henry Lee Willet of Willet Studios, which was also based in Philadelphia.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, due to funding and issues arising from World War II, the last stained-glass window would not be installed until 1952.Template:Sfn

On October 31, 1937, during the Feast of Christ the King,Template:Sfn the cornerstone for the co-cathedral was laid in a ceremony that included a blessing from O'Hara.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The following month, on November 4, O'Hara presided over the first mass to be conducted on the construction site, attracting about 400 people.Template:Sfn

Dedication

Construction continued through 1938, finishing in December of that year.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn While the dedication was planned for the following month, a funeral held on December 12 for one of the founding members of the church was actually the first rite conducted within the newly built structure.Template:Sfn A dispensation had been granted to allow for this.Template:Sfn The dedication occurred on January 18, 1939,Template:Sfn during the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter.Template:Sfn As part of the ceremonies, 21 archbishops and 110 bishops from across the United States were invited, while the dedication itself was to be overseen by O'Hara and Dennis Joseph Dougherty, a cardinal and archbishop of Philadelphia.Template:Sfn Upon Dougherty's arrival by train the day prior, he had been greeted at Terminal Station by a crowd of roughly 3,000 spectators, including Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield and members of the cadet corps from Marist College High School.Template:Sfn Additional notable guests at the dedication included Georgia Governor Eurith D. Rivers and Hiram Wesley Evans,Template:Sfn the latter being an imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In addition to the altars at the church, additional temporary altars were dedicated at the Hotel Ansley and the Atlanta Biltmore in order to allow traveling Catholic dignitaries to hold daily mass.Template:Sfn On the year of its dedication, Architectural Record called it the most beautiful building in Atlanta.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Later history

File:Christ the King - Atlanta Interior 10.jpg

Cathedra

Following World War II, Buckhead and the surrounding area experienced a growth in population (with annexation of the district into the city of Atlanta in 1952),Template:Sfn prompting the Holy See to split the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta into two separate dioceses in 1956.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Within the newly created Diocese of Atlanta, Christ the King became the sole cathedral.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn During the early 1960s, the cathedral assisted with the development of Our Lady of Lourdes, a parish within its jurisdiction,Template:Sfn with a substantial financial donation towards the creation of a new permanent building for the church.Template:Sfn In 1962, the Diocese of Atlanta was elevated to the status of archdiocese,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and since then, Christ the King has served as the site of installation for all of subsequent archbishops.Template:Sfn The following year, William Calhoun was ordained at the church as the archdiocese's first African American priest.Template:Sfn By the end of the decade, as part of Catholic–Lutheran dialogues stemming from the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, joint Catholic–Lutheran services were conducted at the cathedral in November 1967.Template:Sfn

In 1994, the practice of perpetual adoration began at the cathedral.Template:Sfn By the mid-2000s, the cathedral had a reported membership of roughly 5,300 families,Template:Sfn In a 2012 publication, the church stated that they had a membership of about 5,200 families, while the archdiocese boasted roughly 1 million members.Template:Sfn Around 2016, Daprato Rigali Studios conducted a restoration process on the cathedral's stained-glass windows.Template:Sfn In September 2018, parishioners from around the archdiocese protested concerning the Catholic Church sex abuse cases in the United States.Template:Sfn

Architecture and design

A color photograph of the side of a large church building, with pine trees and a car in front

The cathedral from Peachtree Road

Location

The cathedral is located at 2699 Peachtree Road.Template:Sfn It is at the northeast corner of the intersection of Peachtree Road and Peachtree Way,Template:Sfn on the block between the latter and East Wesley Road.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is located within close proximity to two other large churches in the area that are also situated along Peachtree Road: the Episcopal Cathedral of Saint Philip, which serves as the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, and Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church.Template:Sfn

Exterior

The overall architectural style of the cathedral is French Gothic.Template:Refn In a 1940 book created by the Work Projects Administration, the agency described the structure as harkening back to the designs of 13th-century cathedrals, including in its general cruciform architectural plan, though deviating with its lack of long transepts and flying buttresses.Template:Sfn The lack of intricate external details is further discussed in a 2012 biography of the cathedral, which states, "The cathedral is strikingly pure, devoid of frills and spare in its Gothic lines."Template:Sfn Partially joking about the design, Moylan, who was an Irish American, said he had chosen the simplistic design, "So no Italian priest can come in here and change everything around."Template:Sfn

The primary building materials included granite, Indiana Limestone, and marble.Template:Sfn In sourcing the materials, both the marble and granite were quarried in Georgia, with the latter being resourced from Stone Mountain.Template:Sfn Additional materials included slate from Vermont, which was used to construct the roof,Template:Sfn and Italian marble, which had been sourced from Florence.Template:Sfn

Interior

The interior, consisting of a large vaulted sanctuary,Template:Sfn was designed to accommodate roughly 700 people.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The altar is made of a solid block of marble imported from Siena.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Behind the altar is a sculpture depicting the crucifixion of Jesus, made of marble,Template:Sfn and surrounded by gold mosaics.Template:Sfn The building contains 65 stained-glass windows,Template:Sfn made up of 22 principal ones and 43 smaller ones.Template:Sfn Collectively, these windows contain 201 references to stories from the Bible.Template:Sfn Architect Robert Michael Craig, in a 2012 book, stated that the windows, which are primarily blue and ruby in color, "offered a modern parallel to the illumination provided by twelfth- and thirteenth-century medallion windows in such masterpieces of the French Gothic as Chartres Cathedral."Template:Sfn Given its former status as a co-cathedral, both the church itself as well as the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Savannah are depicted in the glasswork.Template:Sfn

Christ the King School

File:Christ the King School - Atlanta 01.jpg

In 1937, the committees that had been established to oversee the construction of a new church building and the establishment of a new parochial school decided to focus their efforts on constructing the school first.Template:Sfn On April 18 of that year, a groundbreaking for this new primary school building, located on the church grounds,Template:Sfn took place.Template:Sfn As with the cathedral, it was designed by Dagit and shares the same architectural style.Template:Sfn Construction work was overseen by church member George P. Donnellan.Template:Sfn During construction, the school, which was led by the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart,Template:Sfn operated temporarily out of the rectory.Template:Sfn Construction only lasted about six months, however, and the new building was blessed by O'Hara on October 31, with classes relocating from the rectory the following month.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In November, mass celebrations were moved from the mansion to the school's auditorium.Template:Sfn

Over the next several years, the school continued to grow and add several more grades,Template:Sfn as well as high school courses.Template:Sfn However, high school classes were dropped in 1958 after the creation of St. Pius X Catholic High School.Template:Sfn In 1954, an addition to the school was constructed, and that same year, a new convent for the Grey Nuns was built.Template:Sfn The Grey Nuns would continue to operate the school until the 1990s.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Around 2003, the school underwent a major renovation project.Template:Sfn At the time, it had an enrollment of about 540 students and served as a K–8 school.Template:Sfn

See also

• List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States
• List of Roman Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of Atlanta