Another example of an old Atlanta church property being remade for new uses is happening along a Reynoldstown street near the BeltLine that’s hardly recognizable from a few years ago.

Like the offices of Kronberg Urbanists + Architects on the same street (formerly the 1920s Bearden Temple AME Church), a project called Wylie Chapel Lofts is coming together at 971 Wylie Street where worshippers once congregated, according to permitting records.

The circa-1945 house of worship made of stone and brick is being converted to a duplex a block east of the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail, directly north of Lang-Carson Park.

Bookended by new porches, the adaptive-reuse project is designed by Jones Pierce Architects, the Atlanta firm behind a newer, standalone modern house next door to the west.

Records indicate the previous owner was Free Gospel International Church and that the .15-acre church property last sold in May 2021 for $755,000.   

Designs for elevations around the property. Jones Pierce Architects, via City of Atlanta Office of Buildings

According to building permit records, the renovation’s scope includes replacement of a failing retaining wall along the sidewalk and all new building systems.  

The larger unit toward the street will have 1,024 square feet, with a rebuilt mezzanine and spiral stair. The other will have 842 square feet and a separate entry via the new back porch, records show.

The tandem driveway parking situation (one space per home) will certainly take some coordination between neighbors, if both have vehicles.

Like the 1200 Ponce church conversion in Druid Hills, and Lizzie Chapel Flats in Inman Park before that, the Wylie Street venture is another example of older church properties being recrafted for residential uses, albeit on a smaller scale. Elsewhere around Atlanta, numerous church properties have been bulldozed for new development the past few years as land values have skyrocketed.

Ascend up to the gallery for a closer look at what’s happening on Reynoldstown’s Wylie Street now.

• Reynoldstown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)