Images: MLK Jr. National Historical Park adds restored Atlanta landmark

Nearly a decade in the making, the restoration of a formerly endangered Sweet Auburn landmark that once housed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s office has wrapped, and the building will soon be open to the district’s hundreds of thousands of annual tourists. 

Trust for Public Land officials announced last month Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park has been formally expanded to permanently protect the Prince Hall Masonic Temple and Lodge, a restored building in the shadow of downtown described by project leaders as a cornerstone of the civil rights movement. 

Known for its corner neon sign and distinctive façade, the three-story structure with a basement level stands where Auburn Avenue meets Hilliard Street, next to the Atlanta Streetcar loop through downtown. The lodge was built in 1937 and, among other notable uses, was once the longtime headquarters of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Prior to renovation work, Atlanta History Center had pinpointed the Lodge as one of metro Atlanta’s two most historically significant, unprotected buildings. “I’ve always thought the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge to be one of the most important buildings in Atlanta,” said Sheffield Hale, Atlanta History Center president and CEO, in a recent statement. “Few buildings hold such a remarkable concentration of leaders, movements, and stories that have shaped our city.” 

Plans call for the restored Lodge (with SCLC offices brought back to their “historic character,” per officials) to open for public tours this spring, with programming by the National Park Service. The park today attracts more than a half-million visitors per year, and NPS officials expect the Lodge will increase attendance and create a more complete and immersive historic experience.  

Beyond its ties to King and the SCLC, the Lodge was a key meeting location for Black organizations including voting-rights advocates Atlanta Civic-Political League and labor group the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. 

It also housed a Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Shoppe location (the owner became America’s first self-made female millionaire) and, starting in 1948, WERD, the nation’s first Black-owned and directed radio station. WERD broadcasted from the building and provided a key platform for King and the SCLC and a rare public venue for Black blues and jazz artists during Jim Crow. 

TPL worked with the Prince Hall Masons, NPS, and local leaders to restore and renovate the building in a way that prepped it for public access, educational use, and interpretation. Conservation and restoration efforts included a partnership between Atlanta History Center and the Masons to catalog papers and other artifacts within the Lodge. Prince Hall Masons have continued to use part of the property as meeting space through the years.  

“This Lodge is a sacred space,” Edward W. Bowen, a Prince Hall Masons legal advisor and strategic advisor for the restoration project, said in the February announcement. “Our mission is to ensure it continues to serve the community—not simply as a museum, but as a living, working place of historic and cultural significance.”

The Lodge’s restoration and permanent protection was funded through an African American Civil Rights grant from the Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the NPS, alongside state and local funding and donations from philanthropic partners such as the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Lettie Pate Evans Foundation.

In the gallery above, find more context and a sneak peek at how the restored Prince Hall Masonic Temple and Lodge looks today. 

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