page_title: Tabernacle (concert hall)
section_title: Baptist Tabernacle (1911–94)
hierarchical_section_title: Tabernacle (concert hall) / History / Baptist Tabernacle (1911–94)
caption_attribution_description: English: Architect's rendering of the (then) proposed new church building for Baptist Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia located at 152 Luckie Street.
context_page_description: The Tabernacle is a mid-size concert hall located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Opening in 1911 as a church, the building was converted into a music venue in 1996. It is owned and managed by concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment and has a capacity of 2,600 people.
  Since its rebranding, many notable acts performed at the venue, including: Guns N' Roses, The Black Crowes, Adele, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Robbie Williams, Alice in Chains, Bob Dylan, Prince & The New Power Generation, Lana del Rey and Atlanta's own Mastodon, and Blackberry Smoke.
  Along with music concerts, the venue also holds many comedy tours annually including Bob Saget, Lisa Lampanelli, Cheech & Chong and Stephen Lynch.
context_section_description: Dr. Len G. Broughton was recruited from Virginia to become pastor of Third Baptist Church in Atlanta in March 1898.  Within a year he had founded a new Baptist Tabernacle church on the southwest corner of Luckie and Harris streets (now the middle of Centennial Olympic Park). Rev. Broughton was closely associated with the church in its early years, leading the local press to refer to it as "Broughton's Tabernacle," though this was never the official name of the church or any of its buildings. The new church was quite successful and had to be expanded several times to accommodate growth.
  Seeing the need for further growth, Broughton sought another location closer to the center of town, which led to the current property on Luckie St. However his Board of Deacons found the price too high and declined to buy it. As a result, Broughton himself and a few of his deacons bought the property on July 7, 1906, and gave it to the church. The Atlanta Constitution reported the $52,000 transaction on its front page, reporting it as "one of the most important real estate and church transactions ever made in Atlanta" and described an auditorium "eight or ten stories in height" and estimated construction cost at $250,000.
  The building was designed by noted Chattanooga architect Reuben Harrison Hunt, along with three other buildings for the same site including a nurses dormitory and a hospital building. (None of these other buildings survive to the present day). The plans were revealed in November 1907 and depict a church building somewhat larger than what was finally constructed, extending all the way to the corner of Luckie and Spring Street (see photo).
  Ground-breaking ceremonies were held for the new building on August 17, 1909, at which time the construction cost had been revised to $125,000.  At the time the membership of the church was 1,850 (up from 350 at its founding ten years before).  Broughton, who was preaching at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church at the time, was not present at the ground-breaking.
  The cornerstone for the building was laid at the end of the 1910 Bible Conference held at the church.  Immediately after a sermon by F. B. Meyer on March 9, 1910, an "immense crowd" adjourned to the construction site.  Meyer said at the ceremony, "I believe that this will be a historic occasion, not only in the history of the church but not unworthy to be chronicled in the history of this great and beautiful city." Paul Dwight Moody (son of D. L. Moody) also spoke at the ceremony.  Broughton placed some papers in the stone including that day's program, the membership roll of the church and a list of officers. He capped the stone and sealed it with mortar.
  The structure measures 147 by 130 feet with an exterior of red brick trimmed by granite. The style is neoclassical with Ionic columns and arches on the facade. The auditorium would seat 4,000 people (including the galleries) and the Sunday school facilities below could seat 3,000.  The rostrum could accommodate a chorus of 500 people and featured a pipe organ that cost $15,000.  The original planned opening was in May 1911, but this was eventually delayed.
  The first services in the new building were held on September 3, 1911 beginning with a Sunday school at 9:30 (attended by 2,000).  The doors opened for the main service at 10:40 am, by which time some people had been waiting two hours to enter.  A week-long dedication for the church was held from September 10 to 17, 1911, during which as many as 8,000 people crowded into the auditorium and hundreds more were turned away.
  On the very first day in the new building, Broughton gave a sermon criticizing local politicians for standing in the way of prohibition.  Aside from the temperance movement, Broughton was outspoken on other political issues, and over the coming years he would have guest speakers appear at the Tabernacle toward this end.  These included (then Vice President elect) Calvin Coolidge, Frank Hanly and others. Guest religious speakers appeared as well, including Russell Conwell, G. Campbell Morgan Billy Sunday and Georg
caption: R. H. Hunt's architectural rendering of the final design, 1909
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