Egleston Hall, the distinctive horseshoe‑shaped parish hall at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Midtown Atlanta, has landed on the Georgia Trust’s 2026 Places in Peril list after nearby construction reportedly touched off structural trouble for the century‑old building. The move ups the pressure as the church weighs a sweeping campus master plan that could mean a major rehabilitation or a brand‑new ministry center. Preservation advocates warn that if the hall comes down, Atlanta loses a rare Akron Plan building that once hosted recording sessions and civil rights meetings.
Trust points to rare design and music legacy
In its profile, the Georgia Trust describes Egleston Hall as a 1918 Gothic Revival building by Morgan & Dillon and one of the few surviving Akron Plan structures in Atlanta, with a horseshoe configuration that historically held classrooms, a library and performance space. The Trust also highlights the hall’s role in music history, citing recording sessions by the Carter Family and Blind Willie McTell, and urges “sensitive rehabilitation” that keeps the building’s defining character intact, according to The Georgia Trust.
Nearby work blamed for cracks and settlement
Preservationists and engineers say heavy excavation and other construction activity around the All Saints’ block triggered fissures and interior cracking that undercut Egleston Hall’s foundation and masonry. Those impacts were among the reasons the hall landed on the 2026 Places in Peril list, and church staff are tracking the damage while they sort through potential fixes, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Church hires architects, says it is ‘looking at all options’
All Saints’ leaders have brought in Perkins & Will to draw up a campus master plan and told parishioners after a March meeting that they are “looking at all options” for the one‑block church property, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The AJC notes the church says money is available for improvements, but specific remediation costs and future uses for the site will not be rolled out until engineering reports are complete. A presentation from Perkins & Will showed 2028 as the earliest possible year for permit activity.
Preservationists push for adaptive reuse
A grassroots effort and a new “Friends of Egleston Hall” website have sprung up to nudge the parish toward rehabilitation instead of demolition, arguing that the hall anchors both the All Saints’ campus and the city’s civic memory, according to Friends of Egleston Hall. The group points to letters of support from statewide and national preservation organizations that urge a careful adaptive reuse of the Akron Plan space.
Legal and financial stakes
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the church reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the owner of a nearby development, identified by preservation sources as Norfolk Southern, while a Norfolk Southern spokesperson declined to comment. Church leaders say they will share more details on remediation costs once engineering assessments are in hand, and preservation groups caution that the combination of settlement funding and parish priorities will determine whether Egleston Hall is repaired or replaced.
What comes next
The Georgia Trust says the Places in Peril spotlight is intended to jump‑start preservation solutions and help owners pursue sensitive rehabs, a message advocates keep stressing as All Saints’ charts its next move. Church leaders have scheduled additional briefings and engineering updates. Until those reports land, the future of Egleston Hall will ride on technical findings, fundraising capacity and whether an adaptive reuse plan can satisfy both the parish’s mission and the broader preservation goals, per The Georgia Trust.
