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Prince Hall Masonic Temple & Tabor Building
332-34 Auburn Avenue
Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District
Atlanta, Georgia
Original owner: Prince Hall Masons
Built: 1937 - main; 1941-addition; John Wesley Dobbs was Grand Master and raised the funds.
Architect: Charles Hopson and Ross Howard
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Original Use: Built as a meeting place for the Prince Hall Masons, Georgia's most influential black Masons Group.
Re-adaptive Use: Currently is the office of the SCLC
1871 -The first Mason Lodge is organized among African Americans in Atlanta. The St. James Lodge No. 4 F.& A.M. with Frances J. Peck, pastor of Big Bethal A.M.E., as the worshipful master.
1937 - built by Atlanta's Black Masonic lodge, headed by John Wesley Dobbs.
1950's - it was the home of WERD the nation's first African American radio station, founded in the 1920s.
1960 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. moved back to Atlanta, where as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), he headquartered the organization in this building and led a national campaign to end segregation.; the Women's SCLC is next door in the Tabor building.
The following is from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission. Auburn Area Commercial District Design Guidelines. (1990) by The National Main Street Center, Natural Trust for Historic Preservation:
In Addition to the Prince Hall Masons and the Odd Fellows, the Auburn area boasted numerous other fraternal organizations that supported the black business community. The 1945 city directory lists 27 of these organizations on Auburn Avenue, many of which had their headquarters in the Prince Hall Masonic building.