Friendship Baptist Church

Friendship Baptist Church dates back to 1862 when it was started by 25 former slaves who formed the congregation with the help of white Christians. Both Morehouse College and Spelman College began in the basement of Friendship. The historic Friendship Baptist Church was built in 1895, where it stood until its last service in that location on May 25, 2014. The historic church, formerly on Mitchell Street (now renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.), had been a pivotal player in where the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium would be located in Atlanta. The congregation voted on Sept. 22, 2013, to sell its beautiful white-stucco church for $19.5 million so a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons could be built just south of the existing Georgia Dome. The new church, at the corner of Walnut Street and Beckwith Court, is only two blocks away from its former home where the Mercedes-Benz Stadium now stands. The leaders of Friendship incorporated the stained glass from its former home into the new church. New stained glass windows, in the style and colors of the historic windows, also contributed to the ambiance. Leaders also brought over its organ, which had recently been upgraded. DCO Commercial Floors, who was charged with all floor coverings, attended the ribbon cutting ceremony the Sunday before the first service in the new church. The total flooring square footage measures at approximately 39,000 square feet of installed material. The material installed includes: twelve different carpets with some custom patterned carpets, five different Italian import porcelains on Nobleseal CIS, three different glass tiles, luxury vinyl tile (LVT), VCT, non-slip sheet vinyl, sheet vinyl athletic floor, an 8’ x 8’ polished porcelain medallion feature, extensive carpet and or porcelain insets, 400 linear feet of carpet radius work, and more than 1,000 linear feet of carpet border work. Friendship Baptist Church is a winner in the Build Georgia Awards 2018 by Associated General Contractors of Georgia, Inc.