Old Bobby Jones Clubhouse Could Become Performance Hall

The old clubhouse for the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Buckhead could be put to new use. On May 7, the Atlanta City Council will consider a plan to turn the building into a performance hall.

Jun-Ching Lin, a musician with the Atlanta Symphony, is one of the people behind the proposal. He said the roughly 70-year-old clubhouse is perfectly built for chamber music.

“That is the classic acoustic shape called the shoe box where it’s very long, it’s very narrow and it’s tall,” Lin said.

He said the performance space in north Atlanta would help a serve a need in the music community. Currently, there are few venues, especially of a smaller size, for chamber music recitals.

The old clubhouse would also host a music education center and neighborhood meetings.

Lin said he and his partner on the project, Alex Simmons, have already raised $1 million for the renovation of the building. Under the proposed lease with the city, the performance hall would pay a yearly fee of $10.

The city has kept control of the clubhouse, even as the state of Georgia has already started to renovate the actual golf course. The state took over the course as part of a land swap with the city in 2016.