A few years back, This Old House took on the project of renovating a small church to be used as a single-family home. Compared to the “this home” in that link, this one was by comparison, a small chapel.
IIRC, the TOH crew was a bit overwhelmed with their first exposure to California’s seismic building codes and the amount of bracing and bolting they had to do.
OH! That too. 
(why yes, I’m 5 inside why do you ask?)
In NY state there is a recording studio that used to be a church.
There’s one in my home town! http://haddam-connecticut.olx.com/historic-converted-church-iid-46433501
I remember, actually, when it went from church to house, back in the 70’s. It was rather the local buzz at the time.
Your converted church is much nicer than my converted church…
One I know became a Mexican restaurant, after the congregation joined up with another congregation.
A couple of others I’m aware of got bought by churches from other denominations.
There’s something kinda odd about hearing that the church building was in too bad a shape to make renovations worthwhile, but then they sold it to someone else for use as a church. . . But in this instance, I do understand that the new congregation is bigger and growing, rather than shrinking the way the old one was.
There was one here that was turned into a restaurant. The restaurant eventually failed, but the same owner still uses it as a catering kitchen/banquet hall.
One was turned into a theater/concert hall.
A synogogue (I’m guessing the floor plan wasn’t all that different) was turned into offices.
But mostly they get bought by another denomination and re-used as churches.
There’s a former synagogue here that’s a pretty nice pizzeria. They kept a lot of the architectural elements and it looks rather nice.
One of the more unusual* church conversions I’ve seen in my travels is Countyline Shooting Sports. Though — at the risk of sounding like I’m painting all firearms enthusiasts with the same brush — I do know a few people who regard gun rights as sacrosanct, so maybe it’s kind of appropriate after all.
*I almost said “unorthodox,” but that’s too cute even for me.
The New Orleans Catholic Archdiocese had 13 church properties up for sale or lease at the beginning of the year, and several more portions of properties (as in just the rectory or such). Many were damaged in Katrina, and with the population hit that the city took and the demographic changes of the returned population, many parishes were merged or closed.
Far as I know, the churches are open to any sellers. Honestly, at this point, I think they’d sell to a whorehouse if they could maintain plausible deniability. The Archdiocese needs the money.
Well, there’s a Baptism you don’t want to light any candles at…
Sr. John’s the Baptist church in Lawrenceville was turned into a brewpub & restaurant. The fermenting vats replaced the altar. The food’s pretty good and the beer is excellent.
Bri2k
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant.
The church my mom goes to replaced their old small wooden church building with a new, much larger sanctuary, so they sold the old building. It was moved several miles down the road. The parish was rather upset, tho, because they had been told it was going to be part of a historical display, but instead, the new owners decided to use it as a church after all. I guess the parish felt that it was their church and only their church, and it shouldn’t be anyone else’s church.
It’s kind of funny, because as a kid, I was always taught that the church isn’t the building, it’s the people. Obviously these people weren’t taught the same thing.
I think that once they are deconsecrated they can be pretty much used for anything.
Talking about old fire stations there was one here in Fremantle that was turned into a restaurant. As the night wore on and more wine was imbibed, more and more people slid down the firemans pole. Until some guy slid down with his head under his girlfriends skirt (she was wearing it of course).
This thread is reminding me of the old decommissioned church used as movie theatre in Metairie when I was growing up. This was in the 70s and 80s… it’s since been razed and is now a mini-mall with an Office Depot, PETCO, and (in true New Orleans area fashion) a frozen daiquiri shop.
Anyone who is familiar with the area at the time… I’m talking about the old Lakeside Cinema 4 on Veterans Highway, not the one in the mall, but the separate set of 4 theatres next to the old Schweggmann’s Supermarket.
Another example of one turned into a restaurant.
Sadly, a combination of recession and a road project that made getting there a nightmare for the last two years did them and and now it’s just another empty building.
What happened to this building is somewhat common:
It was a Jewish synagogue from 1908 to 1951. The Jewish population of the neighborhood had largely moved away from that location to neighborhoods that are several miles northwest of there in D.C. and Maryland. They sold the building to a black Baptist church. By 2001, the black population of the neighborhood had largely moved away from that location to neighborhoods are several miles northeast of there in D.C. and Maryland.
The neighborhood is the (rather small) Chinatown of D.C. It’s not really even a standard Chinatown anymore (and the Chinese population has also moved away). It’s just a downtown area with a sports arena, a variety of restaurants, a movie theater, etc. and few people live there. It’s a nice area, but nobody was interested in establishing a new church there, so it almost got sold to a developer who intended to turn it into a nightclub.
Three rich Jewish businessmen decided to buy it and turn it back into a location for Jewish activities. I’m not sure who actually owns the building. There may be some sort of non-profit board set up to control it. It’s not owned by a single congregation. There are three Jewish congregations that use it, one Reform, one Conservative, and one Orthodox. It’s also used for a lot of social activities, many of them not really closely connected to Judaism. There are a fair number of author readings with book signings afterwards held there (which is why I’ve been there), most of them with no obvious Jewish connection.
I know of one church in Port Arthur, Texas, which became a Buddhist temple.
And I believe Mark’s Restaurant in Houston is in a former church. You can see some pictures of it here: