Antique shop used to be a fairly common fate in our area, but now it seems that Mexican immigrant Pentacostal church take overs are more common.
I believe the Ace of Cakes’ bakery is in an old church.
Around here, they go up for sale. There was recently a huge old church, well maintained in a central location for sale. They had reduced the price several times, the last I saw they wanted $119,000. I see it is no longer on the website. I wonder who bought it. I imagine with the consolidation of parishes/congregations in this area, there will be more opportunities like this coming up.
I grew up in a town that had a house that was a converted church. Also, one that was a converted schoolhouse.
I think it was in the little town of Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan (could one of the others in the area) that a church shut down and sold their building to a couple who wanted to live in it. One of the conditions of the deal was that they would take down the steeple, so it stood in the front yard for years. I think they turned it into a chicken coop.
Here in Dogpatch/Bug Tussle, we have one that has been turned into a very nice bank.
You cannot serve both God & Mammon–and the real estate guy made his choice.
Clutch Cargo’s in Pontiac, MI. Saw The Cramps play there!
They shoot them, don’t they?
Three churches in the Netherlands:
One turned into chic apartments,
One in a hotel lobby,
One in a utterly splendid book store.
Now it is an upscale little shopping mall.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Phoenix was just closed a couple of weeks ago. The building was bought by a nearby university as a home for their sacred music program.
A friend of mine’s parents lived next door to a church that shut in 1968. They bought it and over the years leased it out to a print works, then an antiques shop, then finally to a fireplace studio.
When the fireplace studio went out of business, my friend was given this building by way of an early inheritance. Her engineer boyfriend, now husband, took this standard presbyterian box and made an outstanding house. Three floors, high ceilings and most of the original features. The leftover fireplaces from the showroom were put to good use.as well.
I had a lot of fun helping them build their house. It’s a good feeling to sit under a ceiling and think “I built that”
There’s one in Long Valley, NJ that’s now a private home (it was more chapel-sized).
There’s one in Easton PA that’s now privately owned by an artist and used to store canvas, paint, paintings, etc. It’s a rather large stone church.
http://walkingeaston.com/springGdn.html
Scroll down to 219 Spring Garden Street. Since it was de-sanctified, it’s been a Civil War veteran’s club, a billiard hall and a bowling alley. I have some interest in purchasing 217 - the former parish house of the church, but it’s directly connected by a weird upper stairwell and I’m not sure about the logistics of moving it.
UT
There are at least two or three in Portland that have been turned into music venues, particularly for small music groups that don’t generate large audiences. The one in my neighborhood is very tiny, and is still used for marriage ceremonies, but not services.
Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium began its life as a church. Best place I’ve ever been to listen to music.
Talking about Joe Bolognas? I used to love stopping there on the way to work. The architecture alone is amazing.
One church in Toronto was converted into the city’s oldest mosque. I’ve seen pictures of the interior via the Doors Open architectural open house; the pattern in the floor is aligned with Mecca even though the building isn’t.
I understand that the Diocese is considering buying the bankrupt Chrystal Cathedral in LA for its cathedral. A church building of unique architecture was bought by a nearby hospital for meeting space, and rents it back to the congregation as they need it. A church I once attended is now an auto junkyard - that is sad! The Methodist Church used to include in the deed for any sold property that it couldn’t be used for manufacture or sale of alcohol - don’t know whether the UMC still does that.
A few examples in my own environs:
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St. Jacques Cathedral was demolished in the 1970s except for the spire and transept, which were historical monuments (even though the rest of the church wasn’t, long story); these were integrated into the Judith Jasmin pavilion of the Université du Québec à Montréal.
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A monastery in the northern Plateau was turned into condos. A convent downtown is being converted into university dorms, although the chapel will be preserved and the remaining nuns will still be able to use it.
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Saint-Henri church was demolished in the 70s and replaced by a high school. Nearby St. Thomas Aquinas church was renamed St. Henri, until it in turn was converted into an auction house.
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Sainte-Cunégonde church, after being disused for many years, was repurposed by the Catholic Church as a mission to the Korean community.
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A church in Pointe Saint-Charles is now a Sikh gurudwara.
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An old church just a block away from me is now a Tibetan Buddhist temple.
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Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus in Hochelaga has a valuable Casavant organ. They are trying to find the funds to convert it into a Maison de l’orgue, a performance space for organ music.
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One of the buildings of my high school was a former United Church.
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Erskine and American United Church downtown was purchased by the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and is being converted to a performance space and dedicated gallery of Canadian art.
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Saint-Sauveur was bulldozed to make room for the CHUM megahospital.
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Sainte-Elisabeth-de-Portugal decayed until it burned down. It’s being replaced by a seniors’ residence.
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I’ve heard a few stories of small churches in rural Quebec being turned into private residences.
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A large synagogue (don’t know the name) in the Plateau is now the main building of the Collège français (the façade is obscured by this hideous 1950s thing).
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Out in Winnipeg, the church my family went to closed shortly after we left. I think it was a daycare for a while, but now it’s just decaying.
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A decaying church in eastern Verdun has been taken over as an underground venue. I think it’s called the “death church” by those in the know.
Within about a hundred yards of where I work, one ex-church (Catholic) is now a centre for the homeless, one (Adventist) is a community arts centre, one is run by the university as a student theatre (Wee Free, iirc) and one (Methodist?) is a large pub/restaurant.
Edinburgh has a* lot* of old churches…
In my hometown, reuse of old churches is a major issue.
In the inner city, smaller congregations don’t have the funds to maintain a larger building built for a more prosperous mainstream congregation. More affluent inner city congregations prefer to build new.
Smaller churches in decent neighborhoods are either reoccupied by a congregation catering to a new ethnic community, or converted to offices or condos.
Large Catholic churches generally sit and rot. The local diocese refuses to sell a church if it’s going to be converted to a concert venue, apartments, condos, or some other use where “sin” might take place. There’s been a few conversions to other uses; one became a lecture hall at a Catholic college, and another was acquired by a mosque.
In my current county, a church was turned into a steak house, then a different steak house, then into a church again. I was opposed to the change since it violated the separation of church and steak. Another church near the first one was repurposed into a single family residence but I think it was also turned back into a church. In NC, I ate in a restaurant that was a former church.