apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Cool stuff. The staircase is very interesting but the best part, in my opinion, is the stained glass windows in the white space. When the sun shines, if it shines, it has to be absolutely wonderful!

There was a converted church building/modern house in New England featured in Dwell a few months back. Something about it is really appealing -- maybe the huge windows and soaring ceilings, but it also feels cozy. This one seems a little too sparse to feel homey, but I love the concept.

I love stuff like this! This is awesome!

this is a cool idea, but all the religious undertones still present (i.e. the ENORMOUS cross) kind of creeps me out. Maybe it's just the mental beating I got as a kid of "blasphemy means you're going to hell" in Sunday School, but I could never feel at home in a space that feels more like a church posing as a midcentury modern apartment instead of what I assume it wants to be - a fully converted space. It just doesn't feel seamless enough for me....but hey, maybe they're into that. Anyone else hear me on this?

I was in Rome in September, and there is a hotel by the Spanish steps called "The Art Hotel" that they converted from a church too. The old tabernacle is still there and ipart of the back bar in the lobby. Each floor of guestrooms is themed to a different color - it's wild. Definitely worth checking out while in Rome (or on the internet...).

lisanhough, I feel you. Something about the religious stuff skeeves me out.

It might be different in person but just from the pics it's like being watched by God, who is not happy to see His house chopped into apartments and being filled with sin.

At least if it was my apartment is would be filled with sin, I shouldn't assume about the neighbors...

FYI: God is watching you everywhere, not just in church. :)

... or isn't watching anyone, which is why the chapel came onto the market in the first place.

I would not shy away from religious elements in a home, crosses, Buddha statues, Qur'an stands, etc., but this project is jarring. I would not be comfortable even visiting this place, and judging from enough of the comments, my feelings are not unique. I have seen a church becoming some other kind of place, like a library, or a theater, but at least in this incarnation, I don't like a church as a home.

The conversion doesn't look finished. Like they stopped halfway through. I'd like to see it converted more.

LOVE it, though the residents need some furniture so that it looks less like God's little waiting room.

Totally baffled by the squeamishness about the crosses -- Catholics hang crucifixes and who-knows-what-all religious art in our homes and still manage to go on with daily life.

though i don't consider myself the tiniest bit religious I've always found churches to be extremely beautiful buildings and have been interested in taking on such a project myself. There is an old church around the corner from my house that is for sale and in need of some major tlc. everythime i pass it i daydream about buying it and turning it into a fabulous home.

I once had the opportunity to buy an abandoned church near Lambertville, NJ and convert it to a home. I called up the real estate agent and we visited. The building, mostly completed and then sealed in the 80's, had such design flaws, especially in the roof structure, I completely abandoned the idea. Finally two or three years ago someone bought the land, demolished the building and built a house on it. I suppose the cautionary tale here is before becoming devinely inspired about living in a church, do your research.

nice renovation, but these projects never work, churches are not good prospects for conversions to living spaces, and this is another case in point.
where is the view out? there isn't one. yuk.

Transporting! Inspiring! I love the way the spaciousness and minimal decor highlight the great "bones" of the church and the exquisite colors of the stained glass windows...

When can I sign the lease?

good to know, it's mostly a fantasy anyway. everytime i walk past the church and tell my boyfriend that I want to live in it he looks at me like i'm nuts.

It still looks to churchy. Although, I suppose it would be easy to sleep there, from what I remember about church...

sorry...that should have been "...still looks too churchy."

I just think about all the people who prayed in this space-- I mean, the ceiling must be dripping with energy. I would never feel right living there. There are converted-church-condos for sale in in brooklyn (borough of churches)-- and they always freak me out. There are converted little synogogues all over the lower east side, too, that people hardly even notice anymore unless you look up and see some hebrew above the door.

Don't get me wrong, I much prefer to live in older structures that someone else was in before me. But residing in an old religious structure-- a desanctified space? That's like building a house on top of a graveyard. To my mind, the eldridge street synogugue is a great use of a desanctified buidling-- it's a very cool arts space- community center. Seems more in keeping with the spirit of what is essentially a communal structure.

i couldn't live here without more de-churching.

Having been raised Catholic, I dutifully went to church every Sunday. But as a teenager my interest faded and I'd spend the entire sermon thinking about how I would renovate the church into a shopping mall (it was the 80's after all). It's cool to see other people with the same vision. Churches with their grand spaces make beautiful interiors.

That said, I do feel that keeping some of the religious artifacts gives the space a sense of history. Otherwise if you totally gut the place, you should have just built new.

The CofE in the UK has sold many churches which have become conversions like this. I don't find this one particularly interesting. It's kind of an obvious and easy "cool contrast". They took an interesting building and basically painted it white. I think the architects could have done something a little more interesting. Stark white walls with stained glass just doesn't work for me somehow.

cool idea but still way too "churchish" for me. i have to agree with all those who said it needs "de-churching". i am all for maintaining the integrity of old architecture -- i live in a coverted schoolhouse -- but this still feels like a church so in my opinion, the conversion is not successful. beautiful furniture and fixtures will look beautiful in most environments. this one makes me very uncomfortable.

The conversion is a little bland for me - too stark, too bare. But am I the only one who kind of likes the element of sacrilege? Too many years of Catholic school, I suppose, but I would be deeply amused by the chance to drink cocktails, have sex, and curse loudly in a church on a daily basis. Plus I would love the windows and the organ.

Personally, my dream is to convert one of those small village libraries - a brick or stone one, preferably. To live in a library - what could be better?

Personally I love it! Especially the white, which highlights the amazing architecture of the building. And the stained glass is to die for (although I don't think I'd feel real comfortable with the uber religious stained glass pictures in most churches). Don't much like the organ though.

I wouldn't be bothered in the least with living in an old church. I've always felt very comfortable in them (which is odd, because while I'm Catholic, I NEVER attend mass).

You had me at "big organ."

dah! another one!! i'm loving the church-converted-into-living space. i'd actually love to open a store in a church... even better!

I love it! God is everywhere and sees every sin, whether you are in his home or out of it. Granted you might feel like he's watching more living here :-) But I think it's a much more beautiful idea to convert a house of God into a shelter than to demolish it.