Former church on market as single family home

[Liberal_in_LA]

wow..what would you do with all that room. :wow: edit: price is more than 7 million







http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/06/06/RECM1DOSHB.DTL&o=0

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Wow, Alice's Restaurant on steroids.

[Bluzmann57]

2. Party and pray?

Just a suggestion.

[PDJane]

3. run it as a commune, I think........

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. I could use a space like that

The only problem is that I am not in the business of real estate, so wouldn't buy any real estate.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

5. I'd skateboard and break dance.

And eat bacon.

[eShirl]

6. some friends of mine bought a former church as their first house

it was smaller, and was wooden, not brick

they put their bed up where the altar used to be

[Richard D]

7. I think you'd need 7 million dollars . . .

. . . just to keep the place clean.

[flvegan]

8. Holy Doggie Daycare, Batman!

Or, I could really expand my rescue. Who wants to buy it for me?

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. it's got a lot of undivided space.

[LeftyMom]

13. I'll buy it with the insurance money once my boyfriend... Oh, didn't notice who I was replying to.

Hi. I'm not plotting your demise at all.

Mmmmm, look at all that hardwood...

Really, I'm not.

[foxfeet]

9. Our house is a very, very, very fine house,

with three Gods in the yard. . .

[Arctic Dave]

10. Turn into a gay, pagan, medical marijuana, disco and brothel.

I'm sure there is more, I'll you guys fill in the rest.

[eShirl]

12. with a free women's health clinic?

[hayu_lol]

15. Would make a fine ...

casino and whorehouse.

[Arctic Dave]

21. LOL

[Dappleganger]

14. It's always been a dream of mine to live in a church or a school.

We had friends back in VA who purchased a very old schoolhouse and it was amazing! They did a great job of making it homey (it was quite small). Quite often these old buildings have intricate woodwork which you only find in very pricey homes.

The best thing about buying an old church is quite often they come equipped with their own graveyard, ha!

[KittyWampus]

16. Open a nightclub (anyone remember the Limelight?)

[Bluenorthwest]

18. Remember might be too strong a word...

it was a wild place....

[KonaKane]

20. I used to go there all the time.

I miss it (and the times).

[rocktivity]

17. I'd turn it into a nightclub

like the Limelight in New York City. It was predominantly a gay club, but they let the headbangers in on Sunday nights!

As a music journalist, I was usually on their guest list. One Sunday, they sponsored a bunch of local bands, and I figured that paying my way in was the least I could do. But as I got on line with the other mere mortals, security whisked me inside!

:headbang:
rocktivity

[surrealAmerican]

19. Looks like it would make a real nice theater ...

... or maybe a concert space. Beautiful interior!

[distantearlywarning]

22. This sort of property comes on the market fairly regularly here in Pittsburgh, PA

And it's not enough of a big deal to write an article about. :-) The last one I saw for sale (a few months ago) was in a neighborhood bordering mine and cost less than $200,000. It was a gothic stone structure that included a 20-room rectory on the property. Of course, it probably needed several hundred thousand dollars worth of work, including a roof re-do.

ON EDIT: Actually, I found the ad for that church! http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/reb/1710907266.html

I once saw a magazine article with pictures of several Pittsburgh-area churches which had been rehabilitated and were now being used as single family residences. The piece de resistance was a church with huge vaulted ceilings, and the owners had put in a second story "loft" type space above the altar, which served as the master bedroom - the entire back wall of the master bedroom was a giant stained glass piece with an angel as the central feature. It was quite literally the most beautiful, unusual bedroom space I'd ever seen. I was totally speechless with envy at their good fortune and excellent design sense.

It's actually my dream to buy a church here and fix it up to live in. Someday I'll have the money to do that...maybe after I finish grad school.

It is also possible to buy other unusual living properties here for not too much money. I've seen old historic firehouses for sale, big warehouse spaces (there is a guy in town who turned an old 14,000 square foot industrial warehouse into a gated mansion complete with a custom garage to house his restored automobiles), factories, 200+ year old commercial buildings, victorian mansions with 1/2 acre lots hidden in the heart of urban neighborhoods, many many pre-war properties with amazing architectural detail, and so forth. It's a cool city.

For instance, take a look at these:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/reo/1744723780.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/reb/1777511462.html
http://makeitmagnificent.com/FirehouseForSale/FirehouseForSale.html

See also this article about Pittsburgh churches for sale: http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/09/03/story7.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. Really interesting. This sort of property doesn't come on the market often in LA