Abandoned Churches in the US

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

Hi, all!

This article about re-purposing old churches (as condos, breweries, laser tag places etc.) was in my recommendations today: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/what-should-america-do-its-empty-church-buildings/576592/

It seems to focus more on urban churches (I've seen church-condos in Montreal) so I was wondering if those suburban mega-churches have the same problem. Seems like at least a few do: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/usa/mega-church-usa/

So, assuming the current decline continues and some mega-churches go under, what could they be re-purposed as? I guess secular community centres? Maybe several charities could come together and use different aspects of the space? It would seem wasteful to just tear them down and sell the land but it's hard to imagine many other uses for such large spaces. They typically have pretty ugly contemporary architecture (in my opinion) so it's hard to imagine they'd be cool condo space (and their locations are not convenient).

 

ETA: Based on the pictures in this article, you could use these things for ugly office building in industrial parks and no one would notice: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/may/01/megachurches-christianity-lisa-anne-auerbach-photography-america

This article suggests quite a few mega-churches went under around 2010 (after the financial collapse). I wonder what happened to all the buildings.

[CTRLZero]

Interesting topic.  I frequent a board that has a forum for historic and repurposed buildings.  One of the more recent conversions was a smaller church repurposed to a groovy record store.  Here's a link to the store, with mostly interior shots.  I like how it's being used:

From church to record store

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

Whoops, I forgot the link to the article on church foreclosures: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-church-financing/special-reportholy-bubble-churches-struck-down-by-foreclosures-idUSTRE63020J20100401

[Audrey2]

Smaller older churches can also make pretty cool community centers.

There was a huge megachurch going up in the City in which I used to live. I remember driving past it on my way to work many mornings, and wondering what was going in there- a factory or retirement center? Nope it was just a big church.

I guess I'm way too old school, where I like churches to look like churches and not ambiguous buildings. Yes, I know that's neither trendy nor popular.

[keen23]

The mega churches in my area look like big commercial warehouses, so it wouldn't be a stretch for them to convert back to commercial space, should it occur. I know of one smaller suburban church that has been converted to a private residence. A few weeks ago, I actually walked a house for sale that looked like it was a church at one time (it would have been a gut job to make it livable for my family and I don't have the time/energy to take it on right now).

[danvillebelle]

There is a lovely church in my neighborhood that has unfortunately been taken over by one of the pastors who thinks that in order to be "relevant" they have to ditch their beautiful, traditional sanctuary built in the 1960's (with adjoining classrooms) and build an ugly auditorium-style one in the rich part of town.  It makes me ill.  I hope another congregation is able to purchase the old building when they leave, instead of it being destroyed.  

[nokidsmom]

The first "repurposed" church building I went into housed a comedy club.  This was some years ago.   Really cool, old church with the old stained glass windows still in place and the raised altar made for a great stage.  

ETA:  There's a big warehouse like building on the expressway south of my home.  If it weren't for the sign saying it was a church, I would have thought it a warehouse due to the look and the fact it's located in an industrial area.  

[danvillebelle]

I went to the Limelight in NYC in 1986.  Good times.  

[Black Aliss]

I know of three repurposed old churches in my city. One is a recital hall, one is a community cultural center used by several small theatre and dance groups, and one is used almost solely for lectures (typically writers, scientists, social commentators) because the acoustics are ideal for speaking but not very good for music. The one suburban mega-church I know of that went under was taken over by a different cultish evangelical group that has actually expanded in recent years to where they now have an entire campus and can pretty much control every aspect of their members' lives, from exercise to exorcisms. (Kidding about that last part)

[CTRLZero]

I tend to think of mega churches as entertainment centers, so it wasn't surprising to me that (in a twist of what we are discussing) a local theater was repurposed into a church.  Seemed fitting.

[danvillebelle]

8 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

I tend to think of mega churches as entertainment centers, so it wasn't surprising to me that (in a twist of what we are discussing) a local theater was repurposed into a church.  Seemed fitting.

That's very common around these parts (churches taking over abandoned movie theaters).

[nokidsmom]

22 minutes ago, danvillebelle said:

I went to the Limelight in NYC in 1986.  Good times.  

The church building was very similar to the one housing the NYC Limelight.  This was early 80s.  I don't believe it's a comedy club now but I seem to remember it became a brewery!

18 minutes ago, Black Aliss said:

The one suburban mega-church I know of that went under was taken over by a different cultish evangelical group that has actually expanded in recent years to where they now have an entire campus and can pretty much control every aspect of their members' lives, from exercise to exorcisms. (Kidding about that last part)

There was a mega church built just south of us that went under during the recession.  Big fancy building, parking lot would be packed and it seemed every other car in the darn neighborhood had a bumper magnet from it.    It was empty for a number of years before another group took it over.   But don't see as many bumper magnets though. 

[quiversR4hunting]

46 minutes ago, Black Aliss said:

The one suburban mega-church I know of that went under was taken over by a different cultish evangelical group that has actually expanded in recent years to where they now have an entire campus and can pretty much control every aspect of their members' lives, from exercise to exorcisms. (Kidding about that last part)

that is very sad that they were able to find a piece of property that allows them to have even more control over their captives congregation.

[Hane]

Here in Connecticut, there’s been a recent consolidation of Roman Catholic parishes due to decreasing church attendance. A couple of the traditional early-1900s-era churches will be sold, but, given the demographics in my city, I fear they’ll stay vacant.

My own church built its first sanctuary in 1905, as a Universalist church. It was a huge Gothic-style brownstone building with Tiffany windows—absolutely gorgeous. (The congregation was founded by wealthy industrialists, unlike most Universalist churches.) It had everything from a huge industrial-grade kitchen to a historically known pipe organ to a Sunday school classroom containing a stage to a bowling alley in the basement. 

The congregation made the hard decision to sell it in the early 2000s because it needed a new roof that would have cost over a million dollars, and the shrinking congregation wanted to spend its resources on social justice things instead of expensive building upkeep. We’re now in a farmhouse that’s been expanded to have a sanctuary/all-purpose room, and an evangelical denomination now occupies our old space. Someone had first had  the idiotic idea of making it into a comedy club, but that fell through.

A former Methodist church of about the same age, in a nearby city, has been made into a beautiful theater and performance space.

[refugee]

On the way to the dog park, I often drive by one church that has been converted into a Mexican restaurant. I’ve visited another former church that was made into a coffeehouse. I’m sure there are others in our area, but those two came to mind.

[apple1]

2 hours ago, danvillebelle said:

That's very common around these parts (churches taking over abandoned movie theaters).

Here, too. The two mega churches closest to me: One used to be a multi-cinema. The other building that is now a mega church was a factory (manufacturing) facility that went out of business.

[smittykins]

No megachurches in my area(abandoned or otherwise), but a former Church of the Nazarene is now a private home, and my town's thrift store was originally a Congregational church(the bylaws stated that if the church disbanded--which it did around 1970--the building had to be used for charitable purposes).

[Black Aliss]

Those FJers who are old enough to remember "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" will be happy to know that the old church building where Alice lived is alive and well well as the non-profit Guthrie Center, which provides community outreach, interfaith worship services, and, of course, a free Thanksgiving dinner every year.

https://www.gazettenet.com/Church-from-Alice-s-Restaurant-song-reopens-after-upgrades-17188436

https://guthriecenter.org/

[Briefly]

I always thought it would be so neat to re-purpose a church building into a home.  Not that it's going to happen, we're kind of planted for good in our house.  There are a few re-purposed churches in the Tulsa area.  One is now the property of the local German American society, I went to a wedding there a couple of years ago.  It sill looks like a church, I don't think they did too much to the building but it was actually very pretty.

[formergothardite]

We have a lot of empty churches around here now. There were churches everywhere, so it isn't really surprising. The trend also seems to be that the mega churches in and around Charlotte will start a church in a small town some distance from the main church. They won't move them into any of the old churches that are scattered around, they get an old building or store front and have the church there. It is typically decorated in some sort of Pinterest pallet type way. 

Something like this. 

Spoiler

 

[47of74]

Up in Dubuque there was the old St. Mary's Catholic Church.  It was the mother parish of the German Catholics in the city and spawned three other parishes.  However the population center shifted out west in the latter half of the 20th century and people who would've gone there at one time now go to one of the suburban parishes instead.  St. Mary's closed in 2010 because the parish could no longer sustain itself and keep up the building.

After the parish closed the building sat empty for a while and developers approached the Archdiocese about tearing down the church and redeveloping the property.  The Archdiocese turned it over to a non profit that turned the church into an events center called Steeple Square.  They're doing or have done a lot of restoration work on the church.  They restored most of the stained glass in the church which had come over from Bavaria right around the outbreak of WW I.  They just finished restoring the steeple, including fixing the clocks and bells inside the steeple, cleaning out 150 years of bird/bat/etc guano, and resurfacing everything to last another 100 years.

Here's the center's web site: http://www.steeplesquare.com/

And some pictures taken by yours truly.

Spoiler

 

 

[ALM7]

One problem with mega churches in this area, they tend to take up prime development areas.  For some reason they purchase an enormous amount of land surrounding their mega structure, thus making it impossible to develop residential areas, schools, retail etc. This severely restricts sales tax collections, business taxes, and residential property tax revenue. Therefore; current business and residential property tax goes up. 

Mega churches around here get sweethearts deals as well. Tax-payers pick up the tab for their needed street lights, widened roads, etc. Considering they don't sell the unnecessary additional land, only they benefit from most of these improvements. 

It's the small churches that participate in community programs, meals for seniors, families in need, etc.  The mega's simply feed off the community, and demand the city officials tow a very narrow line.  Deep red bible belt, and they know how to work over a suburban city. 

[browngrl]

When we were searching for a new home, one of the places we saw was a condo in a converted old church. It was a lovely condo - great floors and windows and lovely old fixtures. We ended up passing on it because we decided we wanted a house instead of a condo but it was really nice.

[Hane]

@Black Aliss, thanks so much for sharing this! I’ve visited the Guthrie Center for a concert, and actually have a painting of it in my house! Fun fact: My aunt’s dad was a colleague of the blind judge, who played himself in the movie. She’s from Great Barrington, and took her kids to the “church house” to tell them the story.

[LaLele]

A large defunct church in my area was re-purposed as a therapeutic day school for kiddos on the spectrum.  It already had a large gym and classrooms they just remodeled and split apart the sanctuary and foyer.