There’s an abandoned church about half a block away from my house.
It’s gorgeous. It has shopping carts in its parking lots and a pile of laundry on its steps. That’s sad.
Every time I walk by there, I think about how it’s my dad’s dream (one of many) to find an old church like this and turn it into a house. For some reason, he thinks that would be just about the coolest thing. One of his friends lives in an old church-turned-house, and I’m told it’s awesome.
It seemed weird to me at first, but I’m kind of warming up to the idea. A beautiful building is a beautiful building, right?
I mean, imagine this was your front door.
(Sadly for some reason those windows have been filled in.)
And imagine these were your living room windows. Or kitchen!
Won’t somebody help this church?
Or at least beef up the security against bums and vagrants?
There is a restaurant here in SLC that’s an old church. It’s called Ichiban. I love going there for a) their half-price sushi rolls Mon-Wed and b) this:
Church-turned-restaurant: nice.
Sorry, the restaurant was kind of a sidetrack. But what do you guys think about living in a church? Would it feel weird? Too grand and formal? Rad? I’m curious to see where people stand.
Hip House Girl 
February 14, 2011 at 8:04 am
I’ve never noticed that building before, so thanks for sharing! I’ll have to pay better attention. I don’t think I would like the idea of living in a church. However, there is a community theater up my Brigham City that used to be a church and my sister works in a bank that used to be a church, and I really like both of those buildings. The bank actually looks pretty similar to this church.
February 14, 2011 at 8:55 am
I think, done right, it could be amazing to live inside an old church. I would worry I’d get the scale of the furniture wrong and end up feeling like I was living in a warehouse. 🙂
February 14, 2011 at 9:52 am
That is so weird, because I have always thought that would be cool. I have a friend in Moab that transformed an old movie theater into a home. They did all the work themselves and it is gorgeous.
February 14, 2011 at 10:10 am
I too would love to turn a church into a home. There is a lovely one about 2 miles form the mouth of Little Cottonwood canyon. It is fabulous!
February 14, 2011 at 3:58 pm
I think turning a non-house building into a house is such a great idea. I love having a different space and turning it into a home.
February 14, 2011 at 5:47 pm
I have friends who live in an old church, and I’ve always thought it would be so cool! Check out these photos of churches converted into homes http://tinyurl.com/6duwupg
February 14, 2011 at 7:35 pm
My friend lives in an old schoolhouse. I suspect a church would be similar. It’s open-concept on steroids.. they have also been renovating, what she will tell you, her whole life. It is very cute, but again, it’s been a pile of work to convert what is essentially one room, into a livable home with enough privacy to raise a family.
February 14, 2011 at 8:33 pm
I think it would be great. Part of me would love the beauty but part of me would feel irreverent, ya know?
February 15, 2011 at 6:43 pm
I would LOVE to live in a house that used to be a church. Especially one with lots of stained glass…maybe for our next house I will try to think out of the box like that! By the way, I hope you’re recovering well from being sick!
January 30, 2018 at 5:39 am
Hi. I was browsing and I found your blog. It´s a very nice website. After I read some posts I noticed that one about this old church. I would like to live in some kind of place like this. It´s gonna be amazing and challenging because of the work to rebuilt and update the building.
I use to work in an old Baptist Church what was a restaurant for 5 years but now the new owner is going to demolish it, and also all buildings around, to build a hotel in the downtown area, which is a monstrosity because of the demolition of all those beautiful buildings.