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Church-to-condo conversions turn underused houses of worship into apartments or condominiums while attempting to keep the buildings’ defining presence. Developers pursued the idea because churches often occupy urban sites, contain substantial floor area and distinctive masonry, and sit in neighborhoods where additional housing is sought. The projects are not automatic wins: zoning, landmark review, structural work, daylight, parking and neighborhood support can determine whether a proposal advances.
Building Design + Construction’s April 22, 2015 report, “Condo developers covet churches for conversions”, presented several projects at different stages rather than proving a measured national trend. New York, suburban Philadelphia and Boston show how the same basic idea produces very different approval paths and design compromises.
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Why do developers look at churches for condominium conversions?
The attraction is the combination of location, volume and identity. Many churches were built as neighborhood landmarks, so a single property can provide a recognizable address and a large existing shell in an established urban district. Converting that shell can add homes without replacing the entire streetscape, although the practical value depends on the building’s condition, zoning and ability to meet residential codes.
Churches also make preservation decisions unusually visible. A proposal can retain a stone façade while inserting new floors, windows or an addition behind it; it can preserve a parsonage or other secondary building; or it can remove much of the interior and keep only the exterior masonry. The resulting project must satisfy two audiences at once: housing users need light, circulation, services and parking, while neighbors and preservation agencies may want the building’s scale, materials and civic presence to remain legible.
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The 2015 cases illustrate that “church-to-condo trend” is a useful description of a development strategy, not a statistical claim. No national count or conversion rate is provided, and later Boston housing totals do not isolate church reuse.
What projects did the 2015 report describe?
The examples were not all completed projects. Their status matters because a zoning vote, an approved plan under construction and a finished building are different kinds of evidence.
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| Project | Details reported in 2015 | Status at that time | What can be said now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Former First Church of Christ, Scientist, 96th Street and Central Park West, New York | 112-year-old, 47,000-square-foot church; 39 proposed condominiums | Community Board 7 voted April 15, 2015 to support a zoning exemption | The report’s proposal and vote should be attributed to 2015; the 2015 report does not establish a later result |
| Narberth United Methodist Church, Narberth, Pennsylvania | Narberth Place, a three-building mix of townhouses and condominiums | Described as transformed | Original features in the former parsonage, Barrie House, were highlighted |
| St. Augustine’s Church, South Boston | 29 proposed condominiums with the exterior preserved | Plan approved and construction underway, according to the 2015 report | The 2015 report does not verify the project’s eventual completion |
| Former Holy Trinity German Catholic Church, 136 Shawmut Avenue, Boston | Eight-story steel-and-glass addition and 33 homes; 57,904 square feet of proposed new residential space | Project-planning stage in the 2015 article | Later records identify the completed building as The Lucas; SGH lists completion in 2017 |
These distinctions prevent a common error in reuse coverage: treating every announced scheme as a delivered housing project. The strongest documented completion in this group is The Lucas, while the South Boston outcome remains unverified in the cited records.
How was the New York church proposal changed by preservation review?
The Upper West Side case shows how a preservation objection can alter the residential design rather than end it. The former First Church of Christ, Scientist at 96th Street and Central Park West was described as 112 years old and 47,000 square feet, with a proposal for 39 condominiums. The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission opposed aspects of the conversion, and the developer agreed to reduce the number of new windows before the community-board vote reported on April 15, 2015.
That window decision is more than a façade detail. New openings can be essential to residential daylight and views, yet they also change the reading of a historic wall. Reducing them limits the visual alteration visible from the street, while forcing the design team to solve light, ventilation and room layouts with fewer openings or through other parts of the plan. The report recorded the zoning-exemption support; it did not establish a completed conversion, so the proposal should remain identified as a 2015 case.
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What did Narberth Place preserve?
In Narberth, the former 1929 Narberth United Methodist Church was reported as transformed into Narberth Place, a development combining townhouses and condominiums across three buildings. The project was not presented simply as a church interior divided into units. It also used the site’s related structures and treated the former parsonage, called Barrie House, as a character-bearing part of the development.
The report specifically noted Barrie House’s original windows, fireplace, railings, tile and lighting. Retaining those elements demonstrates a layered preservation strategy: significant material can survive in a smaller building even when the principal church receives a new residential program. It also gives future residents physical evidence of the property’s domestic and institutional history instead of reducing preservation to an exterior photograph.
Because the source describes Narberth Place as already transformed, it differs from the New York and South Boston examples, which were reported at approval or construction stages. The article does not provide a unit count, construction cost or performance data for Narberth Place, so those details should not be inferred.
How did community sentiment change the South Boston St. Augustine’s plan?
St. Augustine’s Church, closed in 2004, became a test of whether a redevelopment proposal could respond to attachment to a familiar building. Residents objected to the developer’s demolition idea. The 2015 account, citing a Boston Globe interview, said the plan that won approval called for 29 condominiums while preserving the exterior, with construction underway.
The sequence matters: community resistance did not necessarily reject housing, but it challenged the loss of the church itself. Keeping the exterior offered a compromise between a new residential use and the neighborhood’s expectation that the building remain present. Since the 2015 account does not verify what happened after construction began, it would be inaccurate to call St. Augustine’s a completed conversion or to describe its later condition.
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This case also shows why a reuse proposal is judged beyond its unit yield. Demolition, façade retention, additions and construction staging can each affect how residents assess continuity, traffic and neighborhood fit. The approved number—29—belongs to the 2015 plan, not to a verified final inventory.
What makes The Lucas the clearest completed case?
The former Holy Trinity German Catholic Church at 136 Shawmut Avenue, in Boston’s South End, connects the 2015 proposal to later project documentation. The BD+C report described an eight-story steel-and-glass addition along the existing church walls, 33 residences, 24 basement parking spaces and 57,904 square feet of new residential space. Later, Finegold Alexander Architects’ project page described the completed work as The Lucas, and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger lists 33 residences and a 2017 completion date.
The figures come from different stages and should not be blended. Finegold Alexander’s later page lists an 82,877-square-foot project, whereas the 2015 article gave 57,904 square feet of proposed new residential space. The larger later figure may describe the completed project on a different measurement basis; the sources do not provide a reconciliation, so both numbers should retain their attribution.
Architecturally, the project demonstrates the “old shell/new volume” approach. Finegold Alexander says the deteriorated roof and interiors were removed, while the granite and puddingstone masonry shell was stabilized and restored. The new steel-and-glass construction makes the addition visibly contemporary rather than imitating the church. In a quotation reproduced on the architect’s page from Robert Campbell, FAIA, in Architectural Record (March 2018), Campbell called it “a confident, legible, individual chunk of architecture” and said that “by banging together two eras and two kinds of construction, it subtly celebrates the diversity of the neighborhood and the city.”
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe Lucas is therefore useful as a documented design and delivery example, not as proof that every church conversion can follow the same formula. Its masonry shell, structural condition, site and approvals were specific to the project.
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What does a church conversion have to solve technically?
A successful conversion has to make an existing ceremonial building perform as housing. The exact solutions vary, but these projects point to a recurring sequence of decisions.
- Establish what can legally be built. Confirm the zoning use, required exemptions or variances, height and bulk limits, parking obligations and any landmark or historic-review process. New York’s zoning-exemption vote and the window negotiation show that entitlement and preservation can be interdependent.
- Survey the shell and site. Document masonry, roofs, foundations, floor levels, moisture, utilities and secondary buildings. The Lucas’s deteriorated roof and interiors had to be removed while the masonry shell was stabilized, illustrating why a visual inspection alone is insufficient.
- Choose the retention boundary. Decide whether the project keeps a complete building, a façade and shell, a parsonage, or selected interior features. Barrie House retained windows, a fireplace, railings, tile and lighting; The Lucas retained and restored the granite and puddingstone shell while replacing the roof and interiors.
- Fit a residential structure inside or beside the old one. Unit layouts, stairs, elevators, fire separation, mechanical systems and accessible routes must work with irregular historic geometry. Where the shell cannot provide enough floor area or daylight, an addition may be required, as in the eight-story steel-and-glass volume described for The Lucas.
- Resolve windows and daylight. New openings can improve apartments but alter the public face. The New York developer’s agreement to reduce new windows shows how preservation review can change the unit-planning strategy.
- Plan parking, loading and services. The 2015 Lucas proposal included 24 basement parking spaces, a reminder that residential conversions must account for cars, deliveries, waste, utilities and resident access—not only bedrooms and façades.
- Explain the neighborhood benefit and impacts. Present the number and type of homes, construction effects, traffic, retained fabric and public-facing changes clearly. South Boston’s shift away from demolition followed community attachment, while other projects used a retained shell or parsonage to maintain continuity.
How should historic fabric and new construction meet?
There is no single correct boundary between preservation and alteration. The relevant question is whether the retained elements remain structurally sound, visually legible and meaningful while the new work performs safely as housing.
A conservative approach may limit new windows and keep the street elevation close to its historic appearance, as reported in New York. A more explicit contrast can place a contemporary addition behind or alongside the old walls, as proposed and later completed at The Lucas. A site-wide approach can preserve several structures and their details, as at Narberth Place. These are different responses to the same underlying problem: maintaining the recognizable historic shell and site presence while making interiors and additions serve a new use.
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Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does church reuse materially solve a city’s housing shortage?
It can add homes on already developed sites, but the cited sources cannot quantify its contribution. Banker & Tradesman reported more than 20,000 housing units added to Boston’s inventory between 2017 and 2021, citing the Boston Planning & Development Agency’s 2022 Boston Housing Conditions and Real Estate Trends Report. The same 2026 report cited more than 71,000 units added across Greater Boston from April 2020 to July 2025. Neither figure counts church conversions specifically.
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The documented projects are comparatively small: 39 proposed condos in the New York church, 29 proposed condos at St. Augustine’s and 33 residences at The Lucas. Those numbers show how an individual reuse can contribute to a neighborhood’s supply, but they cannot be extrapolated into a citywide share or national trend. The cited sources supply no national inventory, annual rate or percentage of housing created through church reuse.
What should a church owner or developer check before pursuing conversion?
The earliest decisions should be made before a detailed interior design is commissioned.
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- Historic status: Determine whether the building or district is landmarked and which agency controls exterior changes, demolition, windows and additions.
- Use and density: Verify whether condominiums are allowed, whether a zoning exemption or variance is needed, and how many homes the envelope can realistically support.
- Condition and hazardous materials: Obtain structural, roof, envelope and building-system investigations before relying on the apparent strength of stone or brick walls.
- Residential performance: Test daylight, ventilation, acoustics, fire protection, accessibility, elevators, plumbing routes and refuse storage against the proposed unit mix.
- Site operations: Account for parking, loading, construction access, deliveries and neighboring buildings. The Lucas proposal’s basement parking illustrates how these requirements can shape the plan.
- Public process: Engage neighbors early enough to discuss demolition, façade retention, windows, height and construction impacts. St. Augustine’s demonstrates the cost of ignoring attachment to a landmarked-looking community building.
- Evidence discipline: Label each number as proposed, approved, under construction or completed. The four examples show why project status must accompany every unit count.
What do the church conversions ultimately show?
The 2015 report captured a moment when developers were examining churches as housing opportunities, but its examples were individual negotiations rather than proof of a national wave. New York’s window compromise, Narberth’s retention of parsonage details, South Boston’s response to demolition and The Lucas’s restored masonry shell with a contemporary addition each represent a different balance between reuse, preservation and new construction.
The durable lesson is procedural as much as architectural: a church becomes viable housing only when zoning, structure, residential performance, historic character and neighborhood expectations are addressed together. The Lucas provides the clearest documented completed result, while the other cases remain useful for understanding proposals and approval decisions at the time they were reported.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are church-to-condo conversions common across the United States?
The cited sources do not provide a national count, annual rate or market share for these projects. The 2015 article presents selected examples, so it supports discussion of a development strategy rather than a measured nationwide trend.
Can a historic church keep its interior during a residential conversion?
Sometimes, but the answer depends on condition, structure, code compliance and the proposed layout. The documented examples range from retaining selected parsonage details at Barrie House to removing deteriorated interiors and the roof while restoring the masonry shell at The Lucas.
Why do preservation agencies scrutinize new windows in church conversions?
Window openings can change the public appearance of a historic wall even when they improve daylight for apartments. In the New York case, the developer agreed to reduce proposed new windows after landmark-review objections.
What is the difference between a church shell conversion and a church-plus-addition project?
A shell conversion concentrates the new residential program within the retained envelope, while a church-plus-addition project combines historic fabric with a new volume to gain floor area or solve circulation and daylight needs. The Lucas used the latter approach with an eight-story steel-and-glass addition alongside the restored masonry shell.
