Yahoo Finance Divine homes: 8 heavenly church conversions
With high ceilings, grand proportions and more than their fair share of interesting features, converted churches make wonderful homes – provided they’re compatible with your lifestyle. "Because of unusual bedroom layouts and floor plans, they’re not the most popular choice with families, tending to attract arty couples and downsizers who love open plan living and something a bit quirky," explains Edward Church, head of estate agency Strutt & Parker’s Canterbury office. From cute chapels to amazing apartments, this collection of church conversions currently for sale could be the answer to your prayers.
1. St George’s Church, Manchester, £280,000
A two-bed triplex apartment in a Gothic revival church, close to the city’s Deansgate district. Although the interior is contemporary, it’s retained original features such as tall mullioned windows and comprises a kitchen and dining area with a spiral staircase winding up to the living area, and another flight of stairs leads down to the bedrooms and bathroom. There’s also a sheltered private terrace, and the building’s surrounded by landscaped communal gardens. It's on the market with JLL.
2. River View Court, Hereford, Herefordshire, offers over £300,000
This top floor apartment is one of four in a chapel which was converted in 2003, and is a short walk from the city centre. Accessed via a lift, it has a large open plan living/dining room with floor to ceiling windows and shutters, exposed oak beams, and French doors onto a glass fronted, covered balcony with sweeping views over the River Wye and Hereford Cathedral. It also has a separate kitchen, a large double bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and a shower room. It’s available through Jackson Property.
3. Llithfaen, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, £375,000
Complete with vaulted ceilings and mullioned windows, this former village chapel is now a comfy and welcoming home. It consists of an entrance hall, living/dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a shower room on the ground floor plus a mezzanine level, currently used as a fourth bedroom, with another shower room and store room. The secluded garden looks out towards Cardigan Bay. The house is for sale via Beresford Adams.
Read more: Fancy living in a lighthouse or a clock tower? Check these conversions
4. The Old Methodist Chapel, Modbury, Devon, offers over £450,000
Redundant Methodist chapels are the perfect size for repurposing into unique single dwellings, as demonstrated by this wow-factor home in a sought after Georgian town. Huge, stained glass windows ensure that it’s filled with light throughout, and it has an open plan living/dining area with a double height ceiling, a handmade kitchen, four double bedrooms – two with ensuites – a family bathroom, utility and courtyard garden. It's on the market through Luscombe Maye.
5. Askrigg Chapel, Leyburn, North Yorkshire, £699,950
Built in 1878 and sympathetically renovated by the current owners, this chapel is arranged over three levels and incorporates contemporary touches that complement the stone walls and stained glass windows. The main entrance, on the first floor, leads into a dining hall with a magnificent bespoke wrought iron staircase. Adjacent are the master bedroom with a dressing room, bathroom and steam room, and a second bedroom and ensuite, while the ground floor, which could be used as a self-contained apartment, comprises two further bedrooms, a study, sitting room, kitchen/dining room and utility. The entire top floor is open plan, containing a kitchen with a curved island, seating and dining areas, a bar, a glass-encased fireplace and galleried landing, all sitting under the chapel’s vaulted ceiling. On the market through Strutt & Parker.
6. St John’s Wood, London NW8, £750,000
Hard to resist if you’re a Beatles fan, this flat is on ground floor of a distinctive converted church, right by the zebra crossing on Abbey Road where the Fab Four were photographed for the cover of their eponymous album. Abbey Road studios is opposite and A-list artists can be spotted on a regular basis. Not that you’re likely to be spending much of your time peeking out as the property’s really rather nice inside, featuring a contemporary all-in-one kitchen/living room, two double bedrooms, two bathrooms and plenty of storage space. Find out more by contacting Dexters.
7. The Chapel, Steppingley, Bedfordshire, £750,000
Exposed timbers and brickwork, soaring ceilings and stained glass windows are among the many architectural details in this divine detached house, which started life as a chapel before being converted in the late 1970s. It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a decent-sized kitchen diner and a first floor sitting room with full height sliding doors on to a balcony that gazes over open countryside. It’s for sale via Jackson-Stops.
Read more: Six amazing castles for sale in the UK
8. Old Church House, Ecchinswell, Newbury, Berkshire, £1.3m
Virtually every room in this beautiful red brick ex-church is replete with period features including arched windows and timber ceilings. There are four bedrooms – one reached via a spiral staircase from a versatile studio room which could double up as a gym or dressing room – a family room/study and a sociable kitchen/dining room. Double doors open into an impressive triple aspect 35-foot sitting room with a high vaulted ceiling, wooden floor, an open fireplace and views of the well-stocked garden. Like what you see? Then contact Hamptons.
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