From church to condo

$9 million later

Badrigian spent about $9 million renovating the property, which includes eight units in the church, two units in the former rectory and four townhouse units that he built in the church's former parking lot.

Of the eight units in the church itself, five have sold for between $700,000 and $1.5 million.

Conversions are growing more common as shrinking congregations and shifting demographics have made it difficult for some churches to stay afloat financially. According to a March report from CoStar Group, a real-estate research firm, U.S. banks sold 138 church-owned properties in 2011, compared with 24 three years earlier.

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Old and new

Badrigian says that he tried to include modern amenities, such as dishwashers, cellulose insulation in the walls and laundry rooms with washers and dryers. At the same time, he retained some of the church's architectural elements, such as its wooden trusses and paneled ceilings. Ceilings in some of the second-floor units are 36 feet high in the living and dining areas.

Conversions don't always come easy, though. Not only do the structures need intensive interior reconstruction and upgrades to meet modern building codes, but many also have received landmark status, further complicating renovations.

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'Mixed feelings'

Badrigian says that he had "mixed feelings" about buying the property in 2003.

"While the sale allowed the congregation to move to a more suitable location, it was also a move away from a special place," he says. "But I have very good feelings about saving a historic building."

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Big Apple conversion

This former synagogue in Manhattan's East Village is now a residence for rent.

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Room to breathe

The living area has 22-foot cathedral ceilings and floor-to-ceiling walls of restored and repainted exposed brick and Wenge wood paneling.

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Dining area

Ian Shrager Hotels converted the synagogue into a home in 2005. It has three bedrooms, with a possible fourth, and three bathrooms.

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Residential Church XL

Although it's still relatively rare in the U.S., the adaptive reuse of churches has become popular practice in other countries, such as England. In 2006, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that about 500 churches in London alone had been converted into homes in the previous five years.

In other countries, such as Germany and Russia, people still regard the living in a church as disrespectful, says Bart Kellerhuis of Zecc Architects, which has done several church-to-home conversions in the Netherlands. Shown here is the Residential Church XL in Utrecht, Netherlands.

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Too big?

One of challenges of church-to-home conversions such as this one is reducing the vast space of a church into something more livable. Living spaces can feel overwhelmingly grand, and heating costs can be considerable.

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Let there be skylights

Another challenge is letting in light. Skylights were cut in the ceiling in the converted Church of the Living in Utrecht, shown here.

Andrew Sudds and Kristin Conley paid $600,000 for a former Lutheran church in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood in 2011. Sudds says it is hard to keep the place warm at night. The roof isn't insulated, making it hard to heat the 3,500-square-foot space, which has a 39-foot ceiling.

"We don't keep the heat running; otherwise, we'd owe thousands of dollars in heating bills," Sudds says. "But even if we did, the heat would just rise and escape through the roof. The fact is that this structure wasn't built for continuous habitation."

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Clean lines

The Church of the Living has a modern, minimalist look, while other church conversions may have a more classic, old-fashioned aesthetic.

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Deep-blue walls

Here's a look at the bathroom in the converted Church of the Living.

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House in a Church

The House in a Church was built in the 1930s as a wooden church on a riverbank in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Before it was converted into a home around 2010, it was used as a storage facility.

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Living space

Architect Ruud Visser built a space within the church to create a smaller, more livable area for the family of four that moved in.

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The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary in Seattle was converted from a Christian Science Church building to 12 townhouses in 2012.

When Colin Bodell moved into his new 3,000-square-foot condo there in August, he was looking forward to living with its 30-foot ceilings, polished-marble floors and 20-foot-tall stained-glass windows. One thing he didn't anticipate, however, was people knocking on his front door to ask what time services were or to speak to the pastor.

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Anyone home?

"People still thought it was a church because of its exterior," says Bodell, a 50-year-old technology executive at Amazon. "They didn't realize it had been transformed into a home."

Bodell paid $1 million for his unit.

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More than 100 years of history

The church was built around 1908 as First Church of Christ, Scientist, and counted about 800 regular attendees in its heyday. By 2006, its congregation had dwindled to about 25 people, so the congregation relocated and sold off the church property for $1.3 million.

Renovations took five years and cost about $12 million. Many similar projects cost $10 million and take about two to four years.

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Church Dieren

Zecc Archtects converted the Church Dieren to offices in Dieren, Netherlands.

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