Built in 1903, Handed Over in 2023: A Former Methodist Church Opens as 15 Homes for Seniors

• Trinity United Methodist Church in Roanoke dates from 1903
• Its 1922 Sunday School annex became 15 one-bedroom apartments
• The homes are for people 55 and over earning up to 80 per cent of median income
• Restoration Housing took over the building from the congregation in 2023

A church building that served a Methodist congregation for more than a century has become homes for older people. WDBJ7 reported that the former Trinity United Methodist Church at 305 Mountain Avenue SW, in Roanoke’s Old Southwest neighbourhood, has been transformed into Trinity Commons, an affordable housing development for seniors.

The church was built in 1903. The conversion centres on its 1922 Sunday School annex, which now holds 15 one-bedroom apartments, each with a full kitchen, a four-piece bathroom and living space.

The apartments are for people aged 55 and older with incomes from zero up to 80 per cent of the area median income, including people who have experienced homelessness. The developer, Restoration Housing, took on stewardship of the building in 2023 from Trinity’s former congregation.

The opening was marked with “Trinity Unveiled: A Community Housewarming & Documentary Screening” on April 8, 2026, which included a ribbon cutting, self-guided tours and a screening of the documentary “No Place to Grow Old”. The station reported that the project addresses the need for affordable senior housing in Roanoke.

Turning a Sunday School into flats is a design challenge as much as a financial one: classrooms become kitchens and bathrooms while the character of the building is kept. Jamaica has many church halls, schoolrooms and manses, some damaged by Hurricane Melissa and others lying empty. When a congregation can no longer use such a building, handing it to a partner who will house older people is one way to keep a church property serving its community rather than selling it off or leaving it to decay.

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