Granite Walls, a Hillside and Two Parking Spaces: Why This Maine Church Is So Hard to Turn Into Homes

• Old South Congregational Church in Hallowell, Maine, built of local granite in 1878, was listed for sale in January 2024.
• Its congregation has fallen from about 120 in 2005 to about 60; utility costs were nearly $12,000 in 2022.
• Stone walls, a hillside site, just two parking spaces and structural problems make conversion to housing very difficult.
• The congregation plans to move services to its parish hall next door.

Maine needs homes and has empty churches, but turning one into the other is harder than it looks. The Bangor Daily News used Old South Congregational Church in Hallowell to show why.

The church was built in 1878 from Hallowell granite and has stained-glass windows. Its congregation has shrunk from about 120 members in 2005 to about 60, and utility costs alone came to nearly $12,000 in 2022. The church was listed for sale in January 2024.

The obstacles to converting it into housing are many. The stone construction makes it almost impossible to reconfigure for homes. The building stands on a hillside with only two parking spaces and poor accessibility. It has crumbling plaster, mould and sloping floors. And conversions that need zoning changes can meet community opposition because of residents’ attachment to the building. Bob Gaudreau, who converted a former Catholic church in Saco into 80 housing units, told the paper he would not even think about redeveloping a stone church because of the physical hurdles.

The congregation, led by the Rev Susan Reisert, plans to move its services to the parish hall next door, freeing resources for community projects rather than, as she put it, “maintaining a museum”.

Not every church building is a good candidate for housing, and it pays to know which ones are before promising too much. Jamaica has many stone and brick churches on hillsides with little parking, much like Hallowell’s. Church boards thinking of selling should get an honest assessment of what a building can realistically become. Buyers should look past the stained glass at the walls, the access and the cost of making the building meet modern codes.

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