Soon you might be able to live in the dome of the Second Church of Christ Scientist [Original photo: wallyg]
San Francisco has no shortage of old and beautiful churches, but what the city is lacking are congregations to fill them. Some of the city's biggest and oldest churches have shut their doors over the years, leaving vacant, and sometimes dangerously unstable, buildings. But fear not, because San Franciscans love nothing more than reusing and recycling, and these church buildings are getting a new life as office space or housing. St. Joseph's Catholic Church on Howard and 10th Streets has been closed since it suffered seismic damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, but has already been approved for a conversion into office space for tech firms. The Second Church of Christ Scientist on Dolores Street also hopes to be transformed, but this time owner Siamak Akhavan (of 601 Dolores church reuse fame) plans to turn the building into four residential units - one loft unit to be located in the dome, which sounds awesome and we can't wait to see the renderings. Originally the church was slated for demo to build a new one with an adjacent 8-unit residential building, but those plans have been scrapped after protests from neighbors, leading to the development of the current reuse option.
· San Francisco churches finding new life as housing [ABC]
· Previous coverage on St. Joseph's Church [Curbed SF archives]
· Previous coverage on 601 Dolores [Curbed SF archives]
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