This is the first post in a four part series in which I’ll post some pictures from our various viewings of the property. These photographs were originally intended to be only for our own reference, so they are not exactly of the highest quality, or well composed or any such thing. Nevertheless, they should give some idea of what the property is like, and what will be ahead of us with the conversion.
Let’s start with some particulars. The current vaguely habitable (i.e. heated) area is about 150 m2 (~1600 sq ft). This includes one room in the basement, but none of the attic. The habitable area could be extended to more than 200m2 without much effort, but I’ll try not to get ahead of myself. This living space is spread over 3 floors plus the attic: the basement floor, the ground floor, the upper floor, and the attic.
The plot of land is also not huge, but certainly adequate for the no-kid non-gardener: 670m2 (a bit more than 1/8 of an acre – and that is the last time I do those calculations! You imperial standard types can go convert things yourselves.) There are rhododendrons, heather, moss, a little grass, some forsythias, a fir tree or two, and a decorative hazelnut tree in the front. The back is mostly a large concrete-paving stone lined parking lot bordered with lilac trees.
The building was completed in 1979. The architect, a certain Werner Rehage, seems to be known regionally more for his public swimming pool designs. Mr. Rehage’s architecture practice still seems to be slightly active, but I would guess that after more than 20 years, he might be retired or close to.
The whole building was renovated in 2001. Then it seems a large number of parishioners moved away or died (there was a major military base in the area that closed in the past decade, which may have contributed to the exodus). In 2005 the building and parish were made redundant. So, we have a building that was renovated ten years ago, but was only used once a week for about three or four of those years. Fortunately, the church did heat it the whole time, so there are no problems that we know of with damp or other deterioration.
I find floor plans easier for visualization than photos, so let’s start with those (you can click to enlarge):
Floorplans for the ground floor
Let’s go in.
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