Blue Church and Parish School, USA

The Blue Church and Parish School lay abandoned in a waterfront neighbourhood of a large American city. The church has been closed for around 5 years, the schoolhouse had been vacated and left to decay for a decade prior to this. As well as the church and schoolhouse, there is also a convent and rectory in other buildings.

A large German population moved to this area in the mid-1800s, lured by the prospect of jobs and a new way of life. Several up-and-coming industrial plants had been established here. Two decades later the German population had expanded and was now thriving. The Protestants set up a reformed church, whereas the Roman Catholics founded this sanctuary. The church cornerstone indicates that this brown-stoned building was completed in the 1890s. Services were held here for nearly 120 years, in the latter years serving the large Polish community that now lives in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

The church is in almost pristine condition, complete with impressively large marble altar as well as a pipe organ. The tall vaulted ceiling is painted cornflower blue and bright yellow. Large hexagonal pendant lights hang along the midline of the room. The walls would have originally had marble or stone tablets inset into them, which would have borne carvings of psalms or prayers. These have been removed, sadly. Above the column-supported arches lining the church aisles, are paintings of saints or other religious figures embellished with halos.

The adjacent schoolhouse opened in the 1920s. There are brightly painted passageways and a performance hall with a stage. The classrooms are small and simple, traditional and functional. Children’s drawings hang from a piece of string across the blackboard. The school has been abandoned for a decade longer than the church, although signs of damp and decay are still relatively minor.

These buildings have now been sold, and plans approved for their re-purposing. The church will be converted into commercial space, including a large ground floor restaurant. The other buildings will be converted into living spaces.