…and this is where we convert spares
This church has a deep, dark secret…
It’s a BOWLING ALLEY!
Found By: Heather
Loveliest comment, although I hate to encourage this kind of behavior, by fish eye no miko: This church will get you into the right frame of mind to spare you from the fires of hell! Church services are held at 7 and 10, so don’t split, because your salvation is one more strike against the devil!
Well, that’s different. Bowling for the Lord? The other amusing thing — aside from the obvious — is that there is a really low row of windows right by that lane, within inches. So they were really, really careful bowlers too.
That could be really beautiful but I feel sort of sorry for the congregation. Aside from the rather frightening look stove in the kitchen, it’s pretty clear that the place has been very well cared for, hopefully they just bought a new, larger church or something.
Actually, it isn’t odd at all. _Many_ churches had their own bowling lanes, for youth and adults including the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in NYC [it has since been removed to make room for other things, I think]. There used to be many more people doing their recreational activities at their churches [and maybe that trend is coming around again at some churches].
Yes, here in St. Louis City there are two Catholic churches with alleys that I can think of offhand, there may be more!
My son bowls in a league in a church basement. They even have slot machines (illegal in this state) and poker machines.
“Exposure: Pastoral View” LMAO
I want to shake the hand of whoever managed to sneak that pun in!
This church will get you into the right frame of mind to spare you from the fires of hell! Church services are held at 7 and 10, so don’t split, because your salvation is one more strike against the devil!
Will you be my pun zen master? Please?
That was made of win, fish eye. Well done.
I’ll pin my hopes on this Fish eye. After all, the alley into heaven is narrow. Only 300 will get in.
They don’t call them “Holy Rollers” for nothing.
Nyuk-nyuk! Good one.
The Dude a-tithes.
Three half-baths, no full bath. It’d be fun to live in, but you can’t bathe. Before anybody posts any baptism puns, it looks like a high church of some type, like Episcopalian or Lutheran, which only sprinkles for christening and does not do full-scale child or adult dunking.
The parish hall has a lot of room in it, and there appears to be a complete institutional kitchen.
It’s a charming, unusual property. Would be great for a new congregation that could raise the $625,000, and that wouldn’t really be a lot for a group to come up with.
Well all I know is that there always is a lot of praying going on after I release a bowling ball.
I actually would really like to convert an old church into a house. Too bad that one is not anywhere near where we liver or would like to live. I think the bowling alley is really cool!
It’s Episcopalian, I can see on the Google site the little sign with the blue shield that Episcopal churches put up. May not be high church at all but the Episcopalians have a different definition of high church vs low. This is actually rather sad since it means a congregation that has been around for a long time has gotten too small to support itself or maybe couldn’t get a minister (or in particular wouldn’t accept a woman as minister). It’s a pretty, quiet town, there are people who commute to DC from there and farther out but that is not a commute I would wish on my worst enemy.
It is sad — it’s a spectacular church (and property). I hope someone with some vision (religious or otherwise — hee hee) is able to buy it and preserve it.
“or in particular wouldn’t accept a woman as minister”
That’s possible, there is some division in the Episcopal Church at present (which is why Rome is trying to rope in the High Episcopals/Anglicans) but that’s not a High Church. High Episcopal is very close to Catholicism in terms of use of icons, the confessional booth, etc. The Virgin Mary is a big deal also…just saying, that the cross is still on the altar there, but there is very little use of icons even in the stained glass window depictions.
So it should be Low Episcopal (I was raised low — oxymoron alert — and we had more icons/statuary/saint representations than that).
Anyway, all that to say that the congregation likely just got older and they didn’t build a younger one, which is also sad, but it does mean that the congregation likely had their parish for the majority of their lives.
Pointing that out because the low Episcopal Church allowed women clergy for quite a long time, and now allows gay clergy also…so that “wouldn’t accept a woman” thing is very unlikely in a Low church.
Nice. This one actually is a “lovely listing.”
Guess even the lure of bowling alleys can’t keep the customers coming in.
Kind of sad. Hope someone nice gets to occupy it.
As a semi-retired professional photographer I must give a hearty “ATTABOY/GIRL” to the photographer for this listing. Great job, particularly of the parish hall. So often I see listing photos that are just despicable.
To quote a past post:
“Pew pew pew.”
I’m pretty sure this is it (or, rather, was it):
Emmanuel Chapel Episcopal Church
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=episcopal&sll=39.093756,-78.060592&sspn=0.000885,0.001725&gl=us&ie=UTF8&radius=0.05&rq=1&ev=zi&hq=episcopal&hnear=&ll=39.093694,-78.060498&spn=0.000885,0.001725&t=h&z=19&iwloc=A
history from http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Clarke/172-0001_Boyce_Historic_District_2004_Final_Nomination.pdf
“Emmanuel Chapel Episcopal Church (172-0001-0076) on W. Main Street was also constructed in 1916 and is another example of the Gothic Revival style (Photo 16). The gable-end stone church has a small gable-roofed entry vestibule, triple lancet windows, and an open stone belfry. While the date stone on the church indicates a 1916 construction date, the large parish hall attached to the east was constructed about a decade later. It is also of stone construction and
follows the same architectural style as the church. This large building, which was constructed after a 1919 fire destroyed the original wooden parish hall, contains an auditorium and a bowling
alley and was for many years considered the Boyce Community Center. The 1919 fire that destroyed the original Episcopal parish hall also destroyed five adjacent buildings at the southwest comer of the intersection of S. Greenway Avenue and W. Main Street..”
It was still operational as of 2000, according to
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/cms/archivestory.php?id=125940
“Emmanuel Chapel Episcopal Church in Boyce will have a Christmas Bazaar on Nov. 4, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Bazaar will have lots of Christmas tree ornaments, handcrafted gifts and decorative items, gift baskets, a silent auction, secret Santa Shop, handmade Christmas and greeting cards, lunch with homemade pork barbecue, soups and hot dogs. Proceeds will benefit the improvement projects at the church and outreach programs.”
people now a days dont respect the true meaning of worship!
this is what happen when a Discordian marries a Catholic….
They weren’t kidding when they listed “built in bookshelves”
I also like how the style is listed: “Other”