Bethany Church

The former Grace Episcopal Church campus in Mid-City New Orleans was purchased by Bethany Church to renovate and expand their growing congregation. The mid-century buildings, completed in 1956, remained mostly vacant after Hurricane Katrina and since have been designated as local historic landmarks. Careful planning and early coordination were undertaken to identify the most eloquent approaches to historic preservation, remediation, and updating the interiors and building systems for modern use.

The design team worked prudently with Ownership to refine the program and develop systems to meet the Owners needs while also collaborating with a myriad of consultants to address the building envelope, hazardous material abatement, acoustical performance, site remediation, stormwater management, and historic building sensitivities.

The main sanctuary was renovated for historic appropriateness while providing amenities for Bethany Church services. Adjacent to the main sanctuary, the existing chapel was repurposed as a café style space, and a new interior lobby within the historic footprint was designed to house flexible occupational programs for special events, congregational space, and a daycare check-in area. The scope of work also included cleaning and repair of historic masonry and cast stone, reglazing of stained glass decorative windows, new energy efficient and impact resistant windows to match historic profiles, new impact rated sapele wood storefront, and new roofing systems.

The project, partially funded with tax credits from the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office, was conscientiously designed to comply with the Department of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and the City of New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission Guidelines.

Project Role: Project Manager + Project Architect for all phases

Architect of Record: MADE Design

Project Type: Religious

Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

Client: Bethany Church

Completed: December 2021

Size: 18,935 sq. ft.

Cost: $4,800,000

Professional Photography: George Long, Amy Garrett