The church conversion with a guest house in the old Sunday school building

Church conversions are commonplace today, thanks to shrinking congregations and rising costs – there are always a number of deconsecrated churches awaiting new owners to transform them into homes.

Owners Penny and John bought the former Salvation Army Hall and Sunday School in 2010, after the building had already been converted into a home.

“We didn’t really have to do anything except finishing touches, and the garden,” Penny says. “We transformed the garden at the entranceway, and created the arches down the path.”

The couple have also added their special touch to the former Sunday school at the rear, which offers separate boutique guest accommodation.

Penny and John have had plenty of experience at this sort of thing – they have a property in France with “the largest garden we have ever owned”. And that is a key part of the reason they are selling the property, which has been listed with Ryan Dixon and Alex Smith of Ray White Remuera.

 “We need to go and be there as often as we can,” says Penny. “It will become more of a focus for us. And our new Auckland home will be a place we can leave a little more easily.”

Their 297 square-metre house has five bedrooms, three of which are on the upper level, with ceilings that follow the gabled roofline. The living areas and two more bedrooms are on the ground floor, which opens out to a large deck at the rear. The deck provides separation between the main house and the two-bedroom guest accommodation, the Old Church Cottage, in the second building.

Restoration specialists DPA Architects have kept the original character of the church intact, and even managed to include a single garage with internal access.

Penny says local records show the Salvation Army had its first meeting in Devonport in 1883, but the Hall wasn’t opened till 1910, which makes it more than a century old.

“It’s a very stern piece of architecture,” she says. “It is much more like a traditional school house. The focus (of the Salvation Army) was charity. Interestingly, the Sunday school building was a charity shop for many years.”

The property has an asking price of $A2,470,000.

– This originally appeared on Stuff