'It’s just been one thing after another': The renovation project that survived fire, flood and a pandemic

Giving a run-down old church a new lease on life is a dream for many renovators. Often blessed with period features, soaring ceilings and a peaceful ambience, it’s easy to see why.

Marie Partridge was so keen on the idea, she “badgered” her husband Simon about buying an old church for years. 

In 2018 the couple bought the former St John’s Anglican church at Tantawangalo, around 40 minutes inland from Merimbula, with plans to transform it into a guest retreat.    

Deconsecrated only months earlier, the Gothic revival building “had been looked after so well” by the local community that its original stained glass windows, pointed-arch doors and eight-metre herringbone ceilings were in excellent condition. 

It wasn’t exactly ready for visitors, though. There was no running water, and the “bathroom” was an outhouse supposedly set up with a drop toilet – “But when we went and looked at it we were like, ‘That’s not a drop toilet, that’s just a pan toilet,’” Marie remembers.  

Still, with backgrounds in interior design, landscaping and carpentry, Marie and Simon went in with their eyes open about the challenges that lay ahead.

What they couldn’t see coming were the obstacles they wouldn’t be able to control; the next 18 months brought threats from multiple bushfires and nearby floods, with the COVID-19 pandemic on top of that.

It started the day before their settlement, when bushfires ripped through nearby Tathra, destroying more than 60 homes. The couple spent a few terrifying days watching the weather conditions, grateful the church wasn’t affected. 

The following 12 months were spent renovating, with the aim of retaining the church’s heritage but increasing the liveability of the 1905 building. 

The couple and their daughter, Ella, left their home in Sydney’s Cronulla at every opportunity to stay at the church, sleeping in tents while there to avoid the resident bats. 

With the help of their neighbour Ray, a builder, they insulated the cavernous roof, replaced the crumbling piers holding up the floor and upgraded the makeshift camp kitchen they’d assembled to new cabinetry and a dishwasher. 

The former altar is now a sleeping area with a queen-size bed. A mezzanine level has been built above it to form a second cosy sleeping nook, accessed by a black steel and timber staircase. 

A modern, open-plan living and dining space with new lighting ups the comfort level with leather sofas, chunky merino wool blankets (hand-knitted by Marie), and a wood-burning heater. 

Marie and Simon decided on one major structural change to let more natural light into the solid building. With no heritage overlay to contend with, they removed a large section of triple-brick wall, replacing it with floor-to-ceiling glass bifold doors that allow the inside to spill outside during nice weather.

And, at long last, the outdoor pan toilet has gone. A luxurious indoor bathroom with a free-standing bath sits in what was previously the vestry – a relief after trotting up the road to shower at their neighbour’s house for more than 12 months.

The church was finally ready to be shared with guests in early 2020, but their soft launch coincided with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time Marie says couldn’t have been worse. 

Its location near Tantawangalo Mountain and Tantawangalo Creek was also affected by further bushfires, smoke haze, and floods. 

“It’s just been one thing after another,” Marie says, but she emphasises their good fortune that the church was spared any damage. 

Perhaps it’s enduring all those challenges that has made their success even sweeter – Marie says the church has been solidly booked since restrictions first eased. 

“For us, it’s been a silver lining on the cloud that was COVID – that it’s made people look more locally as to where they can travel and visit more places in Australia,” she says. 

The building was, of course, always designed to bring people together.

“It’s nice to be able to share it with other people, because it’s always been a community building. It’s just having a different phase of its life now.”