House (of God) for Sale (II)

3BR, 2.5BA, Pulpit, Bell Tower, $7.5M

SAN FRANCISCO
The century-old church has a pulpit, a pew and a bell tower. But instead of a congregation, the historic, red-brick structure has a single occupant, the homeowner. Siamak Akhavan purchased the 20,000-square-foot building five years ago and transformed it into an unusual single-family residence. Now, he's ready to sell. He has put the former Golden Gate Lutheran Church on the market for $7.49 million. "Some people say that it's weird and eerie, but my perspective is that this is a house of the Lord," Marcus Miller, a real estate agent representing Akhavan, told AOL News. "What better place to re-purpose and live than a house that has been blessed. One could say it's a step toward heaven."
.......
The city of San Francisco condemned the church. Attempts to sell it were unsuccessful until Akhavan, an engineer who ran a seismic retrofit company, stepped in and paid $2.25 million for it in 2007. "Face it, in our society, our values are changing and people are spending the Sabbath day differently," said Miller, the son of a Lutheran minister. Akhavan spent nearly $3 million converting the church into a 12-room single-family residence, with three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a meditation room at the top of the bell tower, a chef's kitchen and a very large living room. He said the conversion of churches to serve other purposes has become common in many parts of the world. "I travel a lot, and I see a lot of churches being transformed into houses, restaurants, even nightclubs in Europe," Akhavan told AOL News. "In Montreal, I have seen them turned into galleries. There is not as much demand for churches. The congregations hang on to it until they have to do a lot of work, and then they decide it's not worth it." The church is in a neighborhood that is zoned residential, so Akhavan could not turn it into a commercial structure. Converting the space into condominium units would have meant substantially altering the character of the building and damaging such features as the high ceiling of the nave and chancel. So he decided to turn the church into a single-family home and maintain as much of its original character as possible. He hired artists to hand-paint the coffered ceiling and restore the stained-glass windows. He spent $200,000 to put on a new roof and $400,000 to replace windows and doors. He installed skylights, restored wood floors and paneling, and created a six-car garage in one corner of the vast ground floor.

Source

 Living Room

 Master Bedroom

 Bedroom 1

 Bedroom 2

 Dining Room

Garage

 Floor Plans

Formerly the Golden Gate Lutheran Church for Sale on Zillow.com (I)

Take a look at this former church in San Francisco’s Mission District that has spared no expense for its re-do and furnishings.
It’s for sale for $7,490,000.

COMING SOON! Formerly the Golden Gate Lutheran Church, this stunning Gothic Revival style building is now one of the most extraordinary and largest single family homes in San Francisco. This one-of-a-kind property features an enormous living area that includes the original sanctuary with soaring, coffered and hand-painted ceilings, arched windows framing Dolores Park as well as most of the original stained glass windows, custom mahogany wood finishes, four fireplaces (2 wood-burning & 2 gas), a new chef's kitchen and a spacious dining room. The Master suite level features a marble Roman tub room, dressing room and incredible 360 degree views from the tower meditation room and deck. The home includes an expansive ground floor level that could be used as exhibition space, recording studio, gym and/or home office. There is also a garage that accommodates 4-6 cars.…

This is an amazingly warm and inviting space, in spite of the square footage due to all the warm wood. Incredible neighborhood with Dolores Park directly across the street and some of the hottest cafes and restaurants in San Francisco just a short block away.

Zillow.com

Falling Through Cracks / City churches are closing because they can't afford earthquake retrofitting

Even with its parapets and stained glass, Golden Gate Lutheran Church on the corner of 19th Street and Dolores in the Mission isn't the prettiest building around. Truth be told, the red-brick edifice built in 1912 has a bit of the humble workhorse about it. Nor does it attract the most worshippers. According to Pastor Ed Miller, the congregation of active members amounts to only about 35 or 40 people.
But like so many inner-city churches, it made itself relevant -- and for some people indispensable -- by filling gaps in our yawning social safety net. Until recently, it was a bustle of activity morning, noon and night. Over two dozen 12-step programs met there weekly, some with hundreds of participants.
In the past few years, the church housed a homeless shelter and a preschool. Four afternoons a week, it sponsored a drop-in program for anyone who needed a hot meal and a place to come in off the streets.
Three other churches -- two Pentecostal churches (one gay and one straight) and a Mennonite church -- shared the sanctuary for worshipping services. In the purest sense of the word, despite the small congregation, the church had become a refuge. For those without family, it offered fellowship. For those without government assistance (or enough of it), it offered food, shelter and other basic needs.
Now the building grows ever quieter as its many groups search for other places to meet. Soon the doors will close altogether. Then the church will enter a real estate no-man's-land. Why? Because it's caught between a seismic building code and a very hard place.
Golden Gate Lutheran Church is only one of over 25 places of worship and an estimated 2,500 buildings around the city that have been affected by new seismic codes for unreinforced masonry buildings. In the years since the unreinforced masonry building code was written in 1992 (generally referred to as the UMB code), most of these buildings have been brought up to code or demolished.
But an estimated 300 buildings -- including several churches and synagogues -- remain noncompliant. Feb. 15 was the deadline for bringing all buildings in San Francisco into compliance, so the city is stepping up its efforts, after granting repeated extensions to property owners.
"We try to be as fair as we can," said UMB building inspector Jerry Sullivan. "We try to make it clear to property owners what their legal responsibility is."
But for many congregations, fulfilling that legal responsibility carries too high a price.
"We just can't afford it," said Miller from his shadowy book-lined office off the sanctuary. He told me the church had made a good-faith effort to bring the building into compliance, spending $130,000 to fix the roof and parapets in 1998. But the estimates for the interior work -- around $2.5 million -- are far beyond the community's means.

Source

Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral designed by Louis Sullivan - Chicago, IL

Address: 1121 N. Leavitt St.
Year Built: 1903
Architect: Louis H Sullivan
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: March 21, 1979

Designed to resemble the Russian provincial churches known to its first parishioners, this elegant church is an unexpected feature of its neighborhood. Even more surprising is the fact that its construction was partially paid for by Russian Czar Nicholas II. The walls of the church are load-bearing brick covered with stucco; the detailing of the two-story rectory repeats the same sinuous curve found in the roofline of the church. The ideologies held by the client and the designer harmonized well in this project, producing one of the most-inspired, small-scale works of influential architect Louis Sullivan.

History

The church was commissioned by the growing Russian congregation of Chicago, Illinois, and stands within the neighborhood known today as Ukrainian Village. It remains one of only two Orthodox Churches servicing the orthodox community in Ukrainian Village. Construction work, partly financed by Tsar St. Nicholas II of Russia, lasted from 1899 to 1903. The church retains many features of the Russian provincial architecture, including an octagonal dome and a frontal belltower. It is believed that the emigrants wished the church to be "remindful of the small, intimate, rural buildings they left behind in the Old World". Actually, the church would have passed unnoticed in the Russian countryside, if it were not for Sullivan's hallmark modern sensibility. The cathedral's interior is based on the St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev. The church is highlighted in numerous books on church architecture, among them Chicago Churches: A Photographic Essay by Elizabeth Johnson (Uppercase Books Inc, 1999) as well as The Spiritual Traveler's Guide to Chicago and Illinois by Marilyn Chiat (HiddenSpring 2004). The church was consecrated by St.Tikhon of Moscow and was under the spiritual guidance of St. John of Chicago (Kochurov) during its early years.
The church was elevated to a cathedral in 1923, and stands today a member of the Orthodox community in Chicago. It serves as the Cathedral Church of the Orthodox Church in America with Archpriest John Adamcio as its dean.

Source

Catedrala Mantuirii Neamului - machetele proiectelor aflate in concurs

Pr. dr. Mihai Valică către Biroul de Presă al Patriarhiei

Pentru că mi-aţi pomenit numele, acum câteva zile, în comunicatul de presă „Drept la replică: Mult duh de răzvrătire şi puţin spirit realist”, vă răspund următoarele:

1) Nu am afirmat niciodată şi niciunde că nu doresc construcţia Catedralei Neamului, ba dimpotrivă, ca unul care am construit mai multe biserici, nu am cum să fiu împotrivă. Îmi doresc mult să se construiacă această Catedrală şi să ne reprezinte şi ca naţie, şi ca trăire ortodoxă. Tocmai pentru că sunt preot ortodox şi fac parte din naţia română am scris acel studiu şi am fundamentat biblic şi patristic importanţa construirii unei biserici. Citiţi tot articolul, nu doar titlul

2) Vă sfătuiesc ca, pe viitor, să nu mai minţiţi, deoarece sunteţi creştini şi unii chiar preoţi. De aceea ar fi bine să mergeţi la Prea Fericitul Patriarh şi să-i spuneţi că aţi minţit, răstălmăcind tendenţios articolul meu, să vă pocăiţi şi să luaţi cuvenita mustrare

3) Este trist să constaţi că responsabilitatea preoţească este considerată „duh de răzvrătire”, iar credinţa mea în intervenţia directă, dar tainică a lui Dumnezeu în contrucţia unei biserici, chiar în momentele cele mai grele, este privită ca „puţin spirit realist”. Dacă se iau în calcul doar greutăţile, evidenţele actuale de criză şi realismul uman pe care le invocaţi, atunci un David realist ar fi fugit de Goliat, iar în cazul de faţă ar fi alergat la bancheri şi la cămătari. Nu de mai mult realism avem nevoie acum, ci de mai multă credinţă. Şi de un David..

4) Opinia mea este că, chiar pentru început, să construieşti Catedrala Neamului cu bani de împrumut nu ne reprezintă credinţa şi nici neamul, care este foarte generos atunci când este vorba de Biserică, ci trebuie doar motivat şi îndrumat duhovniceşte, iar nu pus sub presiunea băncilor. Mântuitorul nostru Iisus Hristos a scos zarafii din templu cu biciul, iar administraţia patriarhală îi aduce înapoi

5) Aţi scris că atitudinea mea este „incompatibilă cu preoţia”. Nimic mai fals. Tocmai preoţii sau profesorii de Teologie, care iau parte activă la viaţa Bisericii, fie cu experienţa lor pastorală, fie cu fundamentarea teologică pentru construcţia Catedralei Neamului, care „este o necesitate de ordin liturgic şi pastoral” fără îndoială, aceia sunt compatibili cu preoţia, dacă mai credem că Biserica cuprinde şi pe mirean, şi pe preot, şi pe episcop, în mod simfonic şi sinergic. Cred că într-adevăr incompatibile cu preoţia sunt minciuna, dezinformarea, necredinţa şi păcatele de moarte, ceea ce, până una-alta, nu reprezintă cazul meu.

Pr. dr. Mihai Valică

Drept la replică: Mult duh de răzvrătire şi puţin spirit realist

Biroul de presă al Patriarhie Române, ne informează:

În cotidianul Crai Nou din Suceava din 1 iulie 2010, a fost publicat articolul intitulat Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului, între împlinire, dileme morale şi deziluzie, semnat de pr. Prof. dr. Mihai Valică de la catedrala Sfânta Treime din Vatra Dornei. În legătură cu unele opinii ale autorului, precizăm:

Din toamna anului 2007, construirea Catedralei Mântuirii Neamului reprezintă un proiect prioritar al Patriarhiei Române. În acest moment, Patriarhia Română a ajuns la etapa încheierii contractului de proiectare cu firma câştigătoare, obţinerea autorizaţiei de construire, alegerea constructorului sau constructorilor viitoarei Catedrale patriarhale şi începerea efectivă a lucrărilor.
Întrucât costurile ridicării Catedralei la „roşu” sunt estimate la aproximativ 100 milioane de euro, în condiţiile nealocării unui sprijin financiar de la bugetul de stat (aşa cum prevede Legea pentru construirea Catedralei Mântuirii Neamului), Patriarhia Română intenţionează să solicite deschiderea unei linii de creditare la una sau mai multe bănci. Această modalitate de finanţare a construirii Catedralei, folosită la construirea altor lăcaşuri de cult din Bucureşti şi din ţară, nu justifică niciuna din temerile autorului articolului şi nici atitudinea sa incompatibilă cu preoţia, deoarece nu ajută deloc Biserica pe care pretinde că o slujeşte, ci doar o tulbură, întrucât el nu oferă soluţii realiste imediate ca alternativă la împrumutul bancar.

Precizăm că tocmai pentru a evita plata unor dobânzi bancare mari, Patriarhia Română va iniţia o campanie de colectare de fonduri prin donaţii benevole din partea clerului şi credincioşilor ortodocşi români din ţară şi din diaspora română. Ajutorul bancar este necesar acum pentru că Patriarhia Română se află în faza în care nu mai poate amâna începerea lucrărilor de construire a Catedralei Mântuirii Neamului, care este o necesitate de ordin liturgic şi pastoral.

Este trist să constaţi faptul că, într-o pagină din ziarul Crai Nou girată de protopopiatul Câmpulung Moldovenesc, un preot ortodox cu statut de profesor de teologie se poate înscrie în rândul celor ce se străduiesc din răsputeri să critice şi să împiedice construirea Catedralei Mântuirii Neamului.

Catedrala Mantuirii Neamului intre implinire, dileme morale si deziluzie

un articol de Pr. prof. dr. Mihai Valica

1. Solu­tia hris­tica — ati­tu­dine duhovniceasca impotriva crizei

Comu­ni­catul de presa al Patri­arhiei Romane, refer­i­tor la mul­tumir­ile aduse cred­in­ciosilor pen­tru sustinerea finan­ciara a Bis­eri­cilor in con­struc­tie[1] arata clar ca prin­ci­palii con­tribua­bili sunt cred­in­ciosii, iar Statul sus­tine, pe alocuri, cu sume sim­bo­l­ice com­par­a­tiv cu con­tribu­tia filantrop­ica pro­prie a BOR[2] pen­tru cetatenii aces­tei tari, pre­cum si prin partene­r­iatul social-diaconal incheiat cu Statul, con­form art. 29 din Con­sti­tu­tie si a Legii nr. 489/2006.

Potrivit legilor in vigoare Bis­er­ica Orto­doxa Romana nu se sub­sti­tuie Stat­u­lui, ci, prin mijloace speci­fice con­tribuie la coez­i­unea si pacea sociala, la iden­ti­fi­carea de solu­tii con­crete si real­iste spre a depasi grava criza eco­nom­ica si fina­ciara. In acest con­text Patri­arhia Romana prop­une ca solu­tie anti­criza, urma­toarele mijloace spir­i­tuale, care, din punct de vedere duhovnicesc, pot depasi “orice fel de criza”[3]:

1. predi­carea per­ma­nenta a Evanghe­liei pacii si a iubirii fata de aproapele;

2. indreptarea morala a celor ce ne con­duc[4];

3. o “cred­inta tare si coop­er­are cu scop sfant” prin con­truc­tia de Bis­erici[5];

4. “prin sporirea cred­in­tei, a rugaci­u­nii si coop­er­arii pen­tru a final­iza un lacas de cult care aduna oameni, care sunt invatati sa se respecte si sa se ajute rec­i­proc”, etc[6].

Aceste indem­nuri si sfa­turi par­in­testi de pro­funda spir­i­tu­al­i­tate si duhovni­cie au adus in sufle­tul mul­tor preoti si cred­in­ciosi sper­anta, o moti­vatie de uni­tate si impre­una lucrare eccle­siala deosebita si o sansa reala pen­tru a intari sol­i­dar­i­tatea si coop­er­area din­tre cred­in­ciosi, inclu­siv intarirea vietii spir­i­tuale, care per­mite oame­nilor sa depaseasca criza, fara sa se “autode­moleze”, sau sa ajunga “la dez­nade­jde sau la dezu­manizare”.[7]

Cred ca Bis­eri­cile vor salva sufle­tul roman­u­lui prin harul peste har, care va pris­osi in inima lui prin dum­nezeiestile Liturghii si Sf. Taine savar­site in ele.

Cine priveste doar la “aspec­tul ca se chel­tuie bani” repeta ges­tul lui Iuda, care ingri­jo­rat ca s-a risipit mirul de nard de mare pret pledeaza pen­tru saraci, fara sa-i pese de ei (Ioan 12, 4–6).

Omul are o latura morala care, daca se degradeaza, poate afecta si dis­truge mult mai mult decat partea mate­ri­ala a lumii. De aceea spatiul bis­eri­cilor poate con­sti­tui spatii de reabil­itare morala si duhovniceasca, care vor gen­era ade­varate “lab­o­ra­toare spir­i­tuale” de aju­torare a omu­lui si de refacere a soci­etatii. In acest sens Sf. Ioan Gura de Aur scria: “con­truc­tia de Bis­erici este mai buna decat miloste­nia”[8] intru­cat ele sunt locuri care dau un put­er­nic impuls pen­tru actiu­nile filantrop­ice si de indum­nezeire a omu­lui[9].

Ast­fel se com­bate indi­vid­u­al­is­mul, cul­ti­vand spir­i­tul comu­ni­tar prin con­struc­tia de Bis­erici si aseza­m­inte filantrop­ice de slu­jire dia­conla a proapelui; se evita “con­sacrarea esecu­lui” unui lucru bine inceput, cu sper­anta, dar nefi­nal­izat, in cazul celor in con­struc­tie; se poate pre­veni fatal­is­mul si esecul eco­nomic, finan­ciar si social, cauzat in gen­eral de criza morala si spir­i­tu­ala a soci­etatii la toate nivelurile, si reprez­inta o alter­na­tiva reala si via­bila pen­tru clasa polit­ica, guvern si soci­etatea civila, care din pacate duc lipsa nu numai de solu­tii eco­nom­ice via­bile, ci si de actiune si de viz­iune duhovniceasca si de cred­inta sufi­cienta pen­tru rezolvarea crizei actuale…

Citeste mai departe aici: Atitudini