Reimagining an unique and historic church
DBA was retained by Substance Church to assist in renovating, remodeling and updating the historic Wesley Church as a permanent location for their downtown Minneapolis campus. One of the older buildings in downtown, Wesley Church opened in 1892 and features a unique classic architectural style and innovative structural design. In 1984, Wesley Church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building exterior, main and upper floors, and certain aspects of the building’s structural and mechanical systems were covered by the historic designation, as were all of the priceless stained glass windows and skylights. While the building’s significant photographic history helped to guide our design decisions, its extensive remodeling history also added to the challenge of what could and could not be done to these spaces.
Taking extreme care to protect irreplaceable assets
Wesley’s crowning feature is its breathtaking stained glass windows and skylights. During the 10-month construction process, we took extreme care to ensure that these historic wonders would be enjoyed by future generations — and found creative ways to work differently. Vibration caused by construction equipment had to be limited. Because the building, except for the exterior stone walls, is primarily wood, the use of arc welders and cutting torches was limited.
First, we had to renovate the sanctuary, stage and balcony spaces to solve existing structural and building aging problems throughout the spaces to provide a safer, friendlier and ADA-compliant space. This included rebuilding the entire stage floor and related structural support system, all without adding significantly to the load of the existing building structure, and redesigning and rebuilding the existing balcony railing system, which involved adding handrails for increased safety and had to be done in a manner that respected the original building design.
The main worship space also needed contemporary AVL systems. This included completely new house and stage lighting and lighting control systems that had to essentially be hidden and worked into the fabric of the original design, as well as new video projection and house sound systems that dealt with the same issues. We sought to make changes that were and are reversible to allow for the possibility that a future owner may want to go in a different direction. An example of this type of reversible design change was the addition of a compatible but functional AVL control booth to the main floor of the sanctuary that required removal of some pews.
Renovating the two-story fellowship hall
Designed for overflow seating, the two-story fellowship hall opens up to the sanctuary through a large uniquely designed and vertically structured bi-parting decorative wooden door. A new operating and control system for the door was installed to make it safer and more reliable. In addition, new lighting was added to this space, and old existing carpeting was removed and the original wood floor was restored.
A more usable lower level
We also gutted and completely renovated the entire basement level of the building to allow for early childhood classrooms, a small fellowship hall and updated restrooms. The original design of this part of the building was not protected by the historic designation, so extensive and much-needed updating could be done here. Only minor exterior restoration work was required at the time of this project, as the building exterior was in relatively good shape considering its age. Future exterior restoration work is planned to maintain the building’s integrity and usefulness.
Other important improvements
The entire building needed to be retrofitted with a new, yet hidden heating and cooling system. Conditioned supply and return air had to be introduced into the historic spaces in carefully concealed or camouflaged ways. No fresh air intake grills could be added to the building exterior or roof, so a concealed intake had be constructed.
Only minor exterior restoration work was required at the time of this project, as the building exterior was in relatively good shape considering its age. Future exterior restoration work is planned to maintain the building’s integrity and usefulness.