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Missouri Church Makes Graceful Transition Into Awesome Art Studio

Sometimes art studios aren’t really studios. Sometimes creative minds need the space of a warehouse. In search of inspiration, underground artists often operate out of abandoned office buildings.

However, artist Mary Ostertag operates her art studio right from the comforts of her home. There’s one fascinating fact about her house—it used to be a church.

The former location of Grace Episcopal Church—now a one-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home and local art studio—in Clarksville, MO, is on the market for $249,000.

“The large chapel creates a dynamic, light-filled area to display her paintings,” says listing agent Ted Wight.

Originally built in 1869, the church on Third Street was a staple of town life until the 1930s, when it burned down. The current structure Ostertag owns is the rebuilt church from 1940. Architects Charles Nagel and Frederick Dunn were responsible for its reconstruction. They rebuilt the church in the Georgian style, with red bricks, a dual staircase leading to the front door, and 5-foot porthole windows.

“It had a small, local congregation,” Wight says. “[Opera singer] Christine Brewer gave recitals there when she was an emerging star.”

Over time, Grace’s congregation steadily dwindled, with just four members by 2011. The building then went up for sale and was bought by a creative couple with big ideas.

After they purchased it, Ostertag and her husband, Kirk, made a number of renovations and gave the place a holy makeover. They converted one room into the kitchen and the chapel into the living room, repurposed the sanctuary as Mary’s studio, gutted the downstairs hall to accommodate their bedroom, and used one of the pews to make their 10-foot-long dining table.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, converting the church into a full-time residence presented some challenges. Grace was infested with mildew, plus the plumbing and electrical systems had to be redone. The couple needed to rent storage space because the original building didn’t have a closet. The Ostertags, with the help of some local craftsmen, installed marble countertops and walnut cabinets.

The couple kept some of the church’s original features, including the Aeolian-Skinner organ, walnut wainscoting, and round glass windows.

The Ostertags think the original tenants of the property would be proud of what they did with the place.

“I think they’re happy now because we restored it, and it’s just classic and beautiful, and we didn’t do anything weird,” they told the Post-Dispatch. “We kept it to its original charm.”

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