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The Sanctuary, located in the Capitol Hill Historic District, was While the interior was radically reorganized for its new use, the
built in 1898 as the Ninth Street Christian Church and expanded in exterior was preserved and restored to the original design intent.
1916. Built in the Gothic Revival style, the church served parishioners Cumberland Stained Glass, a Pennsylvania company, painstakingly
through 2014, when the Way of the Cross congregation relocated restored 132 leaded stained-glass windows, using original and
to a new church in Prince George’s County. The building’s new reproduction pieces. The design team worked closely with the DC
owners hired Bonstra|Haresign Architects to convert the building Historic Preservation Review Board to receive permission to
to condominiums. replace select panels of stained glass with transparent vision glass,
With zoning relief in hand, the design and construction team set affording residents views to the outside.
about subdividing the 35,000-square-foot building into 30 residential An incongruous storefront main entrance was replaced with
units. The church’s wood-framed ground floor, second floor, roof, a historically compatible mahogany wood door; new exterior
and vaulted ceilings were preserved; new framing was added to light fixtures with diagonal leaded glass patterns were selected to
divide the double-height worship space into a third floor and a complement the stained glass.
mezzanine. Structural elements revealed during demolition, Topping out the Sanctuary is the penthouse unit, which
including masonry openings from the church to the annex and captures the previously uninhabitable 85-foot-high bell tower as
stacked brick-and-stone slab columns, are exposed and highlighted an aerie overlooking Capitol Hill.
in the renovation.

The sanctuary
before renovation.
Courtesy of Bonstra | Haresign
ARCHITECTS

Living room of an apartment in the Photo © Eric Taylor
original sanctuary space.
REGILDED AGE 25