The Church Brew Works: St. John the Baptist Church - Lawrenceville, PA
PennsylvaniaPROJECT DETAILS
Interior View of the Church Brew Works Lawrenceville, PA
Credit: www.churchbrew.com
Project Name: The Church Brew Works
Historic Name: St. John the Baptist Church
Denomination: Roman Catholic
Architect: Louis Beezer, Michael Beezer and John Combs.
Construction Date: 1902
Date of Closure: 1993
Date of Reuse: 1996
Address: 3525 Liberty Avenue Lawrenceville, PA 15201
Neighborhood: The former church is located in a turn-of-the-century blue-collar mill community that had experienced population decline as steel foundries and glass plants closed.
Reuse: Microbrewery/Restaurant
Scope of Work: Installation of sizeable mechanical equipment for brewery and restaurant machinery. The space was essentially left intact but adapted for eating and a bar area, and an outdoor patio and seating area was installed.
Resolutions: In the case of Church Brew Works, the prospective developer was able to work with the representatives of the diocese to work out an acceptable usage and purchase price.
Awards: City Paper - Pittsburgh`s Best Brew Pub 8 years in a row Pittsburgh Magazine - Pittsburgh`s Best Brew Pub 8 years in a row Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation – Award of Merit
Impact: According to owner Sean Casey, “The synergy of new businesses is helping to maintain a concern and awareness for keeping the neighborhood safe!”
Starting a restaurant can be a daunting venture for any small time businessperson. Luckily, the former St. John the Baptist Catholic Church provided the perfect space for a restaurant and brewery. Now open for eight years, the Church Brew Works has been voted Pittsburgh’s best eatery due to the rave reviews for cuisine and ambience from local and national visitors.
When Sean Casey purchased the building in 1996, the church had been closed for a number of years after a long and slow decline in number of parishioners. Copper downspouts had been stolen, windows had been broken, and extensive water infiltration in the bell tower had damaged the masonry walls after the tower had been hit by lightning in the 1960s. Subsequent insensitive repairs further intensified the problems. In order to make economically efficient repairs to the former Irish Catholic church, the Casey family served as general managers of the construction project with assistance from family friends who had experience in the building trades.
The archdiocese was directly involved in the sale. Sean Casey negotiated the sale with the parish representative involved in property and planning and the archdiocese’s in--house lawyer. He also worked with the parish business manager and the local parish priest ---- Father Paul, a Capuchin monk – to help expedite the process and keep lines of communication open.
The entire process took approximately a year and a half. In order for the paperwork to be completed, the deed and sale went through the bishop’s diocesan representative who presented the paperwork to a body of priests and then a board of professional advisors who provided feedback. Mr. Casey said that people on the local and higher level of the diocese were aware of the commercial nature of the Brew Works since “many people in the various levels of the diocese ‘touch’ your concept and they wanted him as a small business owner to be aware of the extensive process.”
Mr. Casey followed a philosophy of highlighting the defining features of the building – high ceilings, woodwork, and a feeling of airiness. With a background in engineering, he declined to use a design professional when proposed ideas diminished what he felt were the important characteristics of the space. To install the brewery HVAC equipment, he avoided extensive ductwork that would visually impair the space and retained the loftiness of the space by installing the pipes and equipment along walls or out of the direct line of sight.
Although the microbrewery is located in the apse, which has resulted in some controversy, it is situated there for industrial design purposes and not for a symbolic reason. The location allows for one--ton pallets of grain to be delivered with ease and have spent drums of malt from the brewing process leave the building.
Unfortunately, asbestos and lead paint needed to be removed. But keeping to his instinct of not altering the space profoundly, Mr. Casey accomplished what many consider as the most sensitive and interesting reuse of a religious building. Given the amount of business and visitors that patronize the Brew Works, it still retains community as well as architectural significance. Area residents and visitors sit in the apse on the original pews that were modified to half their original length. The vast space of the church permits seating of large groups and provides a welcoming communal atmosphere. Keeping the configuration and features of the sanctuary space intact means that the Church Brew Works could conceivably be returned to a house of worship again one day.
For more information contact:
Sean Casey, President
The Church Brew Works
2525 Liberty Avenue
Lawrenceville, PA 15201
(412) 688-8200
www.churchbrew.com
Submitted by Patty Jo at: May 7, 2009
We visited your place last Sat. 5-2-09 Wow!! What a cool place. We had wonderful service from Joe and the food was fantastic!! We are from Minnesota and hope to visit our son again soon.