“Heritage Renovation: We Think We Did It Right? - 3"

Bridgit
2 days ago
3 min read

The Project Begins: Our Original Heritage Renovation Plan

By the time we took possession of our 139-year-old building, a structure with four bricks of thickness in its proud, but weary walls, it had already seen more than its fair share of “just enough” repairs. Emergency patches and temporary fixes had kept it standing, but only just. We inherited a place that had been reacting to time, not resisting it. It was finally our turn to shift the story.

Our Ambitious List

When we first sat down to outline what needed doing, the list was both obvious and overwhelming:

Stabilize and repair the aging structure (hello, crumbling brickwork and sagging joists).
Total refit of all plumbing and electrical (going to be hard as there are no cavities between the bricks - so chasing or under floor or over ceiling with false walls to hide the electrics).
Re-render, repaint and refinish every surface including the 9 feet high ceilings.
Install heating and cooling that didn’t rely on guesswork and prayer.
Update the layout to suit our needs without stripping the space of its character.

We weren’t just making the building safe; we were trying to let it breathe again. Help it find its voice. It needed to sing with the spirit it was built for, to feel like a church in every creak and shadow, not a modern kit build interior, stripped of its soul.

Instincts and Inspirations

Some decisions were purely practical—like reinforcing the foundation before anything else. For subsidence - we used Mainmark - internationally recognised in ground engineering and asset preservation. The work resulted in the church being lifted on the northern-western side by 13mm and the ground beneath the church stabilised. On a side note, we had approval from Mid Coast Council to do this ahead of the DA as it was a necessary preservation activity not a change activity.

Truck on road — Mainmark - ground stabilisation and asset preservation

Others decisions? Not so much. We kept saying things like “it just feels right to keep the original floors” and yes, we are so glad we did. There was a door that had been bricked in - we said “this doorway is weird as it went nowhere, but let’s restore its original intent anyway.” We let instinct lead where blueprints were unavailable other than this original advert we found in Trove.

Advertisement in newspaper — ***The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser Sat 21 May 1887***

There was a romance to it, and we leaned in hard without really knowing that is what we were doing. We also found ourselves making aesthetic choices that had no explanation other than, “it’s what the building seems to want.” Especially when it came to the floorboards. That may sound eccentric, but when you’re dealing with a place that’s seen nearly a century and a half of hundreds and thousands of people walking, kneeling, praying, with purpose and spirit, you start to listen differently. We thank Round2Timbers in Newcastle for their work with these boards.

The "Ignorance Is Bliss" Stage

At this point in the process, we were still full of optimism. The walls hadn't yet fully revealed their secrets. We hadn't found the extent of the dampness or the extent of the termite damage and we had found the ceiling to be in excellent shape, so we were super happy. We still didn’t really know what we didn’t know. Especially when it came to "use" of the building and subdivision of the property which is how we were hoping to pay for the renovations.

We often found ourselves speaking in hopeful tones about what the space could become — using words that felt full of purpose, even if a little naïve in hindsight. Though its new life would carry a different purpose than a traditional church, we were intent on preserving the sense of sanctuary. Whatever else changed, it still needed to feel like a place where people could exhale, feel held, and be safe.

In our minds, the renovation was a linear process: step one, step two, celebrate. We believed in the magic of planning. We still thought the budget might hold. This was the honeymoon phase of our relationship with the building. A mix of naiveté, inspiration, and stubborn hope. And if we’d known what was coming? We might have run but we did not. I think we said before - heritage renovation - it is not for the faint of heart.

And that’s where the real story begins.

In the upcoming Blogs we will cover: