A historic and century-old church in Canada will soon become just another commercial space.
Saint-Charles Church in Vanier, has recently been sold by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa to LineBox Studio for $4 million.
On Monday, the archdiocese announced that the space on St. Charles Street, between Beechwood Avenue and Barrette Street has been sold because it was too expensive to maintain.
According to the report by the Ottawa Citizen, the church has been vacant for almost four years, due to the dwindling number of parishioners attending every Sunday.
"Following a pastoral revision and the fact that less than 100 parishioners attended Sunday Mass, the parish council asked the archbishop to close the church," said the episcopal vicar for the fracophone sector Msgr. Daniel Berniquez.
Proceeds for the Saint-Charles Church sale will be distributed among other parishes, the pension fund for priests, and an endownment fund to support pastoral work.
Meanwhile, LineBox Studio architect Andrew Reeves assured that the interior of the church, at least those areas which area accessible to the public would be retained.
"We want to protect and preserve (the church) and celebrate it for what it was and what it can be", Reeves said in an interview.
This is not the first time a religious building will be transformed into a commercial institution. St. Bridgid's Church in Lowertown was also sold by the Archdiocese. Now it is known as the Saint Brigid's Centre for the Arts.