Churches, it turns out, make excellent homes. You can buy your own holy house on Vashon Island for $579,000, with a bonus schoolhouse thrown in, too (more on that later).
The Dockton Church was a real church, if the photos leave any room for doubt. Built in 1918, Vashon Islanders heard Sunday sermons and sang hymns in what, today, is now a fully-furnished home. The main floor is an open, light-filled space that triples as living room, dining room, and kitchen. If you can play the pipe organ that comes with it, the space quardruples as a music room.
Downstairs includes a bedroom, bathroom, and an office/rec-room. Upstairs features a loft master suite with large, beautiful dormers. White is, fittingly, the visual theme of this home, and adding to the peculiarity, this home has softwood floors, a more rustic alternative to hardwood. In this space, the combination works well.
This home is not for the religiously-adverse—it’s impossible to forget that this building once played a very different role. The Gothic windows remain, and climbing the stairs to the master bedroom feels exactly like ascending into a choir loft. A steeple and church bell come with the house, as well. Not many people can say they own a functional bellower. Their loss?
And the schoolhouse! I didn’t forget. As if this 1.08-acre property needed more, it comes with a two-bedroom, 1,248-square foot cottage that once acted the church’s schoolhouse. The schoolhouse has its own rustic charms, including a large, covered back porch overlooking the property.
For just over half a million, you can live in a church, and your guests can live in a schoolhouse. Only on Vashon does this strange combination exist—and on the same acre, too.
