Adding a sprinkler system posed a challenge. O’Shea Builders performed a laser scan of the building to create a virtual model that helped the team identify where unexposed sprinkler piping could run without interfering with the existing beams. The laser scan was used throughout the design process, providing a visual for Conn’s Hospitality Group and the historic preservation commission, explains Greg Doolin, AIA, LEED AP, director of preconstruction services for O’Shea Builders.
Other renovations include an HVAC system with ductwork in the basement, preventing any ductwork from being hung in the dining room. Although there is nothing in the works, Conn says if the company rolls out another hospitality concept or bar feature, it will do so in the basement where there is large open space and high ceilings.
In the back of the restaurant, the kitchen, prep room, manager’s office and utilitarian functions are housed in former classrooms that were not part of the original church.
Two offices (one for the minister and one for the secretary) have been preserved with the same woodwork, fireplaces, windows and bookshelves, and turned into banquet or meeting rooms. Updated bathrooms stand out in the old church with their modern accents.
As for the tall bell tower, the bell has been removed but windows were installed, helping to preserve the inside of the tower. A catwalk winds around four levels to the top, and lights have been added so patrons can view up into the tower though they cannot access it.
Outside of the tower, additional tuckpointing was required, and minor repairs were done to shingles on the roof. A parking lot was removed to put in the beer garden and bocce court, as well as the brewhouse facility.
Obed & Isaac’s opened Sept. 26, 2016, the day of Ellen Donmeyer’s birthday. “It’s an iconic building; everybody in Peoria knows this building,” Karen says about the church, which is perched just above I-74. “For tourists or visitors coming from the south to Peoria, it’s one of the first buildings they see, so the community embraced the fact that it needed to be adaptive reuse.”
Retrofit Team
OWNER: Conn’s Hospitality Group Inc., Springfield, Ill.
DESIGN BUILDER: O’Shea Builders, Springfield
ARCHITECT: Design Solutions Group LLC, East Peoria, Ill., (309) 213-0534
CIVIL ENGINEER: Mohr and Kerr Engineering and Land Surveying, Peoria
MEP ENGINEER: Keith Engineering Design, Peoria
HISTORIC CONSULTANT: IDEA Architecture, Peoria
INTERIOR DESIGNER: Savvy Shoestring & Interiors,
Springfield, (217) 793-0077
Materials
CARPET TILE: J+J Flooring Group
LVT FLOORING: Armstrong Flooring
VINYL FLOORING: Protect-All Flooring
PORCELAIN TILE: Crossville
PLUMBING FIXTURES: Peerless; Elkay; Sloan; and Gerber
LIGHTING: Lithonia Lighting
PAINT: Benjamin Moore
ACOUSTICAL CEILING TILE: Armstrong Ceiling & Wall Solutions
SOLID SURFACE: Wilsonart
HVAC: Trane
WHAT IS IT ABOUT BEER AND CHURCHES?
Perhaps it’s the long history of Trappist monks brewing beer in Europe since the 1600s that gives beer its spiritual connection, or maybe ornate sanctuaries are just a cool place to sip beer. Here’s a six-pack of notable renovated churches turned breweries:
- ST. JOSEPH BREWERY & PUBLIC HOUSE, Indianapolis, is housed in a former Catholic parish first erected in 1873.
- 3RD TURN BREWING, Louisville, Ky., restored a Methodist church space first built in 1878.
- URBAN ARTIFACT, Cincinnati, features a taproom in the basement of the St. Pius X Catholic church, built in 1876 (events are held in the sanctuary).
- SALT SPRINGS BREWERY, Ann Arbor, Mich., renovated a Methodist church from 1899.
- CHURCH BREW WORKS, Pittsburgh, is housed in a St. John the Baptist Church, built in 1902.
- BREWERY VIVANT, Grand Rapids, Mich., is considered the first LEED-certified brewery.
PRESERVING SPRINGFIELD
Conn’s Hospitality Group was established in 1948 when Court Conn’s father opened a small restaurant in downtown Springfield, Ill., eventually expanding to five restaurants. Those businesses sold by the ’90s, but Court and Karen Conn—the group’s current owners—remain focused on the past.
The couple began by buying a six-flat apartment building that was converted to a 13-room boutique hotel in Springfield called Inn at 835. For a year and a half, Karen emailed the owner monthly with a new historical tidbit she researched about the 1909 property until the owner caved and sold. Later, a small wedding and banquet facility was added to the back of the building, beginning the relationship the Conns have with O’Shea Builders, Springfield.
The couple’s follow-up project was a rundown house in Springfield built in the 1850s that has a direct tie to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln loaned the owner $650 to complete construction. Karen found the original loan document at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
The house, which was renovated and reopened as a coffee shop in 2014, shares property with another renovated house from the era that became the first Obed & Isaac’s brewpub. Knowing the Conns’ interest in old buildings, the city of Springfield reached out to them as the house was about to be demolished. Conn’s Hospitality Group transported the home a few blocks to the coffee shop property soon after, and the first Obed & Isaac’s was born.
During renovation of these buildings, Conn’s Hospitality Group saves all it can to preserve the integrity, look and history. For example, when paneling had to be torn down, it was reused to make a bar. “We wanted to try to convey to people that this is the way people used to live, and this is how our families lived in Springfield during Lincoln’s time,” Karen says.
PHOTOS: Conn’s Hospitality Group Inc.