Looking for a cool sanctuary to live? One just hit the market

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IONA STATION – Why settle for a regular house for your next home when you can have a little slice of heaven?

Fully converted – pun intended – into a six-bedroom home with a secondary, two-bedroom unit in the basement, the former Iona Baptist Church has hit the market, up for sale with its original stained-glass windows and all.

The sale of the church has attracted a lot of attention from buyers who, surprisingly enough, are in the hunt for churches in which to live, said Laurie Murphy, a realtor with A Team London Brokerage managing the listing.

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“It’s shocked me how many people are in the market for a church and come up to me and say, ‘No, no, we are looking for a church to buy,’” she said.

The fact that, from the outside, the original purpose of the building is unmistakable has also been a big draw for buyers, Murphy said.

“When you see the listing, it’s a church,” she said. “You’re not getting something that was a church that doesn’t look like a church anymore. This still looks like a church.”

However, gone are the pews and the altar, the sanctuary replaced by an ample kitchen and living room space and three rooms on the main floor.

Built in 1864, a three years before Canada became a country, the structure was relocated in 1903 from Iona to its current location at 10096 Iona Rd., according to the Elgin County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. One of the chains used during the original move to Iona Station remains inside the property as part of a lamp fixture in the home.

Since its relocation, the church served as the main place of congregation for many in the community about 40 kilometres southwest of London until the late 1950s, when it stopped operating as a church as the number of members dwindled.

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It’s the second time the property has hit the market after the Home Mission Board of the Baptist Convention first sold the property in 2022 for $310,000 to an owner who rezoned the property for residential purposes and redid the basement.

The property was then acquired by its current owner for almost $540,000 and is now listed for $800,000.

Though it stopped operating as a church many decades ago, the connection from members of the community to the place is strong, said Murphy, adding dozens of people who grew up attending the church, some getting married or being baptized there, have decided to stop to take a peek at the renovated space.

“It has been a constant stream of people whose family members have a connection with the church,” Murphy said.

“They would talk about the history of their families and about the church picnics they would have here, and Sunday service . . . it really meant something to them.”

“The current owner of this bought it as a project, but really has become overwhelmed with the amount of feedback she’s gotten in terms of what happened in this building over the years,” Murphy said. “It’s given her almost a new meaning to this property.”

jjuha@postmedia.com

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