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35 Buildings That Got Repurposed For Something Their Architects Probably Didn’t Even Dream Of (New Pics)
While my renovation means getting a new rug from Ikea, changing a lightbulb that’s been out of order for the past year (or five, if I’m being totally honest), and keeping my succulents alive, some people turn it into an art form.
Welcome to the inspiring collection of renovations that deserve their own place in history compiled by Bored Panda. From the abandoned church that’s been remade into a skater’s dream park to a defunct subway entrance that’s been cleverly turned into an actual entry to the Subway eatery, and it only gets better.
Scroll down, upvote your favorite remakes and repurposed buildings, and be sure to check out our previous posts with some more wonderful building conversions right here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Moved Here 4 Years Ago. Converted Victorian Church In England. Love This Room
RELATED:
#2
Stone Observatory Tower Converted To A Home
#3
The Building Used For The Swimming Events At The 2008 Summer Olympics In Beijing Was Transformed Into This Dope-Looking Waterpark
When we think of architecture, we start picturing an entire complex process that gets to make a building from zero. But very often, architects work with what they’re already given, whether it’s defunct objects or abandoned buildings, and they have to work their way around them to give these ghosts an entirely new meaning and purpose.
Repurposed buildings also have power to revitalize communities. It often happens when industrial structures like old factories are remodeled into community centers—sites of leisure.
#4
In Germany There Is Waterpark Called Tropical Islands. It's A Literal Tropical Island Built Inside An Old Blimp Hangar
#6
My Gym Used To Be Part Of An Asylum Complex. The Pool Used To Be A Church And The Confession Booths Are Now A Sauna
According to Kaelan Burkett, an author at Architizer, “repurposed buildings are not simply reincarnations of their former selves; an arts center does not have the same relationship to a community as a factory.”
“But these projects do not act as replacements or departures from what preceded them, either. When architecture is successfully repurposed, it does not hide its history, but instead becomes a relic, projecting its identity into a new age, and embodying the contradictory qualities of tradition and innovation, of preservation and progress.”
#7
Vienna Gasometers: Gas Storage Tanks First Built In 1896 And Converted Into Mixed-Use Developments Between 1995 And 2001
#8
Niccolò Paganini Auditorium, Parma, Italy, An Abandoned Sugar Factory Converted Into A Concert Hall By Renzo Piano In 1996
#9
This Abandoned Church Was Purchased By Skaters And Renovated Into A Dream Park
Kaelan also claims that repurposing architecture is not a new concept. For example, “The Hagia Sophia has been rebuilt, redesigned and redecorated many times in its lives as a church, mosque and museum. Similarly, the Kremlin has housed many regimes since its 14th-century construction, and undergone a corresponding evolution of forms.” In such cases, the changing roles of architecture often reflect or enforce political ideologies and claims to power.
#10
My New Apartment Still Has The Original Molding From When It Was A Hotel Ballroom In 1923
#11
Dublin: An 11th Century Viking Well And Stone Under A Local Shop
Aunt Messy 4 years ago
They've done similar things in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. Many of the shops built into the city and cathedral walls have sections of glass floor that contain tombs, building foundations, cellars, and wells.
#12
Stamba Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia, Designed In 2018 By Adjara Group And Located In An Old Printing House
#13
These Two UK Phone Booths Have Been Repurposed
Joey Marlin 4 years ago
I've seen a few of these used for defibrillators, have them in my village.
#14
The Hospital I Work For Was Originally Designed To Be A Hotel
#15
My House Turned 101 Today (Originally A 1920’s Corner Grocery)
CrunChewy McSandybutt 4 years ago
I wonder how many times they had someone banging on the window asking if they are open?
#16
My Town’s Library Is Under Construction, So They’re Using An Old Grocery Store As The Temporary Library
#17
This Defunct Subway Entrance Is A Working Subway Entrance
Dave P 4 years ago
still is an entrance into the real subway, see those stairs on the side, those go down an extra level. This is a "Commercial Cut Out" which is quote common in the NYC subway system and were designed that way to use the extra space are retail. THere are steps to the left and right (as you can see on the right here) that go down to the subway system. Sorry, this is someone misleading or ignorant.
#18
A Former Grain Silo In Oslo, Now Converted To Student Housing
#19
The Grand Concourse Built In 1898. Once Train Station Is Now A Restaurant In Pittsburgh, PA
#20
This McDonald's In New Zealand Has A Decommissioned Plane You Can Dine In
#21
A Ship's Bridge That Has Been Removed And Converted Into A House
#22
Regional Coffee Chain Buys Gas Station, Uses Car Wash As Drive Through
#23
Old Church Turned Into A 24/7 Pancake Restaurant
#24
Old Bank Was Transformed Into A Hotel, They Kept The Vault As A Meeting Room
CindyLouWho1209 4 years ago
Very cool! You can't come out until you all reach a consensus. (Swings the vault door shut.)
#25
This Hotel Is An Old Prison
#26
In The UK, Redundant Telephone Boxes Are Being Repurposed As Public Defibrillators
#27
My Girlfriend’s Office Used To Be A Bowling Alley. The Original Lanes Are Still There
Unwelcomed Guest 4 years ago
What a hassle it must to have to change your shoes every time you go to work
#28
This Hotel Is Built Out Of Train Cars
#29
The Old Don Jail (1864) In Toronto Converted Into Offices For The Newly Built Hospital Beside It In 2013
#30
Old Silo In Söderköping, Sweden, Repurposed As Housing
#31
McDonald's In The Art Deco Former "United Kingdom Hotel", Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia
ArchiBookworm 4 years ago
This isn't sad. If the building can't be repurposed into something commercially viable, it gets demolished and we lose that historic building. This is how preservation works, its how we save historic fabric.
#32
These Apartments Used To Be A YMCA
Raven Sheridan 4 years ago
Haunted by the ghosts of a construction worker, soldier, police officer, cowboy, biker and native American Indian.
#33
Old Church Converted Into A Gym
#34
A Smartphone Repair Office Inside A Telephone Box North Of Holborn Station
#35
Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre: A Former Commodities Exchange With A 750-Seat Theatre 'Pod' Tucked Inside. The Theatre Opened In 1976
Seán Baron 4 years ago
I've been there many times. When the IRA bomb went off in 1996, this was nearly destroyed.
#36
Wynnewood Barns, Once A Streetcar Barn Is Now A Community Centre/Artspace/Event Hall With Affordable Housing For Artists As Well
The dark grey lines are where the streetcar tracks used to be.
#37
This Covid-19 Testing Station In Calgary Is Inside An Old Rona Store
#38
Mills In Buffalo From Industrial Revolution Protected From Full Demolition And Converted Into Art/Public Entertainment Space
#39
Another Historic Tesco: The Perivale Store Is In The Grade II* Hoover Building, A 1933 Art Deco Masterpiece
Unwelcomed Guest 4 years ago
I used to drive past this all the time and thought is was an impressive building that just needed some TLC. Tesco was not the TLC I had in mind
#40
Good Morning From My New Neighborhood’s Trader Joe’s
#41
This Game Store Is A Converted Bank
engineer_nope.avi 4 years ago
The most coverted games: NWC 1990, Polybius, Poop Slingers, etc. are stored in there.
#42
Former Woolworths, Now A Walgreens. It Feels Like A Happy Accident That The Historic "W" Letter Still Works For The Building
ArchiBookworm 4 years ago
If this building is protected - the W actually can't be removed, it would be considered a primary feature of the building and is therefore itself protected.
#43
Carpet With Tracks In A Hotel In An Old Train Station
#44
This Parking Garage Was Once A Theater
#45
Brooklyn Army Terminal: Was A Rail Freight Yard, Now Individual Office Spaces
Kenneth Reid 4 years ago
It's not as gloomy as you would think, I worked here for a little while and this part is not really visible if you're in the main warehouse. This is like a chase between two separate buildings.
#46
This Hotel's Breakfast Lounge Is Inside An Old Bank Vault
LAWLAWLAW 4 years ago
The office I work in was originally a bank built in 1865 we still have the old vault etc we also have a f**k ton of draughts in the winter noisy leaky pipes dodgy electrics (probably still the original wires) no fire exit etc and as it's a grade 2 listed building it's a major pain to have any work done, so yeah working in a really old repurposed building isn't always pretty and fun
#47
Old Bank Turned Into McDonald's In Kristiansand, Norway
#48
The 1929 Tammany Hall Building. Once The Headquarters Of NYC’s Most Notorious Political Machine, It Has Been Converted Into Offices With A Modern Glass Addition
#49
While The Library Is Under Construction, An Old Grocery Store Is Being Used As A Temporary Library
#50
1883 Opera House Now A Market And Bakery In Florence, Kansas
#52
Former Movie Theatre, Now A Library
#53
This Old Bowling Alley Was Turned Into A Thrift Store In Canton, OH
Toni Alabakovski 4 years ago
I have lived in Stark County, OH my whole life and I didn’t know about this but I have an idea of where it is and it’s probably very much needed there.
#54
This School In My Town Was Transformed Into Apartments. I Think It's From The 1890s
#55
Our Locally Owned Movie Theatre Finally Gave Up And Is Becoming A Sports Bar
#56
This Old Bank Turned To CVS In Manhattan
#57
Armory In West Philadelphia Repurposed As US Squash National Training Center
CbusResident 4 years ago
This is near that playground where The Fresh Prince spent most of his days!
#58
Former Hot Topic Now Veterans Museum Denton, TX
#59
Hotel We Are Staying At In Newark Was Once A Bank
#61
Old Estate By My House Was Converted To A McDonald's
SirPatTheCat 4 years ago
I like the others, but this one is a little...eeh... it seems more like down-cycling than up-cycling haha
#62
Holy Cross Fit
#63
Urban Outfitters That Used To Be A Savings Bank - Northampton, Ma
Unwelcomed Guest 4 years ago
The amount of repurposed banks on this list is astounding. Why are so many closed down since in the western world Banks are the greatest recipients of public welfare (ie our tax dollars). My guess is when they take our tax dollars they shut down branches to appear to be responsible however they are just pocketing the profit for themselves
#65
This Little Caesars That Used To Be An Auto Shop
#67
The Scottsdale Bank Building In Connellsville, PA. The Building Originally Built For The West Penn Railway And Served As Both A Station And Offices
West Penn operated from 1904 to 1952 and was an electric interurban, or trolley line, that ran in southwestern Pennsylvania.
#68
Former Arby's In Boynton Beach, Florida, Now A Funeral Home
#72
The Disney Store Of Inland Center Is Now A Furniture Store. You Can Still See The Outlines Of The Film Reels Around The Entrance, And Mickey Shapes Etched Onto The Windows
Faith Hurst 4 years ago
I haven't been in that mall in a long time, even though I work near it. No idea that Disney Store was gone.
#73
Former Pizza Hut In Albany, Oregon. Now House Of Noodle
Tim Wilson 4 years ago
I think there should be a complete article on former Pizza Huts, they have been repurposed all over the country. Kinda cool to see, and somewhat nostalgic at the same time. Reminds me of a time when meals were enjoyed a bit more and not always crowded and rushed.
#76
Starbucks In A Former Gas Station - Miami, Florida
#77
Church That Used To Be A Toys R Us In Bridgeport, WV
#78
This Old Gas Station With A Car Wash Was Converted Into A Caribou Coffee Drive Thru
#79
2-For-1: Repurposed Original Taco Bell And An Old IHOP
#80
This Drive Thru Is Inside An Old Car Wash
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What do you think ?
Brooke Weber 4 years ago
I do appreciate how they kept the original architecture and made it work. Too many times beautiful buildings are torn down to make way for blocky, bland ones.
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
I prefer to see failed pubs here in England turned into McDonald's restaurants and Tesco shops rather than having them bulldozed and uglier buildings put up...
Heather Pobicki 4 years ago
Refreshing to see especially since you see so many businesses losing leases and then building the same buildings across the street. We are so wasteful in the US
CbusResident 4 years ago
These transformations get less uplifting and more depressing as one scrolls down.
Bex 4 years ago
In my city (which is super big on local history and was settled in the mid-1600's), there's an old Citizens National Bank that was built in 1877. In 1979 it was turned into a restaurant called Freestones. They kept the old vault doors, and made the inside of the vault a semi-private dining room with only 4 tables. It's such a cool building, inside and outside.
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
Many of these sadden me. Theaters as parking lots, churches as gyms. (The use of Kremlin by the Soviets is perhaps the world record for cultural misappropriation.) Some seem preferable to the utter loss of a structure but barely. Some are great uses for what once was industrial blight.
jpaul 4 years ago
in France they use Bordeaux old german uboot base for art exibits. like Hitler bunker, the thing would be just too costly to destroy (https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0xd5528f48803414b%3A0x4cef388c969254b7!3m1!7e115!4s%2Fmaps%2Fplace%2Fbordeaux%2Buboot%2Bshelter%2F%4044.8707716%2C-0.5599891%2C3a%2C75y%2C135.92h%2C90t%2Fdata%3D*213m4*211e1*213m2*211sTmjrpFwTMuOQP1JhLvwHfw*212e0*214m2*213m1*211s0xd5528f48803414b%3A0x4cef388c969254b7%3Fsa%3DX!5sbordeaux%20uboot%20shelter%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e2!2sTmjrpFwTMuOQP1JhLvwHfw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjl4qTo7cTxAhWO4YUKHRYnB5sQpx8wG3oECFsQCA)
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago (edited)
The main commercial art gallery (commercial gallery, not commercial art) in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC is The Torpedo Factory. It was built as a munitions factory, immediately after WW1, and after WW2 became a documents repository.
Load More Replies...
Bella, Your Kitty-Loving Queen 4 years ago
I went to this restaurant that used to be a bank. Now the vault is just used for storage I guess, but the door looks super cool.
thefaithfulspouse 4 years ago
I'm sad that the church converted into a climbing gym in Dayton Ohio isn't on here
Seán Baron 4 years ago
In the UK there's a chain of wine bars I used to work for called All Bar One, and one in particular bar I helped out at was originally a bank, then it became an All Bar One with the headquarters above it. Then they sold the building and it became a bank again.
Brooke Weber 4 years ago
I do appreciate how they kept the original architecture and made it work. Too many times beautiful buildings are torn down to make way for blocky, bland ones.
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
I prefer to see failed pubs here in England turned into McDonald's restaurants and Tesco shops rather than having them bulldozed and uglier buildings put up...
Heather Pobicki 4 years ago
Refreshing to see especially since you see so many businesses losing leases and then building the same buildings across the street. We are so wasteful in the US
CbusResident 4 years ago
These transformations get less uplifting and more depressing as one scrolls down.
Bex 4 years ago
In my city (which is super big on local history and was settled in the mid-1600's), there's an old Citizens National Bank that was built in 1877. In 1979 it was turned into a restaurant called Freestones. They kept the old vault doors, and made the inside of the vault a semi-private dining room with only 4 tables. It's such a cool building, inside and outside.
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
Many of these sadden me. Theaters as parking lots, churches as gyms. (The use of Kremlin by the Soviets is perhaps the world record for cultural misappropriation.) Some seem preferable to the utter loss of a structure but barely. Some are great uses for what once was industrial blight.
jpaul 4 years ago
in France they use Bordeaux old german uboot base for art exibits. like Hitler bunker, the thing would be just too costly to destroy (https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0xd5528f48803414b%3A0x4cef388c969254b7!3m1!7e115!4s%2Fmaps%2Fplace%2Fbordeaux%2Buboot%2Bshelter%2F%4044.8707716%2C-0.5599891%2C3a%2C75y%2C135.92h%2C90t%2Fdata%3D*213m4*211e1*213m2*211sTmjrpFwTMuOQP1JhLvwHfw*212e0*214m2*213m1*211s0xd5528f48803414b%3A0x4cef388c969254b7%3Fsa%3DX!5sbordeaux%20uboot%20shelter%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e2!2sTmjrpFwTMuOQP1JhLvwHfw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjl4qTo7cTxAhWO4YUKHRYnB5sQpx8wG3oECFsQCA)
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago (edited)
The main commercial art gallery (commercial gallery, not commercial art) in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC is The Torpedo Factory. It was built as a munitions factory, immediately after WW1, and after WW2 became a documents repository.
Load More Replies... Bella, Your Kitty-Loving Queen 4 years ago
I went to this restaurant that used to be a bank. Now the vault is just used for storage I guess, but the door looks super cool.
thefaithfulspouse 4 years ago
I'm sad that the church converted into a climbing gym in Dayton Ohio isn't on here
Seán Baron 4 years ago
In the UK there's a chain of wine bars I used to work for called All Bar One, and one in particular bar I helped out at was originally a bank, then it became an All Bar One with the headquarters above it. Then they sold the building and it became a bank again.
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