35 Renovated And Repurposed Buildings That Have Wonderful New Lives Now

Old buildings have a way of making people stop and stare, especially when they come back to life in unexpected ways. A church becomes a gym, a prison becomes a hotel, and a gas station turns into something nobody saw coming.

This collection is all about repurposed spaces that kept their character while getting a completely new purpose. Some are practical, some are quirky, and some are so creative they barely feel real.

Scroll through these renovated buildings and see how history can look when it gets a second chance.

1. "Old Church Converted Into A Gym"

Runikal

2. "Moved Here 4 Years Ago. Converted Victorian Church In England. Love This Room"

misterzeee

3. "A Smartphone Repair Office Inside A Telephone Box North Of Holborn Station"

Kuzu9

4. "Regional Coffee Chain Buys Gas Station, Uses Car Wash As Drive Through"

dephanitly

5. "Gas Station Greenhouse"

ansquaremet

6. "Dublin: An 11th Century Viking Well And Stone Under A Local Shop"

Parisduonce

7. "My Girlfriend’s Office Used To Be A Bowling Alley. The Original Lanes Are Still There"

joestn

8. "A Former Grain Silo In Oslo, Now Converted To Student Housing"

heythere011

9. "The Old Don Jail (1864) In Toronto Converted Into Offices For The Newly Built Hospital Beside It In 2013"

sledgehammer_77

10. "The Building Used For The Swimming Events At The 2008 Summer Olympics In Beijing Was Transformed Into This Dope-Looking Waterpark"

TheTwoSeventeen

11. "A Ship's Bridge That Has Been Removed And Converted Into A House"

Washpedantic

12. "This Hotel Is An Old Prison"

pistrel

13. "Old Church Turned Into A 24/7 Pancake Restaurant"

ThatOldGuyWhoDrinks

14. "These Apartments Used To Be A YMCA"

chumleesdog

The AITA fight between the disabled sibling’s accessibility needs and the family home attachment hits hard.

15. "Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre: A Former Commodities Exchange With A 750-Seat Theatre 'Pod' Tucked Inside. The Theatre Opened In 1976"

SirJohnUmfrevile

16. "This Defunct Subway Entrance Is A Working Subway Entrance"

handsgrubber

17. "The Grand Concourse Built In 1898. Once A Train Station, It Is Now A Restaurant In Pittsburgh, PA"

Dry_Way4135

18. "In Germany, There Is A Waterpark Called Tropical Islands. It's A Literal Tropical Island Built Inside An Old Blimp Hangar"

reddit.com

19. "This Hotel Is Built Out Of Train Cars"

Cessnateur

20. "My Town’s Library Is Under Construction, So They’re Using An Old Grocery Store As The Temporary Library"

pooshins

21. "Old Bank Was Transformed Into A Hotel; They Kept The Vault As A Meeting Room"

WoollyMonster

22. "This Abandoned Church Was Purchased By Skaters And Renovated Into A Dream Park"

BirchTainer

23. "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"

loopy53

24. "These Two UK Phone Booths Have Been Repurposed"

axnu

25. "Old Silo In Söderköping, Sweden, Repurposed As Housing"

paulplutt

26. "My New Apartment Still Has The Original Molding From When It Was A Hotel Ballroom In 1923"

vlcnus

27. "This McDonald's In New Zealand Has A Decommissioned Plane You Can Dine In"

timfox1

28. "Vienna Gasometers: Gas Storage Tanks First Built In 1896 And Converted Into Mixed-Use Developments Between 1995 And 2001"

archineering

29. "In The UK, Redundant Telephone Boxes Are Being Repurposed As Public Defibrillators"

skillian

30. "McDonald's In The Art Deco Former 'United Kingdom Hotel', Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia"

IceColdFrozenDrip

31. "Niccolò Paganini Auditorium, Parma, Italy, An Abandoned Sugar Factory Converted Into A Concert Hall By Renzo Piano In 1996"

archineering

32. "The Hospital I Work For Was Originally Designed To Be A Hotel"

reoltlaonc

33. "Stone Observatory Tower Converted To A Home"

reddit.com

34. "My House Turned 101 Today (Originally A 1920’s Corner Grocery)"

haganwalker

35. "Stamba Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia, Designed In 2018 By Adjara Group And Located In An Old Printing House"

archineering

When we think of architecture, we imagine a long and complicated process that culminates in the creation of a structure from the ground up. Architects, on the other hand, frequently deal with what they're given, whether it's dead things or abandoned buildings, and they must work around them to give these ghosts new meaning and purpose.

Communities can be revitalized by repurposing buildings. This frequently occurs when industrial structures, such as old factories, are renovated into community centers and leisure destinations.

And that's what it's all about, revitalizing communities.

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