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Brief History
The St Mary’s Church Centre was built in 1878 as the church
hall and offices for Broughton St Mary’s United Presbyterian
Church. It is situated on the boundary of the Edinburgh New
Town within easy walking distance of Princes Street. As you
can see from the photo on the right, the building is made up of
a three-storey building facing onto East Broughton Place and a
hall that faces onto Gayfield Street.
The proposal is that the developer will turn the office building
at the front into three residential properties and sell the hall
to us as a completely separate building with it’s own access.
This will require planning consent because it is a change of use
for the offices. We are hopeful that the planners will look
favourably on the overall project given the hall is being
retained for its original use as a church hall. The building is
Grade B listed as it forms part of the Edinburgh World
Heritage Site.
What will we use it for?
God wants us to continue to grow as a church and buying
a building is part of this process for us. Owning our own
building will give us great opportunities to stretch out into
new and amazing exploits for God.
It is exciting to think about the possible uses we can make of a
facility like this right in the heart of our city:
Reaching out
As a church we are passionate about
proclaiming the good news of Jesus. The building will provide
a great venue for events like Alpha, Just Looking, Quiz Nights
and African Drum Nights. More than that it also gives us a
great opportunity to be creative and come up with new ways
to reach out to our friends and families.
Serving the poor & needy
On the surface Edinburgh
may seem like a fairly affluent city, but you don’t have to look
very far to find people in desperate need of a church that
would demonstrate God’s love in practical ways. Take for
example the elderly person who feels isolated and lonely or
the single Mum who is struggling to raise a family on her own.
The message of the bible is clear - we are called to care for
people in need. This building will be a great asset to help us
step out more in this area.
Building Community
In Scotland the church used to
be at the heart of the local community. Sadly over the years
as the traditional church has declined so has the sense of
community that used to surround it. Having a building will
give us a great opportunity to restore a sense of community
through events such as mother and toddler groups, social
occasions like ceilidhs and courses on topics like marriage or
parenting.
A place for worship & prayer
One of the most
important things in the life of any church is glorifying God in
our worship and seeking him in our prayers. Having a building
that is available 24x7 will be fantastic and opens up new
opportunities for things like half nights of prayer and extended
times of worship. It will also provide an excellent venue for
the worship teams to meet and practice together.
What is it like inside?
The hall is a traditional design with the entrance on one wall
and a small stage at the opposite end. The ceiling is a
particularly impressive feature divided into three arched
sections. In the middle section there are two large circular
sky-lights that have been leaded over. These sky-lights would
have originally filled the middle and front of the hall with light
and we hope to re-instate this feature as part of the
renovation.
The usable floor space within the hall is pretty much square
and provides about 12m by12m of space. This should provide
enough room for between 80 and 100 people. In order to
have this many people in the hall we need to install a second
fire exit which we hope can be placed to the left of the stage.
Because the hall has until now formed part of a larger
building it doesn’t have its own toilet facilities. This will be a
key addition in order to use the hall as a stand alone building.
The central heating for the hall is also currently dependant on
the boiler in the offices at the front and hence we will need to
invest in our own boiler for the hall.
In addition to the basic services we would also like to have
some facilities to serve tea, coffee and snacks although it is
unlikely we will be able to fit in a full sized kitchen.
We are currently looking into all the options for the layout of
the refurbished hall and hope to be able to share some more
detailed plans and drawings with you shortly.
Internal Plan of the Hall
How much will it cost?
The building has cost us £430,000 to buy and we are estimating that
we will need to spend a further £70,000 to renovate it. The renovation
budget will mainly be used to install toilets, build an additional fire
exit and update the central heating system. Hopefully we will be able
to do some of the more minor renovation work such as decorating ourselves
– so get your paintbrushes ready!
Donate online
If you would like to donate to the building please click
the donate button below and make a donation via PayPay with
any major credit card or direct debit.
