Historic Silver Lake church turned into unique apartment building

SILVER LAKE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- This 1920s church in Silver Lake was converted into an apartment building, so I wanted to take a look inside.

Alyssa Valentine works at Courtney and Kurt Real Estate. She's the listing agent for the building.

"Each unit has three separate levels and two bedrooms. So one bedroom on the top level and one on the bottom. And then the primary living spaces in between," said Valentine.

When the renovation began, the developer kept several elements. Most of the stained-glass windows are intact, as well as the facade.

"Interestingly, in two of the larger units, there's still the altar. So there's still that step up to what is now the kitchen space and dining space," said Valentine.

This type of conversion is extremely rare in Los Angeles, according to James Steel, an architecture professor at USC.

"It doesn't happen that often but when it does it usually requires a process of desacralization. A ceremony that allows it to be transferred from sacred to secular use," said Steel.

Records show that this church's denomination was Melkite Catholic and built in 1926.

But today, it has six trendy, tri-lofts with a gothic twist.

"Each of the units are named after a saint. For the majority of our units, that's because they have a stain glass window inside their unit which has that saints name on it," said Valentine.

While this living space is certainly unique, Valentine understands it isn't for everyone.

Cyrus Summerlin toured the apartment before moving into the neighborhood.

"My initial thoughts were, it's a little dark in here, it's a little cramped and I might see a ghost but it's kind of cool," he said.

"In general, I think that you've got to be prepared to live in a unique space and embrace that for all it's worth," said Valentine.