The Marc (former Our Lady of Victories Church) | 25-29 Isabella Street | Bay Villiage

At least they set the modern bit back from the front facade. The backside is ugly, though.
 
As of 3/115/2026. One of the better church coversions IMO.
 

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Love this project, can already tell it will look better than the Lucas nearby in the South End, but just saw the first listing and it appears someone is inhaling the frankincense over there.

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www.redfin.com

~$2,000 per square foot is asking A LOT right now. There's no actual dining room!

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Justbuildit said:
Love this project, can already tell it will look better than the Lucas nearby in the South End, but just saw the first listing and it appears someone is inhaling the frankincense over there.

Loading…

www.redfin.com

~$2,000 per square foot is asking A LOT right now. There's no actual dining room!

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stick n move said:
Yea its a pretty cool little adaptive reuse.
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Compared to a lot of other church to residential conversions, I think this one is going to look a lot less church-like. I can't decide whether that's a good or bad thing, but it will be a very interesting, if over priced building.
 
I feel like the front side still looks like a church tbh. Me personally though I dont really care much if it does or not my whole thing is just 1. Does it look nice and 2. Is the neighborhood a better place now with this new addition than it was before. If yes to both its a success imo.
 
If this was their goal, they should have just demolished completely and started from scratch instead. The enshittification of the preservation movement continues. What a mockery of adaptive reuse.
 
I like the Lucas better. This was a meh/boring church to begin with. I guess I'm glad they sort of preserved it just b/c most new development is alucobond, offset window boredom?
 
This is also squarely in Bay Village proper, which is fully a Historic District. While there have been a few new infill projects (Piedmont townhomes, a few on Arlington, 212 Stuart) I can't think of anything in recent history that was fully torn down and rebuilt in Bay Village. A historic church is an even higher bar I imagine, so complete new build has got to be out of the question.

I'd love to see something happen to the few remaining surface lots in the area, mostly the one behind this project facing Arlington and the one at Berkeley and Isabella to take up the last few parcels.
 
chrisbrat said:
I like the Lucas better. This was a meh/boring church to begin with. I guess I'm glad they sort of preserved it just b/c most new development is alucobond, offset window boredom?
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They're both hideous trash. Absolute abominations. The Bay Village Historic District and Boston Landmarks Commissions both abdicated their missions here. This kind of crap would never fly in Beacon Hill or the Back Bay. It shouldn't in Bay Village either.

I can't think of anything in recent history that was fully torn down and rebuilt in Bay Village. A historic church is an even higher bar I imagine, so complete new build has got to be out of the question.
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My point was that this is a worse outcome than if they razed the whole thing and replaced it with something completely different, which is what they should have done here instead of this farce. Instead they cut off the hand to save the finger and got another architectural Frankenstein's Monster. The only hope left now is for the Arlington St parking lot to be developed with something tall enough to completely mask what they've done to the backside of it from being visible from the public way.
 
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My opinion is that it isn't flattering when viewed from Arlington St, but if you're looking at the front of it from Isabella, it's a lot more subtle.

Keep in mind that this particular perspective is over a *surface parking lot* - In the long run that lot will most likely be redeveloped and this view will disappear, yet the housing will remain.
 
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