3902 S Ferdinand St was previously the Columbia Congregational Church. When J.K. Edmiston platted Columbia City, he allocated free slots for churches. The Columbia Congregational Church was the first to take advantages of this offer. This building is a stop in the Columbia City Landmark Walking Tour.
The first church building, 1891
Congressional Church under construction
Newly built Columbia Congressional Church, 1924
Laying the corner stone of the Columbia Congressional Church
Columbia Congressional Church annual meeting
In 2008, a developer bought the church with the goal of converting the building into condos. When the condo project did not happen, the current owner bought the building in 2015.
Seattle architecture firm Allied8 was hired to deliver on new owner’s vision of transforming the building into a luxury, modern apartment while preserving as much of its history as possible.
This was a “make-it-work” project. The property had two strikes against it: the existing building was in disrepair and had been vacant for seven years; demolition and rebuild were not financially viable due to density limits of current zoning. Allied8 designed an adaptive reuse concept to include 14 units of housing and 2 retail spaces. The majority of the original structure was saved to preserve building character and history, including the historic “Columbia Congressional Church” cornerstone.
