1144 S. 23rd St. was home to a church for a long time, but it’s been sitting vacant for about a decade. A little over a year ago, we noticed that the building was getting a little bit of work done, mostly interior demolition. We observed that the building had traded in 2015 for $85K and that the new owners were looking to flip it. And flip it they did, finding a buyer at $155K shortly after we brought the property to your attention. We were hoping that a new buyer would renovate the existing building but retain some of its more unique architectural details. We were hopeful for one of the more unique looking buildings in the neighborhood.

Passing by the property over the last few months, we’ve been disappointed to see the building slowly transition to a more standard looking structure as the owners convert it into a single family home. Most upsetting is the fact that they’ve abandoned the lancet-style windows on 23rd Street, opting for normal, double hung windows you see all around town. It’s less surprising that they’ve relocated the front door from the middle of the 23rd Street facade to a more standard location, though it would have looked a little funny to maintain the door shape and location if they were going to square off the windows.

As we could have predicted, the developers have added a third story to the building. We wouldn’t have expected, though, for the new addition to be entirely covered in red cladding, an architectural choice that makes the home resemble a very small Target. The fact that the rest of the building (aside from a small section on the first floor) is covered in white stucco makes the Target vibe feel even more pronounced.

In the end, this will indeed be one of the most unique buildings in the neighborhood. It’s just not quite happening in the way we imagined.