Limited time to save historic building in Sheffield as community rallies around long-abandoned church
There are only six months to raise £100,000
A project to restore a Grade-II listed building that has been abandoned for decades is gaining momentum, with thousands donated by the community.
Woodhouse Trinity Methodist Church has had a tumultuous time in recent years. Auctioneers have made numerous attempts to sell off the grand building to no avail.
However a new project has given hope to this long abandoned structure, as Woodhouse and District Community Forum (WDCF), in partnership with Darnall Musical Theatre Company, put forward plans to convert the overgrown building into a community theatre and social space.
”We want to buy the former church here in Woodhouse and turn it into a community theatre, arts and events space, cut also a very versatile space to allow us to do lots of different events in there and lots of different activities,” Jack Taylor, Chairman of WDCF and Darnall Musical Theatre Company, told The Star.
“With the WDCF we already run a lot of social cafes and dementia cafes which are kind of bursting at the seems really, and it feels like this would be a great location where we could expand those and do even more.”
The church itself dates back to 1878, when it opened its doors as a new place of worship for the people of Sheffield.
Built in a grand Italianate style, the impressive structure - on the corner of Chapel Street and Tannery Street - was at the heart of the community for centuries, however has since fallen into disrepair.
In the 2000s, church operations moved to a neighbouring hall and the Grade-II listed building was abandoned, and is now left empty underneath overgrown shrubbery.
Since as early as 2007, developers have set their sights on converting this structure into flats, with an application to turn it into six dwellings being submitted and ultimately withdrawn that year.
Similar proposals were submitted over the subsequent two decades however all have fallen through.
In January this year, an auction to sell the church failed to find a bidder who could meet the £125,000 asking price, and Jack and his team have since taken the opportunity to negotiate a plan with the current owner.
“About three years ago we were lucky enough to go into the building and have a look at it,” he added.
“We’ve always had aspirations of building a community theatre with it, but obviously we wanted to do a lot of research into the heritage element of the building.
“It’s a Grade-II listed building so we wanted to be really careful about how we restore and preserve the building so that it can be saved for the community and be something really special as well.”
Jack realises that these are lofty proposals, with £100,000 needed to secure the building in the first place.
The current owner has promised to cover the rest of the £25,000 of the asking price if they are able to raise these funds in the next six months.
And so far the prospects are looking bright, as the community has already backed the project with more than £18,000 donated in the space of two weeks.
Jack continued: “We’re doing really well in just over two weeks.
“It’s been amazing to see some really big donations coming in - we’ve had £10,000, £5,000, £1,000 donations.
“A lady who lives near me dropped a check off for £100 yesterday. It’s really nice that people are stopping you and getting involved throughout the community.”
Ultimately, Jack says that the project is about more than a heritage site, but putting “the heart back in Woodhouse.”
“The reason we turned our attention to this building is that there’s been a lot of talk withing the community to say ‘we’ve got to save this building, it’s got to become part of the community again’.
“We’re really passionate about putting the heart back into Woodhouse. It felt like we launched the project and everyone went ‘yes, this is exactly what we want’.
“There’s been so many positive comments, so many people offering their helps, their services, their expertise.
“Everyone’s really excited and passionate about it so I can’t wait to see how it develops.”