20 Places That Got a Chance at a New Life

This may sound surprising, but there are churches that turned into fancy cafés, banks that are now glamourous bookstores, and more astonishingly, hotels — that at some point in human history — were actually jails. This is what we call “thinking outside the box.” These architects prove that having a cozy place to stay requires just a little bit of imagination.

This time, Bright Side has stepped into some old spaces that have been completely altered. At the very end, try to resist the urge to transform your apartment into something completely different, like a museum.

1. “My school’s library used to be a bank.”

2. “Moved here 4 years ago. It was converted from a Victorian church in England into a home. I love this room.”

3. “An old apartment complex in Saigon is now filled with restaurants and boutique stores.”

4. “The Liberty Hotel in Boston, formerly known as the Charles Street Jail”

5. “A 100-year-old church in Spain converted into a skate park”

6. “A Church in Charleston, SC that is now a restaurant”

7. “The waterpark, Tropical Islands, in a former airship hangar in Krausnick, Germany”

8. “An old bank in Brooklyn repurposed into a Trader Joe’s”

9. “My apartment building used to be a school.”

10. “A church repurposed into a climbing gym”

11. “A courtroom that’s now a café in St. Albans, England! The cells are now bathrooms.”

12. “A hotel I stayed at was formerly a train station and had an actual train inside it with rooms inside each car.”

13. “My friend’s living room in Brooklyn, NY — the apartment was built inside an old church.”

14. “The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles was originally a bank. The bookstore acts more like a museum with its vaults and unique book sculptures.”

15. “My hotel in Oxford, England is a former prison.”

16. “A church that turned into a trampoline park known as The Hague in the Netherlands”

17. “This satellite lab used to be a McDonald’s.”

18. “My local library used to be a jail.”

19. “A meatpacking plant in Patagonia is now the Singular Hotel. This industrial relic was turned into a unique, modern hotel.”

20. “An old bank is now a bookstore in Bucharest, Romania.”

Which of these buildings would you like to visit? Have you ever thought about turning your neighbor’s house into something ridiculous? Share your thoughts down below!