Buford's Main Street Church

Metro Atlanta

Buford's Main Street Church

Cheryl Bowlin and Richard McMahan have spent almost two years restoring a 100-year-old church on Main Street in Buford. Take a tour of the revitalized structure.

Cheryl Bowlin and Richard McMahan have spent almost two years restoring a 100-year-old church on Main Street in Buford, Ga. Purchased for $550,000, the church and the land behind it (including another building) will be worth $1.5 million when the renovation is done.

The couple has done everything, from finding new old stained glass to putting in new plaster, stripping the walls and trim and sanding the floors. Here is the basement floor with an impressive design on the concrete squares.

Cheryl Bowlin (left) and Richard McMahan stand in the balcony of the historic Buford church they restored. The couple also bought the burned house, a former parsonage, next door to the church and salvaged one of its mantels for the church's sanctuary.

The stained glass in the main sanctuary is a combination of original glass and glass that was made by the same manufacturer to match the old glass.

The church's original coal burning stove furnace sits in its basement. Bowlin and McMahan moved this furnace from another spot of the basement with the help of several men --the stove weighs close to the size of a small car.

The Presbyterian congregation that once inhabited this church eventually outgrew this 1923 brick structure.

Through the years, the church was used for a variety of purposes, then eventually it sat locked and idle.

The church's stencil designs are copied from books of 19th century stencils used in Europe.

A bathroom in the church's basement. At left is a opening where coal was brought from outside to the furnace inside.

A sketch of the design for a portion of the ceiling. Although the couple is not sure what the structure will become, both say it would be perfect for a dinner theatre, a restaurant or comedy club.

The remodeled church, which has definitely caught the community's eye, is yet another part of a growing historic movement in Buford.

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Cheryl Bowlin and Richard McMahan have spent almost two years restoring a 100-year-old church on Main Street in Buford, Ga. Purchased for $550,000, the church and the land behind it (including another building) will be worth $1.5 million when the renovation is done.

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