My church's building burned in 1998, struck by lightning, six days before my daughter's wedding! (My now son-in-law and his father were/are volunteer firemen and answered the call. Hubby managed to get in some last minute quips, all good natured, about lengths he would go to in order to stop the wedding!)

All this to say...the church was originally built circa 1880's (that's old around here) and since it was in a historic district and various codes and laws had to be kept, rebuilding was fairly involved. There had to be structural experts as well as historical preservation experts to oversee the plans. The final result was a beautiful sanctuary, structurally more sound, which was rebuilt within the original brick walls. The pulpit area in now larger, but the pipes for the old organ are gone.

I was not involved in any of the planning...I run from things like that...but if you're interested I can get more info. PM me and I can send pictures of the interior and exterior. (URL)

One thing I remember is that we had to have new hymnals immediately, so the minister called up the publishing company. They asked, "What color, we have 10 colors." He was flabbergasted since he didn't even know what color the new sanctuary would be.