Green Door Bed and Breakfast

Regeneration of an art deco classic

Formerly: Brockville Pentecostal Tabernacle
Address: 61 Buell Street, Brockville
Built: 1928
Adapted: 2005

The Brockville skyline is graced by steeples and towers that mark the churches of various Christian denominations whose United Empire Loyalist roots extend back to the late 18th century. As in many cities, some historic buildings in Brockville became underutilized as the city’s population and businesses moved out of the core. This situation, however, presented Lynne and Peter Meleg with the opportunity, in 2005, to acquire the vacant Brockville Pentecostal Tabernacle. With considerable “sweat equity,” they carefully transformed it into the Green Door Bed and Breakfast.

“We wanted to do a bed and breakfast for a while, and when we came across the building we just had to have it,” Lynne explains. “We were enamoured with the building, which was a very sound structure with no interior supporting walls, ideal for what we had in mind.” Pointing to the location of the former stage, Peter adds, “We thought the stage was a unique feature of the building, and we managed to figure out a way to keep it.” The couple transformed the stage into a library, now the focal point of the interior, and used art deco revival décor to augment the former tabernacle’s 1920s character.

Fortunately, when the Melegs acquired the building it was in sound structural condition, possessing a completely open floor plan and a modest scale. These attributes and its location – within walking district of the city’s commercial core – made their project not only possible, but highly successful.