St. Elisabeth, Modern church in Brühl district, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
St. Elisabeth is a former Catholic church in Freiburg's Brühl district, built as a flat-roofed concrete block with a free-standing 22-metre bell tower. The west facade keeps its main entrance with large cast-iron portals by Franz Gutmann. Inside, four concrete columns carried a cassette ceiling, and the symmetrical nave had a choir barely separated by steps.
St. Elisabeth was built to Rainer Disse's 1965 design as the Catholic church of the Brühl district. After the parish merged with St. Konrad in 1997, the church was deconsecrated on 1 October 2006 and stood empty from 2007. A failed plan to house the Freiburger Barockorchester and ensemble recherche preceded the conversion to flats called Church-Chill, sold from January 2013, with first residents arriving in summer 2015.
The parish merged with St. Konrad in 1997, and the church was deconsecrated on 1 October 2006. The conversion, marketed as Church-Chill, kept the west portal with its stained-glass window; the Ordinariat had a ban on gambling halls and short-stay flats entered in the land register. Some flats still contain elements of the former church.
The building is now a residential complex that can be viewed from the street, where its architectural features are clearly visible. To appreciate the modern design and concrete details, plan for a careful exterior examination.
The 22-meter bell tower was separately purchased and restored under heritage protection regulations, becoming an independent feature of the complex. This separate conservation of the tower demonstrates an interesting approach to protecting architectural elements during redevelopment.
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