A Webster Groves couple seeks redemption for a historic church.
LISA AND DAN MACHECA’S transformation of a Gothic church into The Clifton Heights Inn had heavenly results.
The couple carved out three guest rooms from the former Fry Memorial Methodist Church’s religious education classrooms, each with an elegant bath. They also converted the church’s sanctuary into a different type of event space that still radiates beauty and peace. An intricate stained glass story window provides a dramatic backdrop for weddings, meetings, parties, and private dinners.
Before taking ownership, in 2004, the couple had long admired the building, built in 1905 in sleepy Clifton Heights. “Dan’s sister lives three houses down, so we were aware of the property,” Lisa says. “The congregation had dwindled to just 19 members. We knew it was going to be sold.”
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Cut from the Same Cloth
“Turkey Tracks” is a 19th-century quiltmaking pattern that has the appearance of little wandering feet. Patterns like the tracks, and their traditions and myths, have been passed down through the generations, from their frontier beginnings to today, where a generation of makers has embraced the material as a means of creating something new. Olivia Jondle is one such designer. Here, she’s taken an early turkey track-pattern quilt, cut it into various shapes, and stitched the pieces together, adding calico and other fabric remnants as needed. The result is a trench coat she calls the Pale Calico Coat. Her designs are for sale at The Rusty Bolt, Jondle’s small-batch fashion company based in St. Louis. —SAMANTHA STEVENSON
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