Orchard Hill Church

Neighborhood EventStrip District 2021

Dec 6

1620 Penn Avenue | 1 pm - 4 pm

YOUR EXPERIENCE

Visitors are welcome inside to explore the historic and newly revitalized space which has had many uses over the years. Still intact after many years of reimagination are the central stain glass window and mosaic floor tiles, some of which read S.E. for St. Elizabeth the original church that lived here.

NOTE: This building opens at 1 pm.

ABOUT THIS BUILDING

The Orchard Hill Church Strip District building, formerly St. Elizabeth Church, was built in 1908 to serve the Slovak community, including at one point a young Andy Warhol. In 1993, the parish was merged with St. Patrick and St. Stanislaus Kostka, which used it as a social hall and storage space.

In 2001, the building was sold to Ross Township restaurateur who invested nearly $1 million to open the building in 2002 as the dance club “Sanctuary,” using religious imagery. The building was sold again in 2006 and converted it to “Altar Bar,” with an emphasis on live music performance.

The venue hosted such notable acts as Snoop Dogg, St. Vincent, Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots, and was also the focal point of the Strip District Music Festival.

The building was sold to Orchard Hill Church in 2016, extensively remodeled, and re-opened for services in 2019.