The bedroom is located on a mezzanine just below the roof of a church. The minimal decor and simple arrangement of the room reflect the client’s modest tastes. The small pewter spotlights and pendant by Holloways of London connect to an exposed galvanized conduit that is set against the brick above the bed.

This home in a former Chicago church fully utilizes an original stained-glass window in its light-filled kitchen.

With the free-floating birch pod defining the space, and the massive Venetian chandelier accentuating the volume, the great room is, indeed, great. The Suarezes wanted the living area to be a place where the family could be occupied individually while still together. Bonnie works in the kitchen while Santiago (seated on an IKEA couch borrowed from one of their sons until they find something else) works on the computer.

The undulating white-cedar door is a replica of one Santiago admired at a sushi bar in Japan.

Church, who specializes in robotic assisted surgery, is also a skilled knitter.

Referencing the First Presbyterian Church’s slate roof, 12 + Alder makes nice to its divine neighbor.

This couple makes good use of limited space by using the front loft of their weekend home for both work and play.

Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, and Pierre Jeanneret designed the LC4 Villa Church lounge for Cassina.

The most dramatic view in the apartment, the First Presbyterian Church looms large in the Kovel living room.

St. John's Lutheran Church.

Trinity Church, Boston, Massachussetts (1877) H.H. Richardson, a singular individual who made a practice of wearing monks' garb on a daily basis, created the Trinity Church in a style that became known as 'Richardsonian Romanesque'. The structure's rounded arches, broad earthbound tower supported by four piers, and articulated masonry, signaled an optimism and exuberance for solidity that has been repeated in churches and civic buildings across America.

The reinforced-concrete Church of St. Wenceslas, completed in 1930.

Richard Meier, Jubilee Church (1996) American architect Richard Meier won a design competition held by the bishop of Rome to create a church for the far suburbs of the Italian capital. Meier’s design recalls ships in a harbor, with three airy sails of self-cleaning concrete fanning out from the main chapel. Most miraculous, perhaps, is that the company that developed the special concrete for this project suggested that the material actually fights pollution and absorbs noxious chemicals in car exhaust. Photo courtesy Jeffrey Montes, Creative Commons

The Jubilee Church in Tor Tre Teste, Italy, 1996-2003. (Copyright Scott Frances) “White is the most wonderful color because within it you can see all the colors of the rainbow. The whiteness of white is never just white; it is almost always transformed by light and that which is changing; the sky, the clouds, the sun and the moon.”

Homeowner Nancy Church wanted a steel staircase inspired by a Jean Nouvel design. Her architect and contractor collaborated on an economical version that is used both inside and out.

NAMELESS Architecture is a design practice run by Unchung Na, Sorae Yoo, and Kiseok Oh. Founded in New York, it has since expanded to Seoul, South Korea. The RW Concrete Church in Byeollae, a newly developed district in northeastern Seoul, "is set to become part of a new urban environment, materialized through its simplistic form, unified materiality, and program-based continuation of space," the firm says. Photo courtesy of NAMELESS Architecture.

And here's a church dating from the 1800s.

"Rainbow Church" (2006-2010) located in Korea demonstrates Yoshioka's nod to the ethereal.

Le Corbusier, St. Pierre Church, Firminy, France

Oscar Niemeyer, Church of St Francis of Assisi (1943) The Brazilian master of curved concrete made his mark with the Pampulha Architectural Complex, which showcased the radical Church of St. Francis of Assisi. This modernist touchstone with a parabolic roof and polychromatic tiles was such a departure from existing forms that one politician suggested demolishing it.

Church prepares a healthy lunch.

"There are obviously no flat walls to put pictures or furniture against. There's quite a lot of useless space, in a way, under the eaves where you can’t really stand up.” Tisdall says. The dressers and balustrades approximate the flat edges of a regular room, while also taking advantage of the low space beneath the eaves.

Interiors of Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan on Lexington Avenue at 54th Street. Massimo and Lella also designed silver pieces for the altar, a square concrete font with paschal candle, a tree of candles, and the organ case.

The circa-2011 Bøler church in Oslo, Norway, was designed by Hansen-Bjørndal Arkitekter AS with three main volumes: a church hall on a plateau, a ground-floor congregational hall, and a chapel carved out of the earth. [via Arch Daily]

Certain religious artifacts were relocated in order to achieve a clearer visual field inside the church.

Harjumägi — Komendandi, adjacent to St. Nicholas Church

Thin slices of onyx covering the windows diffuse natural light and draw the eye toward the apse.

Exterior and interior of Harry Weese's First Baptist Church in Columbus, Indiana. Photo by Leslie Williamson.

Victor Lundy's Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut, which is nicknamed the "New Ship Church". Image courtesy George Cserna.

The reveals of the two kitchen windows lost much of their original brick during the '80s conversion. Tisdall employed a bit of paint to make the brick look cohesive and retain the integrity of the original arches. The kitchen countertop is made of Daria stone from Silestone.

Join Adele Cygelman, author of Palm Springs Modern and a contributor to the new book The Desert Modernists, for William "Bill" Cody at St. Theresa's Saturday, February 21. The presentation will include a brief overview of his design for the church and the family’s connection to the parish by his youngest daughter Catherine Cody Nemirovsky. A book signing at the Palm Springs Art Museum's new Architecture and Design Center will follow.

Church of the Unity, by H.H. Richardson, 1869. Springfield, Massachusetts.

Schweinfurth's Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco is lit naturally and by candles.

The dramatic geometry of the church’s spire and form instantly identify it as a Saarinen work.

The loft is on the third floor, and the windows look out onto a parking lot and church, so they offer unobstructed light and views. "In the summer, I could just sit here and watch the fireworks," he says.

In the living room, a double-height window and a skylight work together to frame a view of the Victorian Gothic church just across the street.