In close collaboration with Linc Thelen Design, we reconfigured and added space to this turn-of-the-century church in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood. Space for the family was carved out of the cavernous nave space creating rooms of varying intimacy. An existing dropped ceiling was removed from the space to expose the massive roof's structural timber and steel of this masonry building. The existing bell tower was converted into a glass-floored observation deck. Photography by Jim Tschetter