The 162-year-old downtown Portland church that houses the restaurant Grace is on the market for nearly $2 million, the Portland Press Herald reported Wednesday.

The 1856 former Methodist church is a rare standing example of Gothic revival architecture in a Maine city where much of the vintage was wiped out in a famous 1866 fire.

In 2009, owner Anne Rutherford renovated the space to serve as a restaurant, garnering headlines and accolades for what Greater Portland Landmarks called “her courage and vision” reviving and repurposing what had become a vacant building.

The former church is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Rutherford told the Press Herald she plans to keep her restaurant open in the unique space, and won’t sell the building to any buyer who doesn’t agree to that.

In other city restaurant news, the Press Herald reported that gourmet West End market and cafe Aurora Provisions will likely close its doors Labor Day weekend. The business was established more than 20 years ago, but current owner Melissa Carr took over in 2017, the newspaper reported.

Featured photo by Namiba used under Creative Commons license 3.0.

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Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.