Kingston Episcopal Parish in Mathews has released information about its plan, approved at a parish meeting on Nov. 17, to convert the unused, pre-1900 rectory to affordable housing for civil servants.
The rectory at 370 Main Street at one time shared the Main Street frontage with St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was dedicated in 1898 and dismantled in 1954. According to a church history, the parish purchased the property in 1894.
Also on the property is a parish house, the second; the first was built in 1954 and taken down in the 1980s for its successor.
The rectory is a component of the Mathews Downtown Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Places and on the Virginia Landmarks Register. It has been unoccupied for several decades.
According to a release from the parish, the church authorized an ad hoc committee to convert the rectory into affordable housing for civil servants while maintaining its historical character due to its fundamental importance to Mathe...