River City Flooring Transforms Civil War Armory for Craft Brewery
Beer Church Brewing Co. is a boutique, small-batch craft brewery and wood-fired pizzeria located in downtown New Buffalo, Michigan, a charming Lake Michigan beach town only 70 miles from downtown Chicago. As its name implies, Beer Church Brewing Co. is located in a former church. In fact, the iconic white building was built in 1861 and was used as an armory by the Union during the Civil War. For most of its life, the building served as a Methodist church until the congregation relocated in 2015. However, the building had not been renovated since the late 1800s.
The brewery owners had a vision for an art deco vibe and commissioned Indiana artist Felix Maldonado, who is known for his Jackson 5 murals. It took Maldonado two weeks to craft the mural entitled “Graffiti Renaissance.” The mural’s bottom half is a graffiti painting that infuses the concepts of church, beer and pizza through various shapes and colors. The mural informs the entire interior scheme.