2023 Award Winner: Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, Inc.

For the rehabilitation of the former Sacred Heart School, Nashua

Partners: Bonnette, Page & Stone, Corp. | Warrenstreet Architects, Inc. | TFMoran, Inc. | WV Engineering Associates

The re-use of the long-vacant Sacred Heart school created a new emergency homeless shelter and resource center, dramatically increased services to local people in need, and demonstrated a high level of commitment to preserving a city landmark.

Sacred Heart Parochial School was built in 1892 as part of the Saint Patrick Parish Complex and is the oldest extant parochial school in the community. It closed in the 1970s.

The Diocese of Manchester, the school’s owner, leased the building for $1 per year for 100 years to the non-profit Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter (NSKS).  In January 2019, NSKS embarked on an $8.5 million capital campaign—which they exceeded by a million dollars--to convert the school into a new emergency homeless shelter and resource center.

Construction of the new 91-bed facility began in 2021 and includes include: a first floor 18-bed single men’s shelter; a second floor, 14-bed single women’s shelter; a third floor 48-bed family shelter; and a fourth-floor supported housing space comprised of eleven one- and two-bedroom studio apartments for longer term residents.

In addition, there are classrooms, meeting space, administrative offices, a play area for children, and an outdoor community garden.  Funding included tax credits through New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, HUD funding, an LCHIP grant, and many individual and business contributions.

Examples of high-quality preservation work include in-kind replacement of slate roof and copper flashing; re-use of historic wainscoting, woodwork, stamped metal ceilings and wood doors and transoms; new high-performance windows that matched the existing (non-historic) windows; as well as careful integration of added plumbing, life safety and building code, heating and cooling, and energy efficiency improvements.

The project allowed NSKS to nearly triple their overall shelter capacity and dramatically expand their services, and the Sacred Heart School has found a new purpose in providing a full spectrum of basic needs.