DANIVILLE, Va. — When Jeremy DiMaio took a look at the late 19th-century Gothic Revival church along Jefferson Avenue about three years ago, he asked his then 12-year-old daughter if he should buy it.
“She said, ‘no, but I know you will,’” DiMaio recalled during an interview inside the former First Presbyterian Church building. “So I did.”
Since closing on the purchase of the nearly 150-year-old structure at 200 Jefferson Ave. in April 2021, he has been working diligently to restore it and turn it into an Airbnb christened “Church of the Perpetual Boogie.”
Though months away from completion, the building inside delivers a funky, humorous theme with irreverent touches and rich history.
In the spacious fellowship hall area converted into a living room, a life-size figure of Barack Obama sits cross-legged on a red leather sofa, sporting a smile and an “I voted” sticker.
A 36-pound, 30-foot wide reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” on a thin, flimsy particle board adorns the back wall.
Other features include a bathroom with a blown-up 1929 First Mortgage Real Estate Gold Bond on the wall, a wood sculpture of a friar DiMaio bought at a flea market near Dulles International Airport and an enlarged First Presbyterian Church black-and-white choir photo from the mid-20th century. The latter was provided by the Danville Historical Society, he said.
He has spent about $130,000 restoring the building so far, and expects the project to cost about $300,000 by the time he finishes. That also includes plans for turning the sanctuary — which boasts an 1899 pipe organ — into a music venue.
“It will be worth it,” DiMaio, 47, said of the costly endeavor.
The name “Church of the Perpetual Boogie” continues the 1970s theme from DiMaio’s other Airbnb he owns in Afton, “Boogie Nights Manor.” The name is a nod to the 1997 Paul Thomas Anderson film “Boogie Nights,” which is set mostly during the ’70s. It’s also the title of a 1977 hit song by the funk-disco group Heatwave.
“I kind of wanted to keep the theme,” he said.
DiMaio’s ongoing project has a Facebook group with about 2,000 members. Word of the “Church of the Perpetual Boogie” has spread.
“I felt really validated when it showed up on Google Maps,” he said. “It showed up as ‘Church of the Perpetual Boogie.’”
Built around 1879, the grayish white structure contains nearly 9,000 square feet and includes a bell tower stamped in 1840. The bell tower was cast by John Wilbank, who also cast the replacement for the damaged Liberty Bell, DiMaio said.
The First Presbyterian Church was the first church in Danville when it started out as a wooden structure in the 1820s, DiMaio said. It was later expanded.
The congregation outgrew the building and moved to the currently operating First Presbyterian Church location on Main Street around 1910.
The Jefferson Avenue building, which DiMaio believes is limestone over red-brick masonry, had been vacant for 11 years when he bought it.
“I try to buy interesting properties and convert them,” he said. “I tend to find properties that have sat on the market that no one else seems to want and find an adaptive re-use.”
His Airbnb will be one unit, with three bedrooms including a total of four beds. Eventually, it will have four bedrooms, DiMaio said.
“I’ve always liked churches,” he said. “I came in here, the first thing that struck me is how sad is a building this old and this historic that’s just rotting.”
At 150 years old, the building was not going to survive much longer, DiMaio thought to himself.
He has converted one room into a dining area. That part of the church required a lot of work. The floor had three layers of paint and DiMaio spent five months scraping red paint off the wall with a razor blade.
The building also had no furniture.
“Over the last two years, I’ve acquired every single piece of furniture,” DiMaio said.
He bought furnishings and decor from all over, Facebook Marketplace, auctions and his own travels.
One item is an old machine, used to make communion wafers and patented in 1908, from a monastery in Northern Virginia. Another one of his finds includes a wine sacristy — for storing wine — made in the 1800s.
The dining room also features a Jacobean buffet table from the late 19th century. A Moroccan clay menorah, which DiMaio bought in Morocco, sits on the table and is more than 100 years old, he said.
He’s turning the fellowship hall into a living room where the sacred altar is a bar. The room is where DiMaio is rebuilding the floor.
“This area took a lot of water damage,” he said.
Half of the old nursery will become the master bedroom and the former pastor’s study will be converted to a bedroom, as well.
As for the spacious sanctuary, that is an entire project onto itself.
“My goal is to work on this space early next year,” DiMaio said.
The sanctuary includes its original hand-painted rose-glass window overlooking the balcony, as well as the original pews.
He also has plans to record an episode of the PBS series, “The Life of A Musician” in the sanctuary in front of the organ and hold a house concert for the show in the fellowship hall.
“It will be a cool music venue,” DiMaio said.
DiMaio has traveled to more than 30 countries and divides his time among Danville, Afton and Northern Virginia.
He is in Danville every other week.
“My friends and social scene is here,” DiMaio said. “It’s a cool enclave of creative, artistic people here.”
