About AngelArmsWorks

Karen Guzak, pictured with Warner Blake, purchased the former St. Micheal Catholic Church at a bankruptcy sale in the Snohomish County Courthouse lobby in 1993. Though Karen and Warner had known each other for at least ten years, this was their first year as a couple.

No, it wasn’t the local parish that went belly up, but the second owner of the historic property first sold in 1986. A small Baptist congregation was using the church, which they were sprucing up in preparations for Easter Services when Karen and Warner first viewed the property. After a tour of the church interior they had just started a tour of the property when they discovered the rectory set back quite a bit from the street.

Work on the renovation had to wait nearly 90 days while the IRS tried to sell the property in order to recover back taxes owed by the previous owner. Just short of the 90 day period the IRS calls asking for an offer to clear the title immediately and accepts Karen’s low ball amount. Renovation began in the fall of 1993 and by the following September the renovated home was on the annual home tour and for rent.

In 2000, Karen and Warner began renovation of the church for their studios and moved in that summer (from Seattle). Both the home and the renovated church interior were open for the fall home tour that year.

The summer concerts began in 2003 with Stuart Dempster in July.

Read more about the history of the building HERE.