Puppet-filled Wallingford church listed for $1.2 million

There’s a historic 1930 church for sale on the border of Fremont and Wallingford—which is intriguing on its own. But it has an extra feature that sets it over the edge: As the now-former home of the Carter Family Puppet Theater, it is absolutely filled to the brim with puppets.

The puppets are leaving with the Carters, but some were left behind for staging—so if a puppet-filled church appeals to you, it’s a BYOP situation. Currently, they cover the place. Some are waiting for their cue behind a stage in the nave, which has been serving as a performance space.

But, as it turns out, there are plenty of places to store puppets here: On a wall in a hallway. Clustered above a piano in a basement. In a diorama on a mantle.

Of course, there’s plenty of potential in an old church besides as a puppet theater. Multiple little nooks could become bedrooms or offices, depending on what the church is going to become next.

Like many churches, it features an expansive parish hall with a massive kitchen.

The accessible roof could become an enviable view deck.

The church is listed for $1.2 million—again, puppets not included. The puppets are following the Carter family, who still run Northwest Puppet Center: “Thousands of puppets are on the move with one of the largest puppetry preservation efforts in American history,” read a World Puppetry Day post on Facebook announcing the listing.

(But we like to think of them as going to play with the dolls at the Lions Gate Estate.)

• 4000 WHITMAN AVE N, SEATTLE, 98103 [Lake & Co]

(h/t Estately)