The Great Canadian churches thread

[advance62]

Here are a few favourites I've shot over the past couple of years:

Kitchener
St. Matthews by Matt, on Flickr

Grace Lutheran Church by Matt, on Flickr

The oldest operating church building left in the city 1854:
Doon Presbyterian Church by Matt, on Flickr

St. Paul's by Matt, on Flickr

Historic St. Paul's by Matt, on Flickr

Sacred Heart Church by Matt, on Flickr

Church of The Good Shepherd by Matt, on Flickr

St Mary's in Autumn by Matt, on Flickr

St. Peter's Lutheran Church by Matt, on Flickr

St. Andrew's by Matt, on Flickr
The city has a good stock of MCM churches but I haven't photographed many of them.

Waterloo's modern Knox Presbyterian

Knox Presbyterian Church - 5 by Matt, on Flickr

Knox Presbyterian Church - 2 by Matt, on Flickr




Cambridge's Central Presbyterian (probably the tallest in Waterloo Region)
Downtown Cambridge by Matt, on Flickr


Saskatoon
St. John's Anglican Cathedral by Matt, on Flickr

Knox United Church by Matt, on Flickr

Rural Saskatchewan
Melfort Ukrainian Chruch by Matt, on Flickr

Zion Lutheran Church by Matt, on Flickr

St Andrews Presbyterian Church by Matt, on Flickr

Jesus Saves by Matt, on Flickr


Toronto
St. James by Matt, on Flickr

Garden Tower and Metropolitan United by Matt, on Flickr

[Laceoflight]

Here are a few more churches from the 1950s and 60s
Some in Montreal, some elsewhere

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Darkoshvilli

I can only stomach the pre-war ones. The rest make me squirm.

Here's a mosque, or temple? in Lasalle

That would be a Sikh temple.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by advance62

Waterloo's modern Knox Presbyterian

Knox Presbyterian Church - 5 by Matt, on Flickr

Knox Presbyterian Church - 2 by Matt, on Flickr

That's definitely one of the better new churches I've seen. Sleek and understated but still very much identifiable as a church (at least on the inside... take down the crucifix on the exterior and it could pass for courthouse, library, who knows what).

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

Here are a few more churches from the 1950s and 60s
Some in Montreal, some elsewhere

Love those modern designs... it's interesting to see how the major religions began rejecting the canon of historical church-design conventions in the 50s and had in many instances turned it completely on its head by the mid 60s.

I prefer traditional designs, but I appreciate the sculptural qualities that many modern church buildings have.

[Darkoshvilli]

Ok ill admit, some of those modern designs aren't that bad. Especially that Trois-Rivieres one^

[O-tacular]

Love those churches LaceOfLight!

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Darkoshvilli

Ok ill admit, some of those modern designs aren't that bad. Especially that Trois-Rivieres one^

Notre Dame du Cap is in the modern category but the traditionalist influences are very strong there.

The 50s were really a transitional period in church architecture... there are some in Winnipeg from that period that look much older, but nearly everything from 1960 onward is unapologetically modern. I'd imagine that most Canadian cities are similar in that regard.

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by esquire

Love those modern designs...
I prefer traditional designs, but I appreciate the sculptural qualities that many modern church buildings have.

Originally Posted by Darkoshvilli

Ok ill admit, some of those modern designs aren't that bad. Especially that Trois-Rivieres one^

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Love those churches LaceOfLight!

As for me, I am more into the old traditional churches (neo-gothic, neo-roman), but recently, I grew interest into the modern ones. Some are impressive and the designs often play with light cleverly.

Originally Posted by esquire

Notre Dame du Cap is in the modern category but the traditionalist influences are very strong there.

The 50s were really a transitional period in church architecture... there are some in Winnipeg from that period that look much older, but nearly everything from 1960 onward is unapologetically modern. I'd imagine that most Canadian cities are similar in that regard.

Interesting. Montreal's been a real laboratory for testing new church designs. Some churches from the 1940s and 1950s even seem to sit in between the two architectural movements, with designs hesitating between traditional elements and modern forms (shapes?). It sure was an interesting shift.

[Laceoflight]

Here are some churches from Quebec City.
No particular order or selection.

---

[esquire]

^ Not surprisingly, Quebec City has a spectacular collection as well. I'm impressed at how ornate the interiors are... by comparison, Winnipeg's 19th century churches tend to be somewhat spartan inside although I suppose Winnipeg would have been a fairly small city when those were built.

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Not surprisingly, Quebec City has a spectacular collection as well. I'm impressed at how ornate the interiors are... by comparison, Winnipeg's 19th century churches tend to be somewhat spartan inside although I suppose Winnipeg would have been a fairly small city when those were built.

...That and, of course, the fact that Roman Catholics were not particularly reputed for being modest decorators either... However, I was surprised by the number of churches that were built from 1900 to 1940 in Quebec City. Same thing in Winnipeg or Toronto?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

...That and, of course, the fact that Roman Catholics were not particularly reputed for being modest decorators either...

I understand... I was talking about Catholic churches!

Here is Winnipeg's English-language Roman Catholic cathedral, St. Mary's, located downtown right by MTS Centre. It's one of Winnipeg's three Catholic cathedrals (with one being the seat of the French-language Archdiocese of St. Boniface, and the other being Ukrainian Catholic). Wikipedia says it was built in 1880 and significantly updated in 1896, although I'm not sure what that update entailed.

Anyway, the interior is fairly plain jane as far as Catholic cathedrals go. Of course, it was built at a time when Winnipeg was barely removed from frontier town status. There would have been about 7 to 8 thousand people living here when the cathedral was built.


source:flickr

Here's the exterior:


source: Andy6 (SSP), aka wintorbos on flickr

As nice as it is to have such an old church by Winnipeg standards remain as well-maintained as it is today, I have to admit I wish it would have been replaced by something grandiose from the boom period that peaked around 1912. I'm sure Winnipeg could have ended up with something Montreal-like in scale!

However, I was surprised by the number of churches that were built from 1900 to 1940 in Quebec City. Same thing in Winnipeg or Toronto?

I'd wager that the majority of Winnipeg's mainstream Christian houses of worship (e.g. not including JWs, Mormons, various evangelical branches) would date back to the 1900-1940 period, but that's partly because Winnipeg's biggest boom was during that period. Not all that many buildings from before the turn of the 20th century are still around.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

...That and, of course, the fact that Roman Catholics were not particularly reputed for being modest decorators either... However, I was surprised by the number of churches that were built from 1900 to 1940 in Quebec City.

Urban population boom. The population in Quebec's rural areas boomed in the 1800s and the early 1900s, and then those people moved massively to seek work in the cities in the first part of the 20th century.

[MolsonExport]

London's Basilica





wikipedia, LFP

[kwoldtimer]

Very solid, very tasteful, very respectable - very much a church in London's self image.

[RueBulmer]

Is the red the only problem here?

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by esquire

I understand... I was talking about Catholic churches!

Here is Winnipeg's English-language Roman Catholic cathedral, St. Mary's, located downtown right by MTS Centre. It's one of Winnipeg's three Catholic cathedrals (with one being the seat of the French-language Archdiocese of St. Boniface, and the other being Ukrainian Catholic). Wikipedia says it was built in 1880 and significantly updated in 1896, although I'm not sure what that update entailed.

The facade of the church was rebuilt at that time. It didn't look the way it does now originally.

Winnipeg's English-speaking Catholic population wasn't very large when the church was built in the early 1880s (or ever, really). I'm not sure it would have been politically astute to build an overwhelming Catholic cathedral in the middle of a Protestant city in those days. They likely would have preferred their church to be similar in size to those of the Protestant churches. The French-Canadians were freer to build something more grandiose on the Mission property in St. Boniface and did so, but of course it unfortunately burned in 1968, leaving only the ruins.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by RueBulmer

Is the red the only problem here?

Source

[someone123]

Here's Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria:





http://gothicsummit.blogspot.ca/2010...cathedral.html

[RueBulmer]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria:





http://gothicsummit.blogspot.ca/2010...cathedral.html

Lovely