Vancouver isn’t a particularly churchy city. However, early immigrants especially Methodists, Presbyterians (most of whom joined what
became the United Church of Canada), Anglicans, and Baptists — built stalwart granite structures such as the neo-Gothic St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church (1012 Nelson Street, Downtown, 604-683-4574) and the older and boxier First Baptist Church (969 Burrard Street, 604-683-8441) across the street.
You have to get well off the beaten path to see what is arguably the most impressive, or unusual, church in the city: St. James’ Anglican Church (303 East Cordova Street, Downtown Eastside, 604-685-2532). Designed by a noted English architect in absentia, this impos¬ing exposed-concrete structure blends Art Deco modernity with Gothic, Byzantine, and Romanesque features, both inside and out.
The Canadian Memorial United Church and Centre for Peace ( i8o6 West i5th Avenue, Central Vancouver, 604-731-3101) is a modest-sized brick structure notable for its Books of Remembrance commemorating the dead of two world wars and remarkable stained-glass windows depicting pivotal events in the evolution of Canada. It’s also pretty from the outside.
The Catholic Church also maintains a strong presence. Its Holy Name Parish (4925 Cambie Street, Central Vancouver, 604-261-9393) is architecturally stunning — an ultra-elegant tent-shaped structure with a decorative façade both ornate and intelligent. The large Fili¬pino parish of St. Patrick’s Parish (East Vancouver, 604-874-7818) has opened a spanking new cathedral on Main Street near its former site on East 12th Avenue — nothing over the top, but impressive indeed, given that church-building isn’t too common these days.
A Catholic landmark is St. Paul’s Gothic-Revival church on the Burrard Indian Reserve (North Vancouver). A National Historic Site, it was built by the Oblate Fathers in 1884 on the site of an earlier mission church. With its octagonal towers, pointed arch, and central rose windows, it can be spotted from around Burrard Inlet.
Three rust-colored domes and the distinctive crosses of Eastern Orthodoxy on the Russian Orthodox Church ofthe Holy Resurrection (75 East 43rd Avenue, South Vancouver, 604-325-1922) come as a bit of a shock in an otherwise ordinary, working-class neigh-borhood. No less of an anomaly is a small blue-and-white domed Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Church (710 Campbell Avenue, Strathcona, 604-253-5562). Russians settled in Strathcona in the early and mid-I900s. The sign on the door of the church is in Cyrillic text.
A little bit of rural England, including William Morris-style win¬dows, St. Francis in the Wood Anglican Church nestles into the forested landscape above Caulfeild Cove (4773 Piccadilly Street, West Vancouver, 604-922-3531). It’s popular for breezy summer weddings.
|
