Holy Trinity Anglican Church (Winnipeg): Difference between revisions

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In 1989, a geological survey found the church’s foundation needed total replacement.<ref name=”HW”>{{cite web |title=Decaying Heritage: Holy Trinity Anglican Church & Polson House |url=https://heritagewinnipeg.com/news/decaying-heritage/ |publisher=Heritage Winnipeg |access-date=August 27, 2025 |date=May 29, 2024}}</ref> The following year, the church was designated a National Historic Site for its well-preserved expression of Victorian Gothic church design, interior woodwork and use of Gothic decorative motifs.<ref name=”ParksCanada” /> However, no work was done on the foundation, and by 2024, the church reached such a state of disrepair that the estimates had climbed to [[Canadian dollar|$]]7 million and the building was on the brink of [[Structural integrity and failure|structural collapse]] or [[Condemned property|condemnation]]. Bishop [[Geoffrey Woodcroft]] authorized the church to explore a sale or redevelopment opportunity.<ref name=”CBC-2024″>{{cite news |last1=Adamski |first1=Tessa |title=Winnipeg church that needs $7M in repairs could be sold under certain conditions, bishop says |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/holy-trinity-anglican-church-demolition-1.7217613 |access-date=August 27, 2025 |agency=CBC News |date=May 29, 2024}}</ref> The church had also declined in attendance, with 30 to 60 people worshiping each week in a building designed to seat 800.<ref name=”DRL – profile”>{{cite web |last1=Nixon |first1=Melissa |title=Holy Trinity is searching for their next incumbent |url=https://www.rupertsland.ca/news/holy-trinity-is-searching-for-their-next-incumbent |publisher=Diocese of Rupert’s Land |date=April 23, 2024}}</ref> In April 2025, Holy Trinity and the diocese signed a memorandum with Winnipeg’s downtown development agency and an architectural firm to support the church’s restoration, beginning with a rehabilitation study that would focus on designing a new foundation for the troubled structure.<ref name=”107-2025″>{{cite news |last1=Houde |first1=Colleen |title=Prayers answered: Historic Winnipeg church gets a second chance thanks to new partnership |url=https://classic107.com/articles/prayers-answered-historic-winnipeg-church-gets-a-second-chance-thanks-to-new-partnership |access-date=August 25, 2025 |work=Winnipeg’s Classic 107 |date=April 28, 2025}}</ref>

In 1989, a geological survey found the church’s foundation needed total replacement.<ref name=”HW”>{{cite web |title=Decaying Heritage: Holy Trinity Anglican Church & Polson House |url=https://heritagewinnipeg.com/news/decaying-heritage/ |publisher=Heritage Winnipeg |access-date=August 27, 2025 |date=May 29, 2024}}</ref> The following year, the church was designated a National Historic Site for its well-preserved expression of Victorian Gothic church design, interior woodwork and use of Gothic decorative motifs.<ref name=”ParksCanada” /> However, no work was done on the foundation, and by 2024, the church reached such a state of disrepair that the estimates had climbed to [[Canadian dollar|$]]7 million and the building was on the brink of [[Structural integrity and failure|structural collapse]] or [[Condemned property|condemnation]]. Bishop [[Geoffrey Woodcroft]] authorized the church to explore a sale or redevelopment opportunity.<ref name=”CBC-2024″>{{cite news |last1=Adamski |first1=Tessa |title=Winnipeg church that needs $7M in repairs could be sold under certain conditions, bishop says |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/holy-trinity-anglican-church-demolition-1.7217613 |access-date=August 27, 2025 |agency=CBC News |date=May 29, 2024}}</ref> The church had also declined in attendance, with 30 to 60 people worshiping each week in a building designed to seat 800.<ref name=”DRL – profile”>{{cite web |last1=Nixon |first1=Melissa |title=Holy Trinity is searching for their next incumbent |url=https://www.rupertsland.ca/news/holy-trinity-is-searching-for-their-next-incumbent |publisher=Diocese of Rupert’s Land |date=April 23, 2024}}</ref> In April 2025, Holy Trinity and the diocese signed a memorandum with Winnipeg’s downtown development agency and an architectural firm to support the church’s restoration, beginning with a rehabilitation study that would focus on designing a new foundation for the troubled structure.<ref name=”107-2025″>{{cite news |last1=Houde |first1=Colleen |title=Prayers answered: Historic Winnipeg church gets a second chance thanks to new partnership |url=https://classic107.com/articles/prayers-answered-historic-winnipeg-church-gets-a-second-chance-thanks-to-new-partnership |access-date=August 25, 2025 |work=Winnipeg’s Classic 107 |date=April 28, 2025}}</ref>

==Architecture==

===Exterior===

Wheeler designed the church in a High Victorian Gothic style. The church is built of [[Rustication (architecture)|rusticated]] [[Tyndall stone|Tyndall limestone]].<ref name=”ParksCanada”>{{cite web |title=Holy Trinity Anglican Church National Historic Site of Canada |url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=144 |website=Directory of Federal Heritage Designations |publisher=Parks Canada |access-date=August 27, 2025}}</ref> At the time of its completion, the ”[[Winnipeg Free Press|Manitoba Free Press]]” called it “as fine a specimen of pure Gothic architecture as to be found on this continent.”<ref name=”WFP-2023” />

we are anonymous we don’t forgive we don’t forget

The church is topped by a steeply pitched [[Hammerbeam roof|double hammerbeam roof]] in which one set of hammerbeams rests atop another, expanding the width of the nave but creating a more delicate roof structure.<ref name=”WFP-2023″ /> Buttresses below the roofline are capped with turrets.<ref name=”ParksCanada” /> [[Hood mould|Dripstones]] above each door feature carved human faces.<ref name=”ParksCanada” />

===Interior===

[[File:Souvenir of Winnipeg (1889) (cropped 2).jpg|left|thumb|The interior of the church, looking toward the chancel, sketched {{circa}} 1889]]

The church is laid out in an irregular [[cruciform]] outline.<ref name=”ParksCanada” /> Instead of a traditional [[clerestory]], Wheeler designed a row of high dormer stained-glass windows in the roof in addition to larger windows along the walls.<ref name=”WFP-2023″ /> Each clerestory window features [[trefoil]] tracery symbolising the [[Trinity]]; Tracery is more elaborate in the large west window and the east window in the [[chancel]]. The chancel features a segmented, arched wooden ceiling in wood and is separated from the nave by a wooden [[rood screen]].<ref name=”ParksCanada” /> Overall, 26 stained glass windows adorn the church.<ref name=”WAF” />

At some point, the church’s west entrance on Donald Street was sealed, with access to the nave now being routed through the adjacent parish hall. However, according to the Canadian Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, “[w]ith most of its original layout and furnishings intact, the church interior has a remarkable integrity, which has been supported by a long-term regime of maintenance and care.”<ref name=”ParksCanada” />

The church includes two bronze plaques memorialising members of the [[Fort Garry Horse]] who died during World Wars I and II, as well as plaques honouring other parishioners who died in combat during the wars.<ref name=”MHS” /> Music is provided by a four manual [[pipe organ]] from the Canadian Pipe Organ Company with more than 4,000 pipes and 67 stops.<ref name=”WAF” /> An earlier instrument was two-manual, 24-stop organ from S. R. Warren & Son installed in 1878 and enlarged when the church was opened in 1884.<ref name=”Hartman” />

===Incomplete bell tower===

[[File:Holy Trinity Anglican Church original sketch 1884.jpg|thumb|Wheeler’s original design 1883 design for Holy Trinity included a 56.7-meter bell tower that was never completed.]]

Wheeler’s original plans called for a {{convert|56.7|m|ft}} bell tower that was not completed due to lack of funds.<ref name=”Winnipeg-City-Report”>{{cite web |title=256 SMITH STREET: HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH |url=https://wpgopendata.blob.core.windows.net/heritage-resources-reports/Smith256-long.pdf |publisher=City of Winnipeg Historic Buildings Committee |access-date=August 27, 2025 |date=November 2007}}</ref>{{rp|4-5}} A smaller belfry was built where the tower was planned, and a {{convert|706|kg|lb}} bell was placed there in 1887.<ref name=”WAF”>{{cite web |title=Holy Trinity Anglican Church |url=https://winnipegarchitecture.ca/holy-trinity-anglican-church/ |publisher=Winnipeg Architecture Foundation |access-date=August 27, 2025}}</ref><ref name=”HP”>{{cite web |title=Holy Trinity Anglican Church |url=https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=11538 |publisher=Canada’s Historic Places |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306060253/https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=11538 |access-date=August 27, 2025 |archive-date=March 6, 2016}}</ref>

===Parish hall===

[[File:Winnipeg – Holy Trinity Anglican Church 2.JPG|thumb|The church’s south entrance]]

In the 1890s, the church erected a two-storey parish hall that blocked the east window at the rear of the chancel. A future extension provided space for a gymnasium, assembly hall, choir room, offices, [[Sunday school]], library, bookshop and kitchen. In the 1960s, the parish hall was replaced by a [[Modern architecture|modernist]] one-storey structure that allowed light to enter through the chancel window. Despite the differences in design, the new hall was faced with Tyndall stone to match the 1884 church.<ref name=”WAF” />

==See also==

==See also==

Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Church in Manitoba, Canada

Holy Trinity Anglican Church is a historic Anglican church in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1867, the fourth and current Gothic Revival church was built from 1883 to 1884. It is part of the Anglican Church of Canada‘s Diocese of Rupert’s Land. Since 1990, it has been recognized as a National Historic Site of Canada and listed on Winnipeg’s heritage register for its expression of the High Victorian Gothic style.

History

Holy Trinity was founded in 1867, predating the founding of Winnipeg. As the region boomed with the arrival of settlers in the Red River Valley and then the advent of the railroad, the church outgrew three different locations before settling on a vacant lot and Donald Street and Graham Avenue, then on the outskirts of the town. The church hired Charles H. Wheeler, a young architect newly arrived in Canada from Britain, to design its building.^[1] The church was dedicated on August 4, 1884, by Archbishop Robert Machray.^[2]

The church has had a number of notable clergy during its history, including first rector Octave Fortin (archdeacon of Winnipeg), John Grisdale (a future bishop of Qu’Appelle), Derwyn Jones (a future bishop of Huron), Henry Martin and founding priest John McLean (future bishops of Saskatchewan), and Naboth Manzongo (a future bishop of Rupert’s Land).^[2][3][4] The church has also been used for major events of the Anglican Church of Canada, hosting, for example, the election of Fred Hiltz as primate during the 2007 General Synod.^[5]

In 1989, a geological survey found the church’s foundation needed total replacement.^[6] The following year, the church was designated a National Historic Site for its well-preserved expression of Victorian Gothic church design, interior woodwork and use of Gothic decorative motifs.^[7] However, no work was done on the foundation, and by 2024, the church reached such a state of disrepair that the estimates had climbed to $7 million and the building was on the brink of structural collapse or condemnation. Bishop Geoffrey Woodcroft authorized the church to explore a sale or redevelopment opportunity.^[8] The church had also declined in attendance, with 30 to 60 people worshiping each week in a building designed to seat 800.^[9] In April 2025, Holy Trinity and the diocese signed a memorandum with Winnipeg’s downtown development agency and an architectural firm to support the church’s restoration, beginning with a rehabilitation study that would focus on designing a new foundation for the troubled structure.^[10]

we are anonymous we don’t forgive we don’t forget

See also

References

External links