Manitoba Provincial Heritage Site No. 95
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
67 Bernier Street,
Churchill
Designation Authority: Honourable Harold Gilleshammer,
Minister of Culture, Heritage and Citizenship
Present Owner: The Anglican Church of Canada, Diocese of Keewatin
By 1890 the need for a new building to serve the Anglican congregation in Churchill was pressing. An immediate local problem was the availability of building materials and Reverend Joseph Lofthouse took advantage of a recent development in building technology. He acquired prefabricated components in England and had them shipped over. While both the prefabrication and the transport to a distant building site were unusual for this date, what made the situation at Churchill remarkable was the nature of the materials. The structural frame at St. Paul’s was made of iron. Only three of these buildings ever made it to Canada. The building slowly rose over the course of two years and was ready for use in 1892. Inside, the church contains many old and valuable artifacts, including a stained-glass window donated to the parish by the widow of Sir John Franklin, the famous Arctic explorer.
