Build It and They Will Come
The old burned-out Unitarian Church on Sherbrooke Street West is being demolished to make way for an upscale 12-storey condo development. Some local residents are up in arms and fear that the new condos will be an eyesore amongst the heritage buildings in the Golden Square Mile. It remains to be seen how well the new complex will be integrated into the area but in a city dotted with churches and a dwindling population of worshippers, it’s unlikely that the church itself will be missed. In a way, it’s too bad because some churches are architectural gems.
Ever since the facade of the St. James United Church on Ste Catherine has been restored and exposed, it never fails to impress me every single time I walk by. Perhaps the novelty of seeing it still hasn’t worn off on me, jaded city slicker that I am. But there’s something about seeing a grand church with ornate carvings and tall steeples in the heart of the city across from a big box electronics store that’s slightly off-kilter yet mesemerizing.
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I love churches for their beautiful architecture. It’s a shame they can’t somehow use the current facade in the design.
Apparently Sherry is unaware of the current state of the old Unitarian Church of Montreal sanctuary that is on Sherbooke Street West on the corner of Simpson between Guy and Peel streets. As the blog post states it is pretty much a burned-out pile of rubble as a result of it’s transexual organist, Wilhelmina Tiermersma, razing it to the ground in an act of arson in 1986. There is virtually nothing left of the front facade of the old Unitarian Church of Montreal to incorporate into any new structure that will be built on the site. There is really not a lot of demolition to do to the church sanctuary as the fire pretty much razed it to the ground. Two Montreal firemen were killed during the fire when one of the walls of the church collapsed on them.
I expect that Sherry was somewhat misled by the photograph of the front facade of the newly restored and renovated St. James United Church on St. Catherine West, directly across the street from the Future Shop store, that was used to illustrate this blog posting.
The developers say that they are committed to preserving some of the historical context of the location so they are salvaging some of the red bricks from the ruins and incorporating them into the new building. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.