Holy Gothic landmark

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The century-old Westminster United Church. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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The circular stained-glass window can be viewed closely from the balcony of the sanctuary. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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c_ (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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The century-old Westminster United Church features one of the city’s best pipe organs. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

When school choirs arrive at Westminster United Church to perform in the Winnipeg Music Festival, many of the kids' jaws drop in amazement at their first sight of the magnificent sanctuary.

"They're awestruck by the space, by the organ -- it's just, 'Wow!'" says Roy Halstead, 79, an active member of the congregation who has been singing in the choir for 60 years.

Katherine Abra, 36, a history-loving teacher who has attended the church her entire life -- keeping up the tradition of her parents and grandparents -- says her friends often ask to see inside the imposing stone building, even if they have no religious beliefs.

This Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Winnipeggers who have always wanted to explore the majestic landmark at the corner of Westminster Avenue and Maryland Street have an opportunity.

The 1912 church, considered one of Manitoba's finest Gothic structures, is one of eight sites participating for the first time in this weekend's Doors Open Winnipeg.

The 9th annual event, organized by Heritage Winnipeg, is a free open house for intriguing buildings, museums and historic sites. The Doors Open guide is inserted in today's Free Press.

Westminster United Church, a city and provincial heritage site, celebrates its centennial next month. There will be historical handouts for Saturday's self-guided tour, and Halstead will be on hand as a resource. He thinks it's important to keep the church's stories alive. "It's been a seminal institution in the city," he says.

Visitors can't tour the whole building, but they can gaze on rich woodwork, glorious stained-glass windows with a recurring motif of vines and grapes, many original signs and bronze plaques, and historic elements such as a battalion flag that returned from the First World War and has hung near the pulpit since 1919.

The pipe organ, one of the city's best, was made by Quebec's famous Casavant Frères, which sold it to the congregation at a reduced price because it wanted to have an instrument located west of Toronto. It's now valued at $1.5 million, Halstead says.

The circular "rose" stained-glass window over Westminster's main entrance, more than four metres in diameter, can be viewed quite closely from the balcony in the sanctuary.

All the histories of the church record the same tantalizing fact: that the window has "a small clear space positioned in the centre" so that the solstice sun on June 22 and Dec. 22 shines directly through it, falling on an open Bible on the communion table at exactly 11 a.m.

Halstead scoffs at the story, calling it a myth. He says he's never been able to understand where the supposed clear space is in the window's centre, which depicts an open Bible and an anchor cross.

Abra thinks there might be something to it. But in 2008, a large, permanent stage platform was installed at the front of the sanctuary to allow for more professional concerts. That probably ruined the solstice effect because it changed the height and placement of the communion table. Daylight Saving Time may also have messed it up.

Several other buildings on the Doors Open tour --including the Via Rail Union Station and the Granite Curling Club -- were also built in 1912, a watershed year for Winnipeg prosperity and optimism.

The Westminster congregation, which dates back to 1892 as a Presbyterian flock, previously worshipped on Notre Dame Avenue, but was growing rapidly. It hired prominent local architect J.H.G. Russell to design its 1912 Beaux-Arts Gothic church.

Visitors can view Russell's elegant building plans in a hallway behind the sanctuary. The congregation actually started meeting in the basement in 1910, while the superstructure was being built.

The original amenities included a gymnasium in the basement (now a day care) and a ladies' parlour (now a chapel). Some of the 100-year-old bentwood parlour chairs are still in use.

An early version of air conditioning used massive blocks of ice in the basement to cool air that wafted through holes in the floor beneath the curved pews.

The sanctuary originally held 1,100 worshippers, Abra and Halstead say. The system of putting families' names on the pews had to be abandoned in 1919 because the seats were always so packed. The capacity is now 900, because some pews were removed for the permanent stage.

For decades, the popular church was a vibrant social hub, constantly hosting picnics, bazaars, study groups, sewing circles, guest speakers, pageants and teas. There's still a complete set of blue-trimmed china stored in an office.

Today, the congregation numbers about 400. The church, with its excellent acoustics, generates revenue as a concert hall. It's been the performing home of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra almost continuously since the mid-1970s.

Abra says the "coolest thing" about the building is the time-warped caretaker's apartment in the attic. She only saw it once, as a teenager, but found it fascinating. Because of fire regulations, it hasn't been inhabited for about 50 years.

Abra says she'd like to get it cleaned up and allow the public to see it on future Doors Open tours.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

No need to knock

-- The ninth annual, city-wide Doors Open Winnipeg event invites locals and tourists to explore history and architecture at 75 sites and tours this weekend. Admission is free everywhere.

-- Many buildings offer guided tours. Not all venues are open both Saturday and Sunday and hours vary, so check the Doors Open guide (inserted in today's Free Press) or www.doorsopenwinnipeg.ca.

-- This year's lineup includes five walking tours, as well as churches, banks, schools, warehouses, heritage residences, about a dozen museums and more. Newer buildings offering tours include Manitoba Hydro Place and the MTS Centre.

-- Eight sites are participating for the first time. They include the newly renovated Avenue Building on Portage Avenue, historic Barber House in Point Douglas and the Citytv building at The Forks.

-- Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., a 32-passenger modified bus, designed to resemble a vintage Winnipeg streetcar -- and named Trolley 356 in honour of a real streetcar that awaits restoration -- will depart hourly from the north side of the Johnston Terminal at The Forks. It will shuttle visitors to 15 participating sites for free.

-- Last year's Doors Open racked up about 25,000 site visits, says Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg. Sites are increasingly adding programming to enrich the experience. "We're trying to add more context and depth," Tugwell says. For instance, the Millennium Centre is having a display of historic wedding dresses.

-- Government House on Kennedy Street is holding a public garden party on its grounds, Saturday from noon to 5 p.m., in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. There will be entertainment, refreshments, a photo display and tours of the 1883 building.

-- The public can vote in five categories of Doors Open awards: best restoration, tour, architecture, overall experience and hidden gem.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 24, 2012 D1