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This article was published 14/10/2023 (727 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Intending to continue building community in the city, Winnipeg’s oldest Hindu temple is bumping out walls and renovating its interior.

Now closed until renovations are completed at the end of the year, the Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre on Ellice Avenue will feature a 400-square-foot addition at the front of the building, the installation of an elevator to improve accessibility, a renovated kitchen, and updated plumbing, heating and electrical services, says the president of the Manitoba Hindu Society.

“It will be like a new temple and cultural centre,” Kirit Thakrar says of the planned improvements to the eight-decade-old building known as the Mother Temple and owned by the society since 1979.

About 300 people living downtown or in northern neighbourhoods gather at the temple weekly for Sunday services and a community meal. The building is also used for daily prayers and cultural and community events, says Thakrar. Until the renovations are completed, estimated to cost more than $1.2 million, people will worship at the larger temple on St. Anne’s Road, he says.

The Ellice Avenue temple is one of several city houses of worship under renovation or repair right now.

In the North End, one congregation is preparing to move out of its facility and another one is moving in. Congregation Etz Chayim plans to hand over the keys to its 30,000-sq.-ft. sanctuary and dining hall at 123 Matheson Ave. E. to St. Michael Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church on Dec. 1.

“I think our people are pleased it was sold to a church instead of being redeveloped into condos or housing,” says executive director Jonathon Buchwald about the sale of the synagogue originally constructed for Rosh Pina in 1952. Rosh Pina joined with two other North End congregations in 2002 to form Congregation Etz Chayim.

The Conservative Judaism congregation moves on Nov. 1 to its new location at 1155 Wilkes Ave., which has been renovated as a multi-purpose space with a capacity of about 350 people, says Buchwald.

“We’ve outlived this size of building and the size we’re moving into is more appropriate to the size of the congregation,” he says of the relocation to south Winnipeg, where most congregants live.

Many of the interior elements from the Matheson Avenue synagogue, including the Holocaust memorial, stained glass windows and the ark for the Torah scrolls, are being installed in the new space, formerly the Khartum Shrine Centre.

“As much as we can, we’re trying to keep most of that history in the new space,” says Buchwald.

The new owners of the North End synagogue plan to renovate as well but will wait until they take possession to make firm decisions, says Abraham Gerbeyohnnes, board member of St. Michael Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church.

He says the congregation of about 800 now worships in a church on Dufferin Avenue, but they have outgrown that space.

Renovations are generally on schedule at the building owned by Congregational Shaarey Zedek, with services planned to resume at the Wellington Crescent location in fall 2024, says executive director Rena Secter Elbaze. The congregation now shares space with Temple Shalom and holds larger events at Berney Theatre on the Asper Jewish Community Centre campus.

The $16 million renovation, which includes a new roof, heating and cooling systems, upgrades to washrooms, social hall, offices and a new daycare centre, recently got a boost with a $3 million grant from the Province of Manitoba’s Arts, Culture and Sport in Community Fund, says Elbaze.

“It gives a lot of credibility to our project,” she says, adding about $1.5 million more needs to be raised.

Meanwhile, Westminster United Church’s main worship space remains closed due to its crumbling plaster ceiling, first discovered nearly a year ago, forcing the congregation to worship temporarily in the attached hall. Also a venue for several performing arts groups, the 800-seat sanctuary won’t reopen until the ceiling is removed and replaced, at a cost of about $4 million, says Rev. Sherri McConnell.

She says the church board has struck a ceiling task force to explore funding options for the grand Wolseley-area church, which holds both municipal and provincial heritage designations. Completed in 1912, the Late Gothic Revival church designed by Winnipeg architect J.H.G. Russell features arched ceilings with wooden ribs, a Casavant pipe organ and a limestone exterior with a bell tower and rose window.

Brenda.suderman@freepress.mb.ca

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