Landmark Building
CENTRAL UNITED (METHODIST) CHURCH
131 - 7th Avenue SW, Calgary
Designed By: Badgely & Nicklas
Built in 1905
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Before the June 1925 amalgamation of most of Canada’s Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Methodist Churches into the United Church of Canada, this was the Central Methodist Church, successor to the Calgary Methodist Church established by Reverend John McDougall in 1875. As the son of legendary missionary Reverend George McDougall (who established Victoria Mission near Edmonton in 1863), Reverend John McDougall was born into the calling of frontier Christianity. A staunch advocate and supporter of Native people, he founded the Morley Mission in 1873. He claimed to have suggested the location of Fort Calgary to Colonel Macleod.
The “gathered congregation” (which, unlike parish churches, serves members from all parts of the cit and its outskirts) of this church has included Senator Sir James Lougheed, and the Rt. Hon. Viscount R.B. Bennett who continued to serve on the Board of Trustees even as Prime Minister of Canada. Central Methodist was the “mother church” to many other Methodist congregations, most of which were established under the auspices of Reverend G.W. Kerby. A remarkable and energetic individual, Kerby helped create Mount Royal and served as its first principal.
Planning for this building began in 1898, at which time funds were raised to hire the architectural firm of Badgely & Nicklas of Cleveland, Ohio, to produce a design. The cornerstone was laid in May of 1904 by Mrs. James Lougheed on behalf of one of her uncles, Lord Strathcona. The building was officially dedicated in February of 1905 as a “conspicuous Tribute to Calgary’s Progressive Spirit.” Although restrained and understated, there are Gothic Revival features: pointed arched windows, and two towers. The interior, gutted by fire in 1916 and later restored, features a central octagonal auditorium with a balcony. The main floor seats 800, the balcony 400, and the choir loft 50. A three-storey combined gymnasium and auditorium was added in 1948, and a memorial chapel in 1952. Two contrasting Modern Style entrances from 1955-56 were removed in 1994. The original windows were removed in 1961 and replaced by ones with simpler tracery. The chimes in the tower were donated by R.B. Bennett in memory of his mother in 1927.
The chimes were only one of many contributions made by R.B. Bennett; another with lasting implications was his continued staunch belief in keeping the church downtown. His conviction that there should be a church downtown as “testimony to the fact that material values were not the only values in the world, but that spiritual values were those that were eternal,” is one of the reasons why the church has never relocated.
The Landmark Buildings and Places Database draws on the series of walking and/or driving tour booklets produced by Alberta Culture (now Alberta Culture and Community Spirit). The Heritage Community Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry through permission to reprint these materials online. Extracted from Calgary: Stephen Avenue and Area Historical Walking Tour. Alberta Culture, n.d., with permission from Alberta Culture and Community Spirit. Visit the Alberta Culture and Community Spirit for more information.