The Bradford United Church may no longer be offering services, but its importance to the community hasn’t been forgotten.
Councillors approved the heritage committee's recommendation to designate the church as a heritage property during the regular council meeting Oct. 17.
Based on a request from Sheila Armstrong, a former trustee at the church, town staff performed a cultural heritage evaluation report, and determined the church meets the requirements of the Ontario Heritage Act.
According to a brief history of the site, the Methodist church received the property at 66 Barrie St. in 1836, where the Wesleyan Methodist Church was built and officially opened on Aug. 3, 1851.
The current sanctuary was built in 1864 and the original building is now known as the Margaret Irene Turner Hall.
The foundation stone for the sanctuary was laid on July 27, 1864, and according to the report by senior planner Thomas Dysart, a jar was enclosed in it containing a list of the names of county officials, magistrates and municipal councillors, resident Wesleyan ministers, names of the building committee, builder, architect and contractor along with the meeting minutes of the last conference.
The new church was formally opened on Jan. 25, 1865, and the report notes that it is surrounded by many listed heritage homes in an area where the village of Bradford grew and prospered.
It became known as the Bradford United Church on June 10, 1925, when the United Church of Canada was created with the amalgamation of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches.
The church building has undergone several additions and renovations over the years. In 1961, the original brick was covered in white stucco and in 1988 the narthex (a large covered porch) was added.
The report highlights the building’s elements of 19th century Gothic revival architecture including: the original brick facade, decorative barge-board under the roof eaves, shallow buttresses surrounding the entire original structure, pointed arch windows in the lancet style, and the high pitched, gable-style roof.
Other factors of historical importance include the connections to early Methodist settler families, the cultural role the church has played over the years and its status as a landmark in the community.
Much to the sadness of parishioners, the final service took place on June 18, after the United Church of Canada announced it would close the Bradford site earlier this year, but decided to retain the property and rent it out to other faith groups.
Given the church’s location in a “prime development area,” Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano questioned how the protections would work if someone wanted to add to or around the structure, especially given the extend to which the exterior elements were covered over in stucco.
Dysart explained that any brick cladding under the stucco would still be preserved and anyone seeking to make changes to the protected historical elements would need to go through a process similar to how changes were recently made to 27 Queen St. to allow it to be used as a daycare.
Ward 3 Coun. Ben Verkaik chairs the heritage committee and thanked members for their work assessing the church in a timely manner, and Dysart for his efforts authoring the report.
