Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Giles Presbyterian Church / St. Giles United Church (294 Burrows Avenue, Winnipeg)

Link to:
Clerics | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

St. Giles Church, the first Presbyterian congregation in Winnipeg’s North End, was formed in 1884 as the North Presbyterian Mission with support from St. Andrew’s Church on Elgin Avenue and students from Manitoba College. Its first church was a small frame structure at Main Street and Aberdeen Avenue, which served from 1885 to 1886. A second brick building on Selkirk Avenue was used from 1888 to 1889. The congregation chose this site, at the southwest corner of Burrows Avenue and Charles Street, in 1906 and commissioned local architect C. S. Bridgman to prepare the plans. It opened in March 1908 with a sanctuary capable of holding up to 1,100 people and a horseshoe-shaped gallery that provided additional seating.

In the 1920s, St. Giles joined the United Church of Canada. Membership dwindled gradually through the years and the congregation eventually disbanded. The building, a municipally-designated historic site, was sold in 1973 to the Elmwood Bethel Mennonite Church. In May 1997, it was acquired by the Bethlehem Aboriginal Fellowship, part of the Baptist Union of Western Canada. In 2015, citing the building’s age and deteriorated condition, the Baptist Union asked the City of Winnipeg to remove its heritage designation so it could be demolished.

Clerics

Period	Cleric
?-1905	Joseph Hogg (1841-1906)
1905-1928	William Alexander MacLean (1867-1942)

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard view of St. Giles Presbyterian Church (circa 1910) Source: Rob McInnes The former St. Giles Presbyterian Church (May 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former St. Giles Presbyterian Church (May 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.91553, W97.13452 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Giles Presbyterian Church / Queen’s Theatre (239 Selkirk Avenue, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites

Sources:

Former St. Giles United Church (294 Burrows Avenue), Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee, November 1999.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 17 January 2021

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