Churches designated Historic Sites
In recognition of the integrity of their innovative architecture
Two Fredericton area churches were recently designated Provincial Historic Sites in recognition of the continuing integrity of their innovative architecture.
All Saints, McKeen's Corner (Parish of Douglas & Bright) and St. Mary the Virgin, New Maryland (Parish of New Maryland) are the first and second Gothic Revival style churches built in wood in the province. They were both designed by the Rev. Edward Shuttleworth Medley, son of Bishop John Medley, first bishop of this diocese.
Bishop Medley was a proponent of the Cambridge Camden Society in England (later the Ecclesiological Society), a group devoted to the return of medieval forms of liturgy and church building within the Church of England. Its Gothic Revival architecture was vertically oriented and is beautifully demonstrated in Christ Church Cathedral and St. Anne's Chapel in Fredericton. These structures were designed by Bishop Medley with a classical nave, porch and chancel and embellished by functional buttresses. The style was easily accommodated in stone structures like these.
Stone, however, was an impractical material in rural Atlantic Canada. The challenge was to adapt the Society's credo and style for wood construction. According to Heritage Branch records of the New Brunswick Department of Municipalities, Culture and Housing, the historic Christ Church in Maugerville (downriver from Fredericton), displays the basic form of the style, but its design is hampered by its horizontal external clapboards.
In the early 1840s Andrew Jackson Downing introduced a 'board and batten' design to the North American landscape. In a style similar to English half-timbering, his buildings assumed a new vertical thrust and presented a way to express in wood the tenets of the Cambridge Camden Society. Edward Shuttleworth Medley, who was an amateur architect as well as a priest (he had apprenticed under William Butterfield, one of the foremost English architects), adopted the idea.
Influenced by Downing, Butterfield, his father, and a study of Scandinavian stave churches, E. S. Medley developed an innovative new design. All Saints at McKeen's Comer - built in 1861-62 and begun when his brother the Rev. Charles S. Medley was incumbent - is his first documented effort. Its board and batten exterior siding is punctuated by a single mold, and the corners and windows are edged with vertical planks, giving strength to the vertical composition. Its open bell cote and camberbeam (arched-beam) support in the porch, were borrowed directly from the work of Richard Cromwell Carpenter, another architect of the Cambridge Movement.
Although All Saints rests on a new foundation, it remains in its original maple grove location and retains its high integrity as one of the earliest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in wood.
All Saints, McKeens Corner, New Brunswick's earliest example of Gothic Revival architecture in wood, was recently designated a Provincial Historic Site. Taking part in the ceremony were, left to right: Wayne Burley, Department of Municipalities, Culture and Housing; Bishop George Lemmon; Edith Reed, a long-time member of the parish; the Rev. John Cooper, rector, and David Olmstead, MLA for Mactaquac.
(Photo by Rob Blanchard)
St. Mary the Virgin in New Maryland - built in 1863-64 -is generally considered a more personal and more sophisticated E. S. Medley design. The exterior board and batten construction is similar to All Saints', but here there is less influence from Carpenter. With a bell gable given original and rational expression on the interior, the whole church demonstrates a High Victorian desire for verticality and bulk, distinguishing it from Carpenter's fondness for rustic humility.
Its polygonal apse (domed roof that is neither square nor round) is especially innovative and probably the first of its kind in the province.
For a time St. Mary the Virgin's architecture was marred by the addition of a parish hall, but it has since been removed. Now, although no longer in regular active service, this church too is recognized as one of the earliest examples of Gothic Revival construction in wood.
St. Mary the Virgin in New Maryland, considered one of the province's earliest and most sophisticated examples of Gothic Revival Architecture in wood, was recently designated a Provincial Historic Site. Taking part in the ceremony were, left to right: Mariet van Groenewoud, mayor of New Maryland; Bishop George Lemmon; Joan Kingston, New Maryland MLA; the Rev. Ron McBrine, rector, and Judy Connor, chair of the parish heritage committee.
(Photo by Rob Blanchard)
Designation as a Provincial Historic Site does not carry with it any financial support for these churches, but technical support is available through the heritage branch. This technical support can help those charged with the maintenance of the buildings in problem-solving. Because the designation protects the structures from unsympathetic changes - indeed, the owners have to apply to the Minister of Municipalities, Culture and Housing for permission to carry out anything but the most basic maintenance this technical expertise is invaluable in finding sympathetic solutions to structural problems.