St Pauls' Indian Church - North Vancouver, B.C. Canada
N 49° 18.960 W 123° 05.300
10U E 493580 N 5462588
St. Paul's was built in 1884
Waymark Code: WM3VP2
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 05/22/2008
Views: 107
The oldest surviving Catholic church in Greater Vancouver is St. Paul’s Indian Church in North Vancouver. The Oblate Fathers established the Sacred Heart Mission for the Squamish Indians on the north shore of Burrard Inlet in 1863. Under the leadership of Father Fouquet and Chief Snat, a mission church was first built there in 1868. The present church was built in 1884. Added to the church in 1909 were the transepts and two 26-metre towers. New stained glass windows were also installed. The extensively reconstructed church was then renamed St. Paul’s to honor the second Catholic Bishop of Vancouver, Paul Durieu, O.M.I.
St. Paul’s was restored between 1980 and 1983. As a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture, St. Paul’s has pointed-arch windows, a rose window and octagonal towers with dormers. The carved wood designs above the doors, however, are unique rather than Gothic in style. To further emphasize the parish’s Indian origins, a Coast Salish motif of geometric shapes has replaced the fleurs-de-lis around the church’s interior arches. The church’s original 250-kilogram bell of 1881, replaced when it developed a crack, is now displayed on the west lawn. St. Paul’s is designated a National Historic Site.
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