This painting of the
Scandinavian Church was done in 2009 by
Tea Preville, a Nelson resident whose body of work has become quite large. She is an artist of eclectic output and eclectic media, this one an oil on canvas, from her online
archive gallery.
The photo was taken March 13th, 2015 at 5:13:59 P.M. Painting and photo are done/taken from across Baker Steet, looking south. This is another of Tea's churches which shows substantially different colours in the painting from those we see in real life.
Though Scandinavian Church Services were first held in Nelson in 1897, this church was not built until 1933. Nelson had been home to a growing Scandinavian population since its beginning and it had gained sufficient size by the 1930s to warrant the construction of this church.
Originally known as the Scandinavian Lutheran Mission Church, it later became affiliated with the Mission Covenant Church of America in 1939.
The building was designed by a local Scandinavian architect, Leonard Nelson, in a Spanish Mission architectural style. A relatively small building for a church, it is unique in the neighborhood in its styling and appearance.
Now a Nelson Heritage Building, it occupies number 26 on the 2011
Nelson Heritage Register.
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