Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church, a Renaissance Revival wooden structure heavily influenced by the Gothic Revival style, is located on Aboujagane Road in Memramcook East.
HERITAGE VALUE
Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church is designated a Local Heritage Place for its association with the mother parish, the Saint-Thomas de Memramcook parish, and for its architecture.
Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church is recognized first for its association with its mother parish to which it belonged for 62 years. Built in 1897-1898, under the direction of Father Alfred Roy, c.s.c., parish priest, its primary mission was to remedy the space problem at the Saint-Thomas church. On June 29, 1899, Father Roy celebrated the first mass at the official consecration of the church. In 1960, the church took on a new role when the Notre-Dame de Lourdes parish was established, bearing the same name as that of the church. Father Roland Bouchard was appointed as the parish priest, becoming the first secular priest to serve the Lourdes region.
Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church is also recognized for its architecture. Like many wooden churches of that era, its design combined the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles. Its slender bell tower bears a rather pronounced resemblance to that of its mother church, the Saint-Thomas de Memramcook Church. Ambroise Landry was responsible for the building’s structure, while Sylvain R. Gaudet, renowned for his architectural works, completed the interior, including the high altar and the two side altars.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
- location of the church overlooking the Memramcook valley from its lofty site on the east side;
- bell tower topped by a spire supporting a latin cross;
- small spires surrounding the bell tower, as well as on the façade and at the four corners of the structure;
- rose windows in the entrance transom, over the pair of lancet windows on the front façade, over the pair of rectangular windows on the front façade and in the spandrel between these window pairs;
- regular fenestration of tall lancet windows on the sides and front façade of the building;
- interior architecture with Gothic Revival ogival lines;
- original interior finish of tongue-and-groove spruce boards.
From Historic Places Canada