St. Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic Church, constructed in 1913, is a large red brick structure that looms above the surrounding houses on its busy street in an older, west Winnipeg neighbourhood. The City of Winnipeg designation applies to the building on its footprint, along with the following interior elements: the stained-glass windows and the organ.
HERITAGE VALUE
St. Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic Church is an impressive Italian Romanesque-style building whose bold facade, exuberant interior and proximity to the street create a major presence in a working-class district filled with modest houses. The building also recalls the ambitions of the parish leadership and the congregation, which grew dramatically over the course of only five years, from its formation in 1908, when the first rough wooden church was built, to 1913, when the faithful numbered in the hundreds and this major project was completed. That St. Edward was designed by David Wynyard Bellhouse, an English-born architect with wide experience in European design schools, underlines the importance placed by the diocese on the congregation - mostly Irish, English and Scottish immigrants - and the church. St. Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic Church continues to occupy an important place in the community, and now serves a mainly Filipino congregation.
Source: City of Winnipeg Committee on Planning and Community Services Meeting Minute, August 24, 1987
By the late 1800s, middle and working-class residential neighborhoods were becoming well
established between Portage and Notre Dame avenues west of Winnipeg’s downtown core. In
July 1908, local English, Scottish and Irish Roman Catholics held their first worship service with
Father Gerritsma, founding priest of Saint Edward’s parish.
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