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Moose Jaw’s Hidden Treasures: Looking through stained glass
Throughout Moose Jaw, many churches house beautiful architecture and ornamentation that draw people in and help prepare their spirits for worship. One element used to create this sense of awe is stained glass windows. Many churches with such windows can be found downtown; the Moose Jaw Public Library also has beautiful stained glass to enhance its architecture.
Zion United Church
Methodists founded and constructed Zion United Church — located at 423 Main Street North — in 1906, with the building constructed for $65,000, plus another $6,000 for the acoustically famous Casavant organ. The building’s decoration extends to its stainedglass windows, with the Winnipeg Paint and Glass company providing the first set of windows. The company provided a second set after the building burned down in 1907. All the windows share the arts and crafts movement style popular at the turn of the 20th century, aside from some memorial windows in the chapel. For a tour, call 306-692-3842.
Central Lutheran Church
Located at 27 Hochelaga Street West, Central Lutheran Church is the smallest and newest of the four churches on this page. Architect J.B. Stephenson helped design and construct the building in 1929. The church holds many stained-glass windows, with the most impressive one being the Crucifix window on the north end. Two other windows are identical and symmetrically placed in the sanctuary. These windows follow a style that originated with John Ruskin, a British writer and art proponent. For a tour, call 306694-5575.
St. Andrew’s United Church
St. Andrew’s United Church can be found at 60 Athabasca Street East across from the library. The present Greystone church was constructed in 1912 but was gutted after a fire ripped through the building in 1963. The building was reconstructed, while Toronto-based Robert McCausland Company — which designed the Hockey Hall of Fame — designed, created and installed the stainedglass windows. St. Andrew’s has the largest collection of windows of any church in town. For a tour, call 306-692-0533.
The “Good Shepherd” window at Zion United Church, which was also housed in churches in Mount Pleasant and Mortlach.
The crucifixion window on the north wall of the sanctuary at Central Lutheran Church. A nave window in the style of the Arts and Crafts Movement, at Central Lutheran Church.
The south window featuring “The Sermon on the Mount” above the choir loft at St. Andrew’s United Church. Toronto company Robert McCausland Company designed, crafted and installed the window.
A stained-glass window depicting the Nativity on the north wall of the nave at St. Aidan Anglican Church. A stained-glass dome at the Moose Jaw Public Library.
St. Aidan Anglican Church
St. Aidan Anglican Church, located at the corner of High Street East and First Avenue Northeast, opened on March 27, 1910. Designed by architects William Reilly and F. Clapman Clemenshaw, this brick and stone-clad building was created in the Gothic-revival style and is reminiscent of rural English churches. It has pointed Gothic windows, buttresses, a crenellated tower and high ceilings. The church is also home to an impressive single set of octave bells. For a tour, call 306-694-5445.
Moose Jaw Public Library
The Moose Jaw Public Library is a municipal heritage site and was constructed in 1912. It is an Italianate-styled building, the only one in Moose Jaw and a rare design in Saskatchewan. Besides its beautiful ornate exterior stone carvings and finishes on its cornice, light fixtures, Bedford Limestone and Hebron Brick siding, it also has an impressive stainedglass dome. The museum downstairs also features stained-glass styled after the arts and crafts movement. Besides the glass, the building’s main entrance contains a superbly designed rotunda with carved marble brackets, columns and a mosaic tile floor. For a tour, call 306-692-4471.
