St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

Address: 25 Bald St.
Built: 1889
Designated: 1990
By-law Number: 1990-9425

Reason for Designation

The Presbyterian denomination in Welland held its first public religious service in 1848, but it was not until 1862 when a congregation was formally organized. In March 1889, a building committee was formed to construct a new church building. The Trustees of the Presbyterian Church purchased Lots 31, 32, 33, 60 and 61 of the Bald Survey (now Registered Plan 552) on the south side of Bald Street from Samuel D. Woodruff on July 2, 1889. Local surveyor and civil engineer George Ross, a member of the Building Committee, donated his services as architect and overseer of construction for the new church. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 25 Bald Street, was erected in 1889 and dedicated on January 5, 1890. It would appear that St. Andrew’s was Ross’s first project in architectural design for a building.

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church was built during a period when Niagara area church designers were showing an increasing interest in drawing inspiration from medieval revival styles such as Gothic and Norman. This church is executed in the Norman or Romanesque Revival style typical of Presbyterian Church architecture during the late 19th Century. Characteristics of the Norman style are the square bays, round arched windows and door frames and solid double stepped buttresses. The round arches, tower entrance, classical detail and elaborate western entrance of the north façade with its deeply bracketed cornice are all typically Italianate. The exterior building material of the church is brick on a stone foundation. Dominating the entire structure, and perhaps the most impressive architectural element, is the octagonal “broach” spire of the tower.