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An Oliver landmark has received official recognition as a Municipal Historic Resource. Last week, city council issued designation to the St. Joachim Church at 9924 110 Street NW, solidifying its place as a staple within the local Catholic community.
Cited by the City's Principal Heritage Planner David Johnston as "an excellent representation of late nineteenth-century French-Canadian ecclesiastical architecture," the red brick church was built in 1899. St. Joachim's mission was established in the 1850s by the Members of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and originally settled their congregation in a small house-chapel in Fort Edmonton.
The building today doesn't look quite as it did when it was erected — the steeple and stained glass windows were installed shortly after. The oeil-de-boeuf window and symmetrical facade were facets drawn up by architect Francis X. Deggendorfer, who infused the three-tower scheme with elements from nineteenth-century French-Canadian and High Victorian Gothic architecture. Interior woodwork and painted glass windows characterize a Baroque aesthetic.
The St. Joachim Church became the primary place of worship for both French and English Catholics until the 1925 completion of St. Joseph's Cathedral. It is now the oldest extant Roman Catholic Church in the city. The designation opens up a stream of money, up to $411,000, to be used for interior and exterior restorations.
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