Gower Street United Church sits at the intersection of Gower Street, Queen’s Road and Church Hill in St. John’s, NL. Built of Accrington brick, this church was designed by British architect Elijah Hoole in the Romanesque Revival style. Gower Street United is one of several churches, of varying denominations, which make up the the ecclesiastical district in the city’s downtown core. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Formal Recognition Type
Registered Heritage Structure
Heritage Value
Gower Street United Church was designated a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1995 for its aesthetic and historic value.
Gower Street United Church is home to the oldest Methodist congregation in St. John’s, dating back to 1815. The current church is the fourth building on the location to house this congregation; the third was destroyed along with much of the downtown core in the Great Fire of 1892. Some of the brick salvaged from the ruins of the old church was used in the construction of the new Gower Street United Church. The new building was designed by well-known British architect, Elijah Hoole – the son of a Methodist missionary. Hoole specialized in building Methodist churches and settlement houses in England. He had previously designed George Street United Church in St. John’s (built in 1873 and also a Registered Heritage Structure). The cornerstone of Gower Street United Church was laid on July 5, 1894. Construction was soon hindered by the Bank Crash on December 10, 1894. The financial disaster made many of the promissory notes used to fund the church’s construction void, while also slowing further monetary contributions to a trickle. By the following spring, however, the worst of the crisis was over and building continued as funds permitted. The church was officially opened on Oct. 4, 1896.
Gower Street United Church is excellent example of the Romanesque Revival style of architecture. It is an unusual departure from the Gothic Revival style most common for ecclesiastical buildings in nineteenth-century St. John’s, and represented by the neighbouring Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The many Romanesque Revival features employed in this church include rounded arch windows and doors, arched corbels under the eaves, and the rounded towers with conical roofs. Intricate woodworking can be seen in the interior hammerbeam roof, as well as the original woodwork in many of the pews and railings. The loft railings retain the original iron grillwork. While the stained glass windows of the church are not original, there are a number of colored transoms and sidelights inside the church that date to the construction of the church.
The church has had several additions and alterations since its construction. In 1926-1927, the Young People’s building (now the Memorial Hall) was built on the west side of the building. The gap between the hall and the church was bridged by a second building expansion in 1964. The most dramatic structural change to Gower Street United Church occurred in 1935. A severe March blizzard tore off part of the 12 metre spire, revealing serious structural instability. In April 1935, the church board voted to remove the spire, replacing it with the flat roof still visible on the square clock tower today. Other than some alterations to the galleries in 1929-1930 (necessitated by the installation of a new organ), the interior of Gower Street United Church has remained largely the same since the building’s construction.
Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador property file “St. John’s – Gower Street United Church – FPT 1484”
Character Defining Elements
All those elements that are representative of the Romanesque Revival design including:
-round towers with conical roofs;
-cross finals on gable ends;
-Accrington brick façade;
-decorative exterior brickwork;
-arched corbels in brickwork;
-ornamental terracotta panels on exterior;
-size, style, trim and placement of stepped rounded arch windows;
-central rose window on Queen’s Rd. facade, surrounded by brick roundels;
-size, style, trim and placement of exterior doors;
-stone foundation, and;
-building massing and layout.
All those original interior elements, including:
-pine hammerbeam roof;
-interior woodwork including pews and railings;
-colored glass windows in interior transoms and sidelights;
-iron columns supporting gallery, and;
-iron grillwork in loft railings.
All those elements representative of the building’s importance in nineteenth and twentieth century St. John’s, including:
-building height and visibility from harbour, and;
-location within the city’s Ecclesiastical District.
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