Description of Historic Place

The Albany Community Church, Albany Cross, Nova Scotia, was built c. 1875 and demonstrates a transitional phase in Nova Scotia Baptist architecture. The building sits on a large open lot adjacent to the main north-south highway that traverses the South Mountain. The property and the building are included in the municipal heritage designation.

Heritage Value

Originally called the New Albany Baptist Church and later the New Albany United Baptist Church, the structure is now known as the Albany Community Church. The start date of construction is c. 1875 and the church was dedicated on May 20, 1877.

Constructed of local building materials from the Adolphus Fairn Sawmill, the building is located on the site of the Beriah Bent home where the first evangelistic meeting of the area was held in 1829. Nearly all of the materials used to build this church were provided by the local area, along with all of the labour. The structure is representative of the meeting house style, characterized by Gothic Revival elements in the treatment of the windows and doors.

The building is valued for its rather simple rectangular construction which demonstrates a transitional phase in Nova Scotia Baptist architecture between the early nineteenth century meeting houses and the late nineteenth century church buildings. The meeting house style is indicated in the overall form of a simple gable roof and double entranceways. The pointed arches of the window and door-frames herald a Gothic Revival style. Other architectural details include the shouldered architraves of the doors and windows and the Gothic motif of the corner boards.

The interior of the church is a wooden masterpiece. An original complex design of zigzagged wooden patterns covers the walls and ceiling. To accent the walls, two special effects, known as wood graining and combing, were used to produce the original design. This tedious job had to be worked through twice to create the right effect. The ends of the pews, constructed from pine wood, were carved with great care.

The Albany Community Church is a valued testament to the historically significant lumber and agricultural industries in the area that originally supported the built heritage exemplified by this municipal heritage property. The church’s religious heritage is a monument to the pioneer spirit that established this community and to the continuum of involvement by present-day community members in its preservation.

Source: Heritage Property File no. OIBNS00962, Municipality of the County of Annapolis, 752 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, N. S., B0S 1A0

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Albany Community Church are associated with its meeting house style with Gothic Revival style elements and include:

-simple rectangular wood frame construction;
-mostly local materials and locally milled lumber;
-end-gable roof;
-symmetrical façade with double entranceways;
-pointed arches over window and door frames in the Gothic Revival style;
-shouldered architraves of the doors and windows;
-Gothic motif at the corner boards;
-intricate interior details, such as wood carving, wood graining and combing;
-heritage character enhanced by natural landscape location.