Description of Historic Place

Saint Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church a Greek Revival style building located on a small hill on the Back Cornwall Road. The church is visible from the Cornwall Road, which runs through Middle Cornwall, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. The Municipal Heritage Designation applies to the building and the building footprint.

Heritage Value

Saint Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church is valued for its age, religious history and Greek Revival architecture. Built in 1863 as a Union church it served numerous congregations including Anglican, Presbyterian and Lutheran.

Although many Union churches in the municipality were later taken down in favour of building new and larger churches or modified by significant extensions, the Middle Cornwall Lutheran congregation continues to hold service in the relatively unaltered church, which is one of the oldest in the area.

The Greek Revival style of the church is found throughout the municipality; however, the absence of Gothic Revival elements such as arched windows and its relatively unaltered exterior make the church unique for the area.

Source: Municipality of the District of Lunenburg Heritage Property Book 2 Site 10.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of Saint Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church relate to its Greek Revival architecture and include:

- Temple-style construction with main entrance on gabled end;
- symmetrical floor plan with the belfry tower located in centre of the gabled end over main entrance;
- corner boards designed with simple decorative capital;
- three bay façade of vertically sashed windows with simple decorative caps;
- double hung wooden doors;
- return eaves.