Description of Historic Place

St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church is a Municipal Heritage Property located on Second Avenue in the Village of Marcelin. The property features a Roman Catholic Church constructed in 1922-23.

Heritage Value

St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church is valued for its association with the community as a place where several generations of parishioners celebrated their baptisms, marriages and funerals. The parish, which predates the incorporation of the village in 1911, quickly outgrew its original church. This new, larger church was built as a replacement in 1923. Three bells that were cast in France in 1948 and inscribed with the names of parishioners, hang in the belfry.

St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church is also valued for its ecclesiastical architecture. The parish commissioned Oblate priest and architect Theodore de Bijl to design this church. de Byl is noted for building churches for French Canadian Roman Catholic communities in Western Canada using locally produced brick and fieldstone. The church’s rectangular form, gable roof, elaborate decorative metal bell tower and windows show a French Canadian influence. Inside, a Baroque influence is apparent in the vaulted ceiling supported by columns that reflect classical orders, in this case a composite of Ionic and Corinthian.

Source:

Village of Marcelin Bylaw No. 1/1984.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements reflecting its historic association with the community, such as the bells and the building’s orientation on its original lot;
-those elements reflecting its ecclesiastical architecture, such as the rectangular form and tall vertical proportions;
-those elements reflecting French Canadian Catholic church architecture, such as the decorative metal bell tower, vaulted ceiling, rose window, spires and cupolas, window tracery and composite columns.