Description of Historic Place

Sperling Church and Hall consist of a simple two storey, wood frame church and a one storey hall connected off-centre at the back and built later. The buildings are surrounded by tall coniferous trees and located on a single corner residential lot in Northeast Langley.

Heritage Value

Built in 1912, the Sperling Church and Hall are significant because of their social values and their historic association with first the Methodist Church and then the United Church. They represent a typical example of a church and hall in a rural location, and also illustrate the early settlement efforts of this part of Langley.

Sperling was a recognized community within the Langley Township and came into being as a flag station on the British Columbia Electric Railway line in 1910. Before this, it was generally known as Harmsworth. The name Sperling was chosen by the BCER as it needed a name for its interurban schedule. Normally a station was named after a nearby pioneer family, but in this case the BCER used the name of its General Manager, R. H. Sperling. This community was a significant pocket of people who were separated from neigbouring communities by large tracts of agricultural land and who made their living primarily with berry farming, lumbering and shingle mills.

The Church and Hall social values can be found in the early religious and community gathering purposes of the buildings. The village of Sperling was barely a year old when the church opened for services, clearly showing the high value the settlers held for the ability to worship formally. Built in 1953, the hall was used by the community for Christmas concerts, dances, whist drives and cribbage tournaments.

The Church served the community for over fifty years for both religious and social gathering purposes, closing in 1969 when parishioners became too few in number. It is now owned by the Township and managed by the Langley Heritage Society.

Source: Langley Centennial Museum, heritage files.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Sperling Church and Hall include:
- The physical relationship and orientation of the church and hall to each other
- The physical relationship and orientation of the church and hall to the road and intersection now known as 240th St and 72nd Ave (earlier known as Springbrook and Brown Roads)
- The landmark location at the intersection
- The architectural elements that represent the church's role as the religious centre of the community of Sperling include:
- the high gable roof which is matched in pitch by the porch roof
- the enclosed front porch with double entry doors
- the rectangular transom with double lights over entry doors
- the tall narrow windows with single light transom on the main facade, one each flanking entry porch
- the simple rectangular footprint
- The architectural features that represent the hall's role as a community meeting place and close association to the church include:
- the physical relationship and connection to the church
- the matching style and material to the church (footprint, roof, siding, etc)
- the diminuitive size in comparision to the church