Description of Historic Place

Balgonie United Church is a Municipal Heritage Property occupying one lot in the town of Balgonie. The property features a stone church that was constructed in 1901.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Balgonie United Church rests in its status as one of the oldest remaining buildings in Balgonie. In 1898, a Presbyterian congregation was established in Balgonie, and within three years construction began on the stone church. Prominently located on a corner lot, the building was finished in 1901 and painting was completed by 1902.

The heritage value also resides in the building’s early stone architecture, which illustrates the faith that the original congregation had in the solid future of their church. Constructed with locally collected fieldstone, this rectangular building includes three symmetrically-placed windows on each side. The central entrance on the west end of the building is topped by a small wooden tower and spire, and sheltered by a clapboard porch that had been added by 1910.

The heritage value of this property also lies in its long role as a site of community gathering, both religious and secular. Pre-dating official church union by a decade, Balgonie Methodists and Presbyterians decided to join together in 1915 and use this well-built stone church. In 1925 under the federal Act of Union that created the United Church of Canada, they became the Balgonie United Church. This building was used as a church until 1973, when it was converted to a senior’s centre, and later a play-school. The most recent role of this stone building as a community museum and heritage centre is enhanced by the heritage integrity of the interior elements such as its tongue and groove fir flooring and wainscoting, and a painted, pressed metal ceiling.

Source:

Town of Balgonie Bylaw No. 154.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Balgonie United Church resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that speak to the church’s early twentieth century stone architecture, including the stone exterior;
-those elements that reflect the role of the building as an early church, including the gently-arched, symmetrically-placed windows, and the small central tower and spire;
-those elements that reflect the property’s turn-of-the-century construction, such as the fir floor and wainscoting and the pressed metal ceiling.